Advanced Design Studio

How Can an Institution Instigate Change?

Introduction

Over the past 15 years I have been working with my staff on an artist residency project for the rural community of Fogo Island in collaboration with the Shorefast Foundation. Fogo Island was an unknown place in the world, the economy was dying, and the population decreased from 5,000 to 2,500 people. Together with the Shorefast Foundation we created Fogo Island Arts: “a residency-based contemporary art venue for artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians, curators, designers, and thinkers from around the world”. Today Fogo Island is a pilar in the international art scene and the community of Fogo Island has a future of hope.

We have acquired an enormous amount of information and experience from this process on how the combination of architecture, art, and philanthropy can instigate and sustain positive change for rural communities. In this studio we would like to expand on this experience and see what the next generation of rural contemporary artist centers can become and how can they contribute in other ways.

Design Task

Create a contemporary rural art center for one of two sites in rural communities in the state of Montana, USA. The client for the art center is a group of 12 hypothetical artists and 12 staff members. The artists will live and work at the art center for a period of one year experiencing all four seasons in rural Montana. Students will be tasked to design their own version of a Rural Contemporary Art Center: one that reflects their own personal values based upon their research during this semester.

The task is to create a hybrid of rural and urban architectural elements at this center. In this project we will focus both on the private and public spaces and the needs of the people who will be living, creating, and working at the artist center.

To create a unique building, or set of buildings, that have positive impactful change for a community is an exciting opportunity in the field of architecture. The relationship between art centers and rural communities is new and relatively unexplored. The possibilities are unlimited as there are very few references so there are plenty of new and different solutions to test out and explore.

You are free to work alone on this project or in small groups of 2-3 people. I would encourage you to work alone this semester to find you own voice, but you are free to choose to work in a small group.

Background Information

Many of my projects have focused on art, architecture, philanthropy, and rural communities. Due to this fact, I have been taking stock and researching other rural small communities that are collaborating with contemporary art.

Students will design a building or series of buildings that explore questions posed from myself, guest lecturers, and their classmates in a series of workshops. Each student will explore, define, experiment and then produce design solutions that will be an added architectural addition to their chosen small rural community in Montana.

The questions we will seek to answer are:

• What are new versions of artist centers in rural communities?
  
• How can these project add to the community and yet respect the status quo of communities that experience very little change themselves but are in a world that is changing quickly?
  
• What can this center offer to artists, employees that choose to establish their lives in a rural community?
  
• How can your project help join the potential of contemporary art and rural communities to create a positive change for everyone involved?
  
• How are artists, artist residencies, and contemporary art centers engaging with and helping rural communities?
  
• Can these art centers really help rural communities?
  

I have a strong belief and have experienced that art and architecture can place a vital role in helping to revitalize rural communities. Good examples include: Mass MoCA, Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, and Naoshima Island in Japan. Each of these projects have made a positive cultural and economic impact on their host communities. In many cases these small communities became known internationally and thus fostered a unique and public image with the communities making them an attractive global destination.

The Site

Our studio will be working on two sites in rural Montana: one site will be on Tippet Rise Art Center and the second site will be immersed in a rural community. We will be collaborating with Tippet Rise Artist Center. From their own description: “Tippet Rise Art Center is located in Fishtail, Montana, against the backdrop of the Beartooth Mountains near Yellowstone National Park. Set on a 12,000-acre working sheep and cattle ranch, Tippet Rise hosts classical chamber music and recitals and exhibits large-scale, outdoor sculptures. Tippet Rise celebrates the concept that art, music, architecture, and nature are inextricably linked in the human experience, each making the others more powerful. The art center features musical performance spaces indoors and out, with programs that seek to create memorable experiences for performers and audience members alike.”

Together with their staff we are now choosing sites in three different rural communities. The staff at Tippet Rise will be the people that introduce us to the community. Your projects should complement and not compete with the work of Tippet Rise Art Center. The staff will share their experiences with working with contemporary art in rural Montana and provide us with practical information about Montana culture, landscapes, and communities.

Course Structure and Timeline

Todd Saunders has taught in Canada, US, Norway, and Finland and has good experience with the use of short workshops as a teaching tool that will help students define their project during the semester. This year we would like to explore a series of short workshops in order to create a rural art center. Each workshop will include a guest lecturer who is an expert in their field and who can help you develop your project.

During the first month of the studio, we will invite in a few external colleagues to talk on video or in person and to share their experience and expertise in architecture. These lectures will be an opportunity for all of you to ask questions to help you with your own presentations. Many of the guest lecturers are Nordic colleagues that I know well and recently interviewed for an upcoming book called Share: Ideas from Nordic Architects. Other guests are from the world of contemporary art.

The deliverables for each week will be agreed together with the students during the week as to allow for a more personalized way of presenting and developing ideas. We will present at written description of each week at the beginning of the course. At various times during the semester, we will ask for specific deliverables. The final four weeks of the course will be dedicated to the making of the final presentation.