“Children and Architecture” began, as do so many great courses, as a seed in instructor Luke Joyner’s mind. Many of Joyner’s grad school mentors spent time thinking about the relationship between built environments and children, but Joyner noticed soon after graduation that rigorous consideration of that relationship was a rarity in academia. As Joyner spent time as a teacher and progressed through years of teaching studio courses, the ways children interact with the built environment became a natural focus for a class. From the instant Children and Architecture became more idea than inkling, Joyner knew two things: there had to be a building component, and it had to be a Chicago Studies course. “This class was always going to be rooted in Chicago-based collaboration, it was Chicago Studies from the start.” As Joyner prepared the class, a golden opportunity fell in his lap: a friend of his, sixth-grade CPS teacher Layla Treuhaft-Ali, mentioned that her middle school, Claremont Academy, had no on-campus playground (there is a playground across the street students use). It seemed a match made in heaven, and the two quickly got to work on a collaboration.
As with any great idea, there came hurdles—and here there were hurdles aplenty. While UChicago had offered classes with build components prior to Children and Architecture, it was abundantly clear that it would be uniquely difficult to manifest this desire. Joyner’s plans for the class were grand, combining seminar, studio, and in-person build components. Each of these components was important in its own right, and Joyner hoped to use each in turn to motivate connections between the content of seminars and the tangibility of in-person studio and build work.
Yet even within the high-minded ambitions of the course, there remained many practical considerations—considerations which promised to make it difficult for the class to realize its full potential. “It was a 37-dimensional puzzle,” Joyner said, “we wanted to bring college students with power tools around minors in a pandemic during the late fall. We weren’t sure it was going to be possible at all.” Here, Joyner says, is where Children and Architecture’s status as a Chicago Studies class was most advantageous. “Chicago Studies was an absolute godsend, they negotiated the risk management on my behalf. If they hadn’t helped, I wouldn’t have known how to figure all the pieces out that I had never had to deal with before.” Chicago Studies interceded with the Office of Risk Management, CPS, and other major stakeholders on Joyner’s behalf. “What Chicago Studies added that I didn’t already have the capability to do was to support an idea that was pretty insane.
Despite being an “insane idea”, ARTH/ARCH/CHST 24270 Children and Architecture made its way into the University of Chicago course catalog in the Fall of 2021. After an initial immersion with younger children at the UChicago Lab School, the class’ final six weeks saw the in-depth collaboration Joyner and Treuhaft-Ali had envisioned come to life. Students traveled to Claremont to meet with the sixth graders and discuss ideas for potential usage of their abundant open space on campus. First, at Treuhaft-Ali’s behest, the sixth graders conducted a survey of the campus to discover the Claremont student body’s prevailing desires for a potential playground—results that were then compiled and studied by Joyner and his students. Using that information, Joyner’s class designed three potential site plans using the information gathered by the sixth graders and with guidance from Hana Ishikawa (site designer), Kate Varey (researcher on CPS play), Alex Enarson (playground builder), and Erik Peterson (Smart Museum curator/artist/builder). “What’s great about Chicago Studies is that if you are thoughtful, you can create situations where students can learn from and also be thoughtful actors in the community.” Joyner said. “There is a mutual learning that happens between different people collaborating with one another.” Finally, with the help of a microgrant from the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the students created prototypes which took components from each plan (including a lilypad platform, several play walls, and a hexagonal rope climbing structure). While these prototypes were functional, they served more as a proof of concept than as actual play equipment—they were placed into storage in the hopes of being used at Claremont some day.
Autumn quarter ended, and Joyner figured he wouldn’t have to think about those prototypes for the immediate future. Then, something incredible happened. Joyner and Treuhaft-Ali, on a whim, had filled out a City of Chicago grant application in August—a longshot from which they never expected to hear. That changed when they discovered that their application had been selected as a finalist in the competition, a Chicago Works Community Challenge sponsored by the Office of the Mayor to foster the creation of novel public spaces around the city. Joyner, Treuhaft-Ali, and two of the sixth graders from her class gave a presentation to the grant board in early November, and again, they waited. Then, on the afternoon of January 6th, Treuhaft-Ali received a phone call: they had won $1.5 million to make their plans a reality, becoming one of only seven winners out of over five hundred proposals citywide.
As for the future of the collaboration with Claremont? Joyner, Treuhaft-Ali, Alex Enarson (principal of Claremont Academy), and a number of Claremont sixth graders met with CPS to discuss their vision for the project. The group convinced CPS to hire their preferred landscape architect, guaranteeing that Joyner, Treuhaft-Ali, and their students will continue to have a voice in the process. In addition, two of Joyner’s student will be working under that landscape architect as Metcalf interns and will continue to be involved in the project.
While Joyner’s experimental class’ success story seems improbable, his course design, pedagogy, and even partnership strategy relied heavily on established practices for community-based learning. Joyner had a piece of advice for others looking to create classes that tap into the learning opportunities present in the greater Chicago community: “It is absolutely necessary to be flexible throughout, but you must still provide your students clarity. Balancing those things takes a lot of time, thought, and planning.” Chicago Studies is proud to have been able to support Luke and his students throughout their long process of planning, implementing, and building this great idea.
Interested in developing a Chicago-based experiential course such as Luke’s, or other course experiences that engage the city? Need resources or other logistical support to make your great idea a reality? Set up a meeting with Chicago Studies today! For more information, visit our Faculty resource pages: https://chicagostudies.uchicago.edu/faculty