- Redesign the course ARCH 4823/6160/6352: Race, Space, and Architecture in the US to examine equity, economy, and the environment through the lens of the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, SC. This study places the only two National Historic Landmark Districts (NHLD) focused on African American history and culture in conversation: the Penn Center (NHLD est.2017) in St. Helena Island, SC, and Sweet Auburn (NHLD est.1976) in Atlanta, GA. By exploring methodological approaches, this project serves as a case study for building capacity and may support the development of a Preservation Technology lab/degree at the College of Design that would be the first of its kind in the United States.
- Develop an interdisciplinary learning model for architecture, leveraging expertise in engineering, building construction, computation, equitable historic interpretation, and sustainability.
- Advance the Sustainability Next Focus Area 1: Be a global sustainability thought leader by:
- Increasing breadth and depth of sustainability research and strengthening transdisciplinary research efforts;
- Growing, diversifying, and cultivating doctoral, postdoctoral, and faculty talent dedicated to scientific discover, the development of business, policy, and technology solutions and humanistic approaches to addressing critical local and global challenges;
- Developing deep and sustained local, government, and industry collaborations that center community expertise, equity, and the public good in solution development and adoption;
- Convening and coordinating diverse partnerships that connect research, education, and economic development to define and implement tomorrow's solutions for climate mitigation, resilience, sustainability, and regeneration; and
- Developing, validating, and disseminating innovative and effective course design and pedagogy in Education for Sustainable Development.
Through fieldwork at the National Park Service Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. birth home in Atlanta and the National Historic Landmark District Penn Center on St. Helena Island, SC, students in this seminar explored preservation technology practices as a catalyst for resiliency, sustainability, and heritage tourism. Despite federal recognition, both sites are under severe development threat and need to invest in place-keeping, preservation education, and community-based policy development to ensure the sites’ intact survival and resiliency. Beyond shared NHLD designations, these sites are extrinsically linked: missions of education and empowerment, organizational sites during the Civil Rights Movement, and interpersonal connections. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the “I Have a Dream” speech at the Penn Center. The grant enabled a four-day field visit to the Penn Center that was essential to experiential learning. In addition, this project served as the foundation to a NEH Preservation and Access Education and Training grant (submitted May 28) to continue work at the site and bring in institutional partners from Carnegie Mellon, Claflin, UGA, and USC.
It was critical that the site visit to the Penn Center happened in the first few weeks of the semester, although this was difficult to schedule so quickly with the students in the new year. Our work was able to contribute essential components to the Penn Center from a workable site plan, floor plans for enhancing residency planning for other students and programs, new tourist brochures and postcards, a series of Wikipedia pages to enhance Google search visibility for the site, proposals for the cannery (a currently underused and structurally precarious area of the campus), and a physical model that will be used in the visitor center. We hope that our website plans will be implemented at the site, and we will be working through these proposals during the May 15-19 residency tied to a UGA-Mellon Fellowship. The website refresh includes new oral history interviews, building 'biographies', a site timeline, new site maps, and a more user-friendly interface for mobile viewing.
A sample student reflection:
Throughout the research and field work to construct the physical model, we were surprised to discover the varying stages of upkeep, modification, and development of the buildings on the Penn Center campus... The class plan and sequence of events worked really well in helping us learn about the site. We appreciated having a site visit first to get a general understanding of the scale of the buildings and the general feel and layout of the campus. Having sufficient time afterwards for deeper research then allowed us to carefully plan the model, how best to represent the buildings, and how best to go about with the construction... The history of the Penn Center deserves to be told and to remain in living memory, it needs to be visited regularly either through student trips or by directing tourism to it. Additionally, as it grows, one needs to consider ways to ensure that the campus and its buildings reflect the history of the site. In light of this, another pertinent question is how do we protect the cultural and historical heritage of the site during restoration, development, and growth?
Sample CIOS comments:
- The multi day trip to the Penn Center was one of the BEST experiences of my time at Tech. This course engages the world outside Georgia Tech extremely well.
- The course was incredibly informative, offering firsthand stories, site visits, guest lectures, and unique readings. It broadened my horizons on the topics of race, gender, and space, and I believe this newfound knowledge will stay with me for the rest of my personal and academic journey. The site visit was particularly amazing, allowing me to absorb the context of the course material and hear firsthand stories. The visit was managed very well, and I enjoyed every second of it.
- Going on a field trips to historical sites, especially the Penn Center, did an excellent job of allowing students to understand the historical and cultural significance of those locations. Engaging in various projects thereafter to present at an exhibition further helped students develop ways to communicate that significance. The many classroom discussions on readings helped stimulate a lot of discussion and critical thinking surrounding important topics pertaining to race and social justice and allowed students to share lived experiences. This was an enriching experience that broadened the perspectives of many of us.
Georgia Tech's 2024 SDG Week: Teaching with the SDGs Pecha Kucha Panel Presentation (March 7, 2024)
"I have always been a firm believer that field work is integral to student learning, especially within architectural design and history. This course, and focused attention on the SDGs, highlighted that myriad principles within sustainability are intrinsically intertwined with the study and augmentation of historic sites, especially those in marginalized communities and facing immediate impacts from climate change and development pressure in a capitalist society. Moving forward, the SDGs will be formative with my syllabus and curricular plans."