Browsing Archives of Author »publicworkshop«

Alex Gilliam  |  alex@publicworkshop.us  |  196 posts



National Building Museum Fellowship Update #3: The Lone Ranger,Design Educator + Instigator?

January 7, 2011

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One portion of the National Building Museum’s impressive building toy collection that I have been particularly interested in during my Field Fellowship at the Museum, are the instruction manuals. How do toy manufacturers describe design and what do they do to help others build great things? How can we learn from this to teach better […]

News:Public Workshop Asked To Share Work With World’s Leading Social Entrepreneurs.

January 7, 2011

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I couldn’t be more honored or excited to be asked to share my skills, and work with a collection of people doing the most innovative work in social entrepreneurship in the United States, if not the world. Echoing Green supports exemplary individuals from around the world who have developed ingenious ideas, programs and solutions for solving […]

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays From Public Workshop!

December 24, 2010

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It’s been an incredible year and we couldn’t feel more lucky and grateful to have such a wonderful bevy of friends, collaborators, cheerleaders and clients. Thank you so much. Here’s to more, much much more in the New Year. Next week? A recap of the year and a preview of great things to come. In […]

National Building Museum Fellowship Update #2: The Merits Of Missing Pieces.

December 9, 2010

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Truscale Blocks with 1 distinct piece, 1948 Artificial stone Elland Company, England [1695] Let’s get one thing straight, despite the manufacturer’s claims that their Truscale Blocks are amusing, interesting, attractive and absolutely bubbling over with unlimited possibilities for building, they are not. For many reasons, Truscale Blocks are truly remarkable but aesthetically and functionally, they […]

What Snowstorms Can Teach Us About Learning, Civic Engagement & The Design Of Cities.

December 8, 2010

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Learning From Snowstorms: Originally published on www.core77.com on 13 May 2010. ‘When it snows, children take over the city: they sleigh, throw snowballs, make snowmen and are more visible than ever. But what a city needs for its children has to be more durable than snow.’ It is hard not to adore this quote by […]

National Building Museum Fellowship Update #1: Construction Toys Make Better Boys?

December 8, 2010

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The Constructioneer Metal Building Set No. 4 with 19 distinct pieces, 1947 Metal and rubber Urbana Manufacturing Company, Urbana, OH [1521] Construction Toys Make Better Boys. And girls, learning, buildings and cities? I think they do. Every year the National Building Museum (here) in Washington, DC offers one accomplished practitioner or researcher the opportunity to […]

Things We Like: A Design Firm Doing Great Things For The Community As Well As Great Design.

November 23, 2010

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Interested in starting your own design firm that does great things for your neighborhood and community as well as fantastic design? We consider it our business to know organizations who are rethinking professional design practice for the greater good, innovation and to better meet the needs of the world around us. Indeed, we spend a […]

News: Public Workshop Wins DIY Playground Design Competition!

November 22, 2010

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Holy cow. We couldn’t be more pleased to learn that we won the DIY division of the Playable International Playground Design Competition. Apparently the judges really liked our entry even though it is much more of a how-to for developing a youth-led culture of civic ‘doing’; public space testing, exploration and innovation; and playground building […]

Things We Like: Abandoned Phone Booths Transformed Into A Moustache See-Saw.

November 16, 2010

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Ride a moustache while you wait for your tacos? Okay there are few things more joyfully absurd than this see-saw, err moustache and its accompanying over sized spectacles. In fact, when our friend Lauren mentioned that she had ridden a moustache see-saw while waiting for her tacos at the ever tasty El Chilito in Austin, […]

Project: Build A Six Foot Long Chocolate Cake Master Plan, Change A Place.

November 10, 2010

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Imagine thirty people standing on the edge of a street in Austin, Texas intently building a six foot long chocolate cake master plan of a largely unknown creek corridor hidden in the midst of their Downtown. Eight of the builders were supposed to be there, the rest, baffled AND excited by the scene before them, […]

Things We Like: A Veritable Playground Made Out Of Packing Tape.

November 4, 2010

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Sure, it’s a lot of plastic and packing tape can be remarkably expensive but really, how can you not stand in drooling awe when presented with For Use‘s gorgeous packing tape structure/playground? Why the fawning? Well on the most basic level, as previously stated, it’s gorgeous. However we also find it compelling because it is […]

News: Shadelab Wins A Project Prize From The Metro Chicago Information Center!

October 29, 2010

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Okay, we didn’t exactly win the Heisman Trophy but thanks to your support, Shadelab, a project we created for the fantastic folks at Landon Bone Baker Architects (here) and their community partners has won a Project Prize from the Metro Chicago Information Center. This prize is a service grant in which MCIC (here) will put their tremendous experience making […]

Project:Our Teen Community-Designers Create A Micro-Farmer’s Stand For A New Chicago Mkt.

October 21, 2010

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We couldn’t be more pleased to have wrapped up the design and fabrication of a micro- farmer’s market stand for the folks at the West Humboldt Community Development Corporation. In June, as part of a larger community effort, they helped start the neighborhood’s first farmer’s market to both provide better access to healthy foods and […]

News: Shadelab Is A Finalist For MCIC’s Project Prize And Needs Your Help!

October 21, 2010

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How healthy is your neighborhood, your schools, your housing, your public spaces and streets? We gather data and stories that help communities, organizations and city leaders make better decisions about how they can improve the health, well-being and efficiency of their neighborhoods through design. Say hello to Shadelab. We are so excited that Shadelab, a […]

News: Our Teen Community-Designers Help A Local Chicago Baker.

October 21, 2010

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What sorts of ways can Chicago teenagers simply and easily have a positive impact on the delivery of healthy food Chicago through design? How about designing an apron-mitt that meets the very unique and challenging needs of a local artisanal baker who routinely finds her forearms covered in burns due to the incredible dexterity required […]

Things We Like:Playgrounds That Prepare People For Riding Bikes On Complicated City Streets.

September 28, 2010

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Admittedly, as you may know, I have mixed feelings about playgrounds that are created because we have not designed our streets or public spaces to be inclusive of different age groups and uses. That being said, it is hard not to be charmed and to a degree impressed by the bicycle park in Berlin’s Gorlitzer […]

Project: A Design-Build Lab For Redefining How We Engage Young Adults In Design Processes.

September 16, 2010

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Project: Design Build Workshop for the Chicago Architecture Foundation Location: Chicago Project Director: Alex Gilliam for the Chicago Architecture Foundation Year: Summer 2010 Forty seven mosquito bites on one person, in the span of an hour? Sleeping in Stalin’s daughter’s bedroom? Visiting dignitaries, torrential thunderstorms, lots of post-hole digging, hand sawing and a pretty incredible […]

News:We’re Leading A Design-Build Laboratory For Teens At Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin.

August 5, 2010

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Without a doubt, one of our favorite times of the year is the one week we get to spend every summer at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Wisconsin, designing and building amazing structures with six incredibly talented teenagers from throughout Chicago’s public school system. Over the past three years, Public Workshop has been redesigning the […]

Things We Like: High Tech Tools That Enable Teens To Better Gather Neighborhood Data.

July 29, 2010

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As you may have noticed recently if you follow our Twitter feed, Public Workshop has been working with the great folks at Landon Bone Baker Architects and their community partners to develop a program that enables them to have an even greater impact in the communities where they work than they are able to affect […]

Project: Wedesignawesomethings! A Youth Community-Design Apprenticeship Program.

July 23, 2010

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Project: Wedesignawesomethings! Location: Chicago Project Director: Alex Gilliam for the Chicago Architecture Foundation and After School Matters Year: Summer 2010 What the heck is Tajmah making? An Aqua Man costume? Is Public Workshop gearing up to compete with Speedo? No sir, no mam. It’s one of our early prototype oven mitts for a local Chicago […]