Indy Design Week: Homeworks
Created in partnership with Indy Design Week, Homeworks was a call to action in the spring of 2020, and a series of online conversations with academics, designers, and community practitioners that served as an immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Over the course of five days, conversations addressed singular topics: Social Connectivity, Public Space, Home Life, and Food Systems. Homeworks concluded with a Recap presentation by designer Rick Valicenti—Indy Design Week’s Keynote presenter.
Support for this project was provided by the Central Indiana Community Foundation.
Day 1: Social Connectivity
COVID-19 upended our social fabric, making inequities more visible and a sense of community harder to manage. Social Connectivity explored designing communities to be more resilient and equitable in this pandemic, and after.
Presenting Participants
Brea L. Perry, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Sociology
Indiana University
Bloomington IN
Heather Carson
Director
Council for Youth Development of Bartholomew County
Columbus IN
Rachel Glago
Executive Director
Midway Music Speaks
Bloomington IN
Kenneth Bailey
Sector Organizing and Strategy Lead Design Studio for Social Intervention
Dorchester MA
Joanna Nixon
Lead Project Manager
Inspire 10th Street
Indianapolis IN
Day 2: Public Space
Quarantine and health fears have diminished many uses for public space, including those vital to society, such as public celebrations and protests. Given the vital importance of public gatherings and the public spaces that make our cities unique, Public Space explored how we will gather again when the pandemic subsides.
Presenting Participants
Quilian Riano
Associate Director
Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative
Kent State University
Kent OH
Brie Hensold
Urban Planner and Co-Founder
Agency Landscape + Planning
Cambridge MA
Gina Ford
Landscape Architect and Co-Founder
Agency Landscape + Planning
Cambridge MA
Daniel Mason
Historic New Harmony
New Harmony IN
Donna Sink
People for Urban Progress
Indianapolis IN
Mariah Keller
Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University
Bloomington IN
Day 3: Home Life
Suddenly our homes were struggling to serve the disparate roles of school, office, daycare, and restaurant simultaneously. Home Life will explored how we started to rethink our houses with quarantines and future health crises in mind.
Presenting Participants
Mark Lindenlaub
Thrive Alliance
Columbus IN
Brian Burtch
Owner and Founder
NEON Architecture
Indianapolis IN
Johnny Gong
Graduate Student
Indiana University
Bloomington IN
Rosemary Spalding
Earth Charter Indiana
Indianapolis IN
Day 4: Food Systems
The pandemic revealed the fragility of our food systems, with food pantries and food distribution systems stressed to a near breakpoint. Food Systems explored how we can create more resilient food creation and distribution.
Presenting Participants
Joshua Gruver
Professor
Department of Environment, Geology, and Natural Resources
Ball State University
Muncie IN
Shellye Suttles, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Scientist
Sustainable Food System Science
Indiana University
Bloomington IN
Julie Knight
Bariatric Dietitian
Columbus Regional Health
Columbus IN
Day 5: Recap
Rick Valicenti created a Recap of the week's four conversations in a dynamic and inspiring presentation.
Presenter
Rick Valicenti
Chicago IL
Homeworks Project Team
Johnny Gong
Chris Merritt
Courtney Xavier
Poppe Guthrie
Rick Valicenti
Richard McCoy
Ben Valentine
Projects
Mayors Institute on City Design
The Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors. Columbus Design Institute was selected to host a regional session with six mayors and eight content experts from across the country in October 2019.
With support from the Lilly Endowment’s Strengthening Indianapolis Through Arts and Cultural Innovation initiative, Columbus Design Institute partnered with the Central Indiana Community Foundation to run an international design competition to create a transformative public space at the General Motors Stamping Plant site in downtown Indianapolis.
Together with People for Urban Progress (PUP) and the support of the Cummins Foundation, Columbus Design Institute produced a four-part monthly conversation series in Indianapolis to bring together national and local thought leaders around the topic of inclusive design. You can listen to the complete series on the Daylight: Season Two podcast.
16 Tech is an urban innovation district under development in the historic Riverside neighborhood and within the Indiana Avenue Cultural District on the northwestern edge of downtown Indianapolis. Columbus Design Institute provided design advisement on the RFQ/RFP process to identify six finalists for the competition.
Indy Design Week: Homeworks
Columbus Design Institute created Homeworks to provide thoughtful responses to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic through the a series of conversations with academics, designers, and community practitioners. Over the course of four days, conversations focused on: Social Connectivity, Public Space, Home Life, and Food Systems.
Columbus Design Institute
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