PROJECTS
Inside/Outside
Platform for skills training in the performing arts
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
A traveling, neighborhood stage exposes “behind the scenes” aspects of the performing arts to facilitate job skills training while bringing the Goodman Theater’s programming into Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods.
The structure travels compacted but expands once in place, allowing users to experience the immersive sound, lighting, backdrops, and effects that make theater come alive. The stage can also be used for performances, providing hands-on, immediate experiences for participants and audiences alike. By partnering with established community organizations, INSIDE OUT quickly integrates into a neighborhood and activates with education programs for all ages. What is typically hidden from the audience is now revealed and celebrated through local gatherings, special events, and job training.
DESIGNER FOR
The Goodman Theater and Chicago’s 17th Ward for the “50 Designers, 50 Ideas, 50 Wards” exhibit.
Other invited architects included: Studio Gang, Architecture is Fun, Wheeler Kearns, Paul Preissner Architects, Marshall Brown Projects, Ross Barney Architects, Design with Company, Norman Kelley, David Brown, Rubio Studio, Urban Works, PORT, Borderless Studio, Brininstool and Lynch, CamesGibson, CLUAA, Krueck+Sexton, John Ronan Architects, Future Firm, Thirst, Amanda Williams and others.
IMPACT
Exhibited at: “50 Designers, 50 Ideas, 50 Wards” exhibit on display at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, May 24, 2016 - January 2017, Chicago, IL. 1 of 50 invited design teams.
EXHIBITION DETAILS
Along with CAF, the exhibition was curated by Martin Felsen and Sarah Dunn, co-founders of UrbanLab, and Reed Kroloff, CAF’s Senior Advisor for Programs & Industry Collaboration.
The "50 Designers, 50 Ideas, 50 Wards" exhibition will be on display May 26 through December 2016 in the Atrium Gallery at CAF headquarters. For more information about the exhibit and to see all 50 design visions, visit architecture.org/50-50-50.
DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS
Strawn Sierralta partners with Susan Conger-Austin to imagine an entirely new outreach and jobs training platform for Chicago's acclaimed Goodman Theater.
"INSIDE OUT" is a Mobile Skills Training Platform and Traveling Stage that will expand Goodman Theater’s reach into Chicago communities, exposing more residents to theater production and job skills training. "INSIDE OUT", co-developed with theater stakeholders for the "50 Designers, 50 Ideas, 50 Wards" exhibition, places Goodman Theater at the cutting edge of community and social development.
CURATING A DESIGN COMMUNITY
Organizing a group of 50 designers is no small task, but that is exactly what the curatorial team did for 50,50,50.
Designers, including Amanda Williams, Urban Works, John Ronan, Carol Ross Barney, Krueck + Sexton, Studio Gang and Wheeler Kearns, were invited to take a critical look at pressing city needs from the ward level. The assembled teams worked to capture a cross section of neighborhood needs, while proposing design interventions that will drive conversation at a city level.
“Understanding the challenges facing Chicago and many large urban centers today―economic development, quality housing and affordability, aging infrastructure and the delivery of city services―we saw the curation of a broad-ranging exhibition of ideas as a great way to generate discussion.”
“Our goal is to inventory a new breed of architectural and infrastructural interventions that will foster social, creative and entrepreneurial interactions among Chicagoans.”
