CCD Studio
Design-Bloc’s “Community Co-Design Studio”
This multidisciplinary course, housed within Georgia Tech’s Innovation and Design Collaborative (Design Bloc), positioned itself as the point of exposure and intersection for undergraduate students of all majors, design professionals working across several industries, and local residents from diverse communities all across Atlanta. As an exhibition of Design Bloc ethos “to equip the toughest problem-solvers to be thoughtful problem-framers”, this service-project studio held a concentrated interest in helping participants from all walks of life explore the versatile application of design across multiple industry sectors.
This participatory research-and-development space provided inclusive opportunities to lift the boundary held between “community” and “classroom” through instruction of traditional and emergent methods sourced from social-impact, need-finding, activist, and human-centered design practices; with the equity-centered stance that “everyone is a designer”, this space created a point of thoughtful collaboration and cohesion between adjacent communities within Atlanta for the sole purpose of supporting a year-long service-project.
Each year, these initiatives provided opportunities to conduct field-research across complex social ecosystems, receive in-person guidance from individuals whose lived-experience served as critical evidence for nuanced, contextual inquiry, and produce viable design recommendations for local, real-world clients looking to integrate these solutions into their immediate environment. The overview and output of each of these projects can be reviewed below:
West Midtown: “Bus Shelter Redesign” Project
“How might we elevate the accommodations provided to riders to create pride and belonging during their daily commute?”
It is no secret that the city of Atlanta is experiencing an urban growth-spurt. With large-scale developments being constructed at such a quick pace, an increasing number of people are commuting within the West Midtown area for residence, employment, recreation, and more. To accommodate this density, alternative transportation to single-use cars has become an important consideration since congestion can create bumper-to-bumper traffic.
The central focus of this project was to explore three areas across this community which encourage one of these alternative transportation methods: pick-up / drop-off locations for the MARTA Bus. Each of these spaces brought unique environmental factors, historic significance to the area, and lack of amenities which served the transportation-dependent communities that used them for their daily commute. The research around these areas was translated into the responsive design of three new bus-shelter concepts which were delivered to our client for manufacturing and implementation.
proctor creek: “WATERSHED support” Project series
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance Upcycling Study
“How might we repurpose locally sourced plastic into a resource for mutual community support?”
The Westside neighborhoods adjacent to Proctor Creek, a tributary to the Chattahoochee River, have continued to experience the detrimental impact of illegal dumping from individuals outside their community. While once a place for resident activity, this creek has been noted as the site of unsanitary sewer flows, compromised water quality, and discarded plastic litter. With consideration for the environmental impact this pollution has on the surrounding neighborhood and in an attempt to identify sustainable service-models for financial upward mobility, our project explored opportunities to re-contextualize these discarded plastics to serve the requests-for-support made by participating local residents and non-profits.
The recommendations provided through this work, which were directly influenced by the legacy residents of these historically black communities, now serve as the foundation for workforce development and future operations which look to engage the local children, adults, entrepreneurs and artists who could use these discarded plastics as a resource to drive new revenue-generating and/or cost-saving ventures in the West Atlanta area.
“Happy Crawfish” Trash-Trap Design
“How might we create a sustainable alternative to commercial products that provides agency?”
In an effort to improve the water-quality of the Proctor Creek, local organizations implemented a set of corporate-funded ‘trash traps’ along specific points along the waterway to collect the dumping of physical pollutants. Since the installation of these devices, WAWA has reported that roughly 300 lbs of trash has been collected from these devices per month. With the need for additional installation sites, constant maintenance of industry-standard traps, and the compensation of additional service-workers, a team from Georgia Tech’s Industrial Design / Mechanical Engineering Senior capstone was presented with an opportunity to create a new, locally-sourced trash-trap.
Building on the understanding gained from the concurrent CCD project and with the support of environmentalists, maintenance workers, and local residents, these students provided on-site study of the local environment to not only understand the key-paint points of trash-trap maintenance-workers but provide a new, low-cost alternative. To date, this resulting design has been installed into Proctor Creek and serves as a fully-operational trash-trap which can be easily replicated using local-materials at the 1/10th of the cost of its commercial counterparts.
“Heritage” Historic Hunter Hills, Community Branding
“How might we reinforce the historic identity and values found in this unified community?”
As one of the first planned Black communities within Atlanta, the Hunter Hills community has existed for decades as a community full of rich heritage and economic promise; this place, where almost 30,000 residents call home, also houses a notable number of schools and is adjacent to the prestigious AUC Consortium, making it an ideal place to live under the motto “One Community, One Family.” However, within recent years, the artifacts used to denote this proud community have started to succumb to the effects of years worth of wear and weathering. As a result, this community has taken an interest in not only replacing the signage that exists around the perimeter of their neighborhood, but also activating certain areas internal to Hunters Hills with additional branded assets to further amplify the voice and identity of this area.
To provide equitable, long-term support and investment in this local community, our project engaged with local residents to collect an exhaustive understanding of the explicit and implicit values which make the Hunter Hills geography a source of pride for those who have lived there. Through frequent collaborative activities conducted within this local neighborhood, the major qualitative themes that resonated with residents were translated into branding guidelines; these visual assets, driven by the oral and material history found within this historically black community, were presented as a pro-bono deliverable to the neighborhood association. To date, community leadership has implemented this branding for mediums which includes (but not limited to) place-making, merchandise, and signage applications.
Woodruff Park: “ECOSYSTEM AND AMENITY AUdit” PROJECT
“How might we provide amenities to a public-space which encourage access to resources without perpetuating social stigma?”
Located at the geographic center of Atlanta, Woodruff Park’s 6-acres of public space provide a venue for more than 5 million people each year. This vibrant landscape is surrounded by opportunities for commerce, government, entertainment, and education; as a result, it makes Woodruff Park an ideal location for many local employers, employees, students, and residents to conveniently navigate downtown Atlanta. Running parallel to this increase in urban growth is the growing national crisis surrounding mental health resources and affordable housing. Evidence of these dilemmas' impact on Atlanta can be observed via the houseless population who find shelter and community within this same green-space.
Over the years the park has partnered with a number local social-service agencies to make resources available for both housed and unhoused community members who utilize Woodruff Park. In an effort to instill support that is equitable, navigates the negative stigma attributed to the houseless community, and conscious of the increased health concern caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Woodruff Park’s project manager worked with the studio to assess and respond to the increasing need for additional public sanitation amenities within this public space. This collaborative work uncovered opportunities for the full community living both within and adjacent the park to create on-site access to clean-water and mutual-aid.
