I AM BLOOMING designed by Adjunct Assistant Professor Vincent Calabro (University of Illinois Chicago) and Assistant Professor Akima Brackeen (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) received an Honorable Mention in ACSA Faculty Design Award.
I AM BLOOMING weaves together the rich traditions of African, African-American, and Jewish cultures, celebrating their shared values of communal gathering and the cyclical nature of life. In African and African-American cultures, these gatherings have been a central aspect of community life, where participants arrange themselves in circular formations to foster a sense of unity and togetherness through rituals of ring shouts, drumming circles, rap cyphers, and healing circles.
In parallel, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot embraces impermanence both in the realm of time and the built environment by commemorating the seasonal harvest, and encouraging a deep connection with nature and community, cycles of growth, and the transitory nature of materiality and the human experience.
By acknowledging the cyclical rhythms of life, I AM BLOOMING creates a unique space for grounding, reflection, and mindfulness. After the festival, the sukkah will serve as a meditative pavilion open to all members of the North Lawndale Community.
Contributing Participants
Design Leads: Akima Brackeen + Vincent Calabro Collaborators: Community Organization: I AM ABLE Fabrication: Emily Duong + Michael Graham Project Partners: Artistic Directors / Festival Curators: Joseph Altshuler + Zack Morrison of Could Be DesignLandscape Design + Graphics: Nekita Thomas of JoyJects Community Engagement: Jonathan Kelly of Lawndale Pop-Up Programming and Partnerships: Craig Stevenson of Open Architecture Collaborative Chicago Landscape/ Plant Consulting: Annamaria Leon of Homan Grown Photography: Brian Griffin + Tom Harris.
Faculty Design
To provide a venue for work that advances the reflective nature of practice and teaching by recognizing and encouraging creative design and design investigation in architecture and related environmental design fields and by promoting work that expands the boundaries of design through, for example but not limited to, formal investigations, innovative design process, addressing justice, working with communities, advancing sustainable practices, fostering resilience, and/or centering the human experience.