SIDI | IDEAS

The Social Impact Design Initiative (SIDI) has evolved into a platform for developing new ideas and collaborating across studios. The collective conscience of the group encourages critical thinking about intentions and outcomes in our projects. It offers a platform for exchanging ideas between like-minded peers and reinforces the importance of socially responsible thinking in the design process. As we continue to grow, new opportunities and untapped potential begin to surface. Developing SIDI as an active, firm-wide practice component that facilitates project involvement at all levels for interested staff is a priority. Aside from documenting and sharing the social impact design projects we engage, we are discussing opportunities for collaborating and creating large impact through our combined energy and resources.

Social impact design is characterized by a wide range of innovative project types. The SIDI group at SWA embraces the explorative nature of this work, engaging diverse communities with varying needs. Last spring we conducted an in-house survey to better understand the trends and opportunities we are cultivating and to help determine directions to pursue while working as a group collaboratively. Here are some of the results.

An introspective look at SIDI revealed both common topics and exciting new threads. After a group-wide Web-Ex meeting to determine interests, survey respondents were asked to rate the following project theme possibilities according to their top priorities: City Resiliency, Homelessness, Income Disparity, Eco-Justice, Food Deserts, Schoolyard Greening, Pedestrian infrastructure, Pop-up Design Build, and Community Charette. Of these, City Resiliency and Pedestrian Infrastructure garnered the most interest. City resiliency is a broad subject but is a particularly relevant way of framing the challenges our communities face in the 21st century. Considering new technology, climate change, and growing urban populations, continuing to seek out ways for our cities to adapt to uncertain futures is vital. Pedestrian infrastructure plays a large role in this equation, as does providing equitable, environmentally sensitive transportation for all. Additional categories of interest include Low-income Housing, Wildlife Habitat Creation, and Drought Response and Resilience. Each of these are ongoing issues currently being addressed via various SWA projects and studies.

As SIDI continues to evolve, it is vital to take a critical look at the opportunities at hand. There is consensus that raising awareness both within SWA and the general public of the relevance and importance of SIDI projects is a top priority. This can be achieved through various efforts, including a firm-wide project of significant magnitude, deeper integration of the organization into SWA culture, and continuing to share our work and engage in creative dialogue. Integrating SIDI into the overall design practice at SWA will fortify our contribution to society and the places we live, and also help to keep the firm relevant.

Trent Matthias is a designer in the Sausalito studio and a member of SIDI.

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Posted by Trent Matthias
in Community
on 2 December, 2015

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It’s seven in the morning and the sounds of excitement are already deafening. Synchronized volunteers assemble tools, mounds of dirt tower above the horizon, and the morning sun highlights a long list of tasks. For the teachers, the garden will be key to the academic success of their students. For the students, it’s a good… Read more »

San Jacinto Elementary, in the Pleasant Grove Neighborhood of Dallas, had waited several years for a turn at its own learning garden. By the end of the day, they would finally have one. Together with Fort Worth, Texas-based nonprofit Real School Gardens, Sabre and VHA joined forces to raise funds for the outdoor learning environment. Real School Gardens engages low-income schools and trains teachers to help them become more effective educators. The training program includes hands-on outdoor lessons that have proven to improve student engagement and academic achievement.
According to Real School’s own research, their gardens increase test scores by 15 percent; one in every three improved test scores are believed to be related to the learning gardens. Thanks to these efforts to date, 53,000 students have access to outdoor learning environments and have grown over 621 pounds of potatoes for food pantries. The effort not only creates a learning environment for the school but also continues training to ensure the long-term maintenance and success of the garden. The initial gardens that were installed ten years ago remain successful today.

As part of SWA’s Social Impact Design Initiative, eight members of the Dallas studio designed the learning garden for the elementary under the guidance of Lannie McClelen from the Real School Garden’s team. Taking its cue from the students, SWA incorporated the school’s mascot, the jet, as a generator of form for the garden. The jet inspired the creation of murals, which in turn gave rise to paving bands that shift and move across the site as organizers. The bands delineate planting beds, areas for refurbished picnic tables, a tree grove, and outdoor classrooms.

Pre-K students greet the crowd of over one hundred people that morning with a tailored performance for the event. Children and their mentors rotate through the garden, working on multiple projects including 40 custom birdhouses, 2 art murals, 7 raised vegetable beds and 2 outdoor classrooms. Milestones are occasionally marked by cheers bursting forth from the proud students. When I step back and watch everyone gathered here, so focused on making this a better learning environment for these students, I understand the value of coming together to create something everybody feels proud of, something that imparts a sense of ownership and instills responsibility to be shared by all. The Learning Garden is already providing valuable lessons.

Image courtesy of Jill Johnson.

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Posted by Jean Pierre Casillas
in Community
on 15 October, 2015

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Growing Hearts and Minds

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