How do some projects get done and why do others never get started? What is all at play to put the project into reality? What makes a project feasible? What concessions are we making because of current constraints? How can we leverage constraints into new opportunities? From conception through operation there are constituent elements of a project that determine the feasible range of existence; finance, policy, stakeholders, and codes, that must be negotiated. The studio will question how current processes and contingencies can bring about or cancel a project.

Washtenaw County has been ranked the 5th most segregated metro area in the nation. What incentives and constraints cause such an imbalance? Community meetings with stakeholders, artists, and organizations in the area as well as conversations directly with non-profit developer ArtSpace to understand process and priorities will be part of the studio participation. This process provides access to direct community engagement and discussions around the topic that can’t be lifted from precedent research but instead requires social engagement with the community to understand the nuance of place.

We are utilizing the process to interrogate conditions to be amended, interpreted, and worked on that open future possibile projects and recognize the latent conditions not always considered in the scope of building design. Projects will review a way to hack an element, upend it, distort its use, leverage its potential to push a project forward through new strategies.