MARTIN KNOX


My first visit to Mill Creek was at the beginning of the summer...when I started working with Anne...I went alone on my roller blades...mostly to check out the school and Aspen Farm...I went up Market to 48th or 49th and then asked for directions to the school...around there I asked how to get to a "big garden"...the gate was locked but there were a few people inside...in the gazebo...one asked if I would like to come in and ended up giving me a tour...it was Ben who is a guard at the Van Pelt library...
The second time I went to the site with Robert to map surfaces...like grass or pavement...to update the digital database...
Next time I went just crusing around...I came across Hayward Ford and ended up pulling weeds for him...he gave me a plant quiz...like what is this...what is that...he referred to me after that as the guy who rollerblades...I had to weed in my white socks because I just had the roller blades...he told me I need to help him more because I need a tan...
After the first visit I mentioned to Robert that it was a bit of a culture shock...I suppose I felt empathy for the people who lived there...it wasn't until I came back to campus that I realized how much this area here around Penn is an oasis of wealth...like a garden...
I didn't really feel fear...more like a sense of exploration...like how bad really was it?...didn't realize until I got back how much of a strain it is that it's actually a reality...
When I went with Robert a couple of people stopped to ask what we're doing...I had a drawing board and a map...they were intrigued and also protective... we just mentioned that it's a school project...
During the summer, I did not enter the Sulzberger school but to I did have a chance to visit a another school in the area...Shaw Middel School...to observe a science-alliance class taught by students from Penn...I brought a camera...people react totally differently when you have a camera...I really didn't feel much ...just observing...and every time I went I realized that my initial feelings of empathy and sympathy were unnnecessary and inappropriate...when I started talking to the kids I saw that they have aspirations of going to college but don't see it as possible...what separates them from me in financial terms?. . .Actually they probably have many more ways of funding their education...they need to be shown by example that it's possible...or be informed of their resources...all this became more important to me than that they live in dilapidated housing or other things...
I really like this studio...the site is good because it has a lot of history...personal and public...and an environmental crisis...condition...and part of our mission is to expose it...I really like that...compared with the previous studios...they were more formally oriented...geometry doesn't seem to be the primary concern...but it's still an element...other studios have lofty design theories...geometry and design are projected onto the site...this one explores a different design philosophy...almost contrary...from the ground up...we're still looking from the ivory tower, so some loft is still there...our position is still of academics...but we're encouraged to realize how we distance ourselves...and through this process we train ourselves as academics...


[ 4 routes ]