To engage in design is to commit to making a place, an object, or a situation better. Students from the IAD Department were laser focused on that objective on February 11 in a hands-on event intending to brainstorm design ideas to a local space in Tallahassee. These students joined students in architecture from Florida A&M University and the middle school students at R. Frank Nims Middle School in a three-hour charrette problem-solving experience. As conceived by IAD faculty Stephanie Sickler, Kelley Robinson and Meghan Mick, these teams wrestled with designing a solution for the central outdoor space at the middle school. The challenge was to create an alternative area for students, teachers, and staff to enjoy, and to show off the creativity and spirit of the Nims community. Six  groups made up of the college and middle school pre-law students  were presented with specific needs in the courtyard, such as space for groups to gather, space for eating outdoors, space for reading, rest, and mental recharging, and space for learning outdoors. With the help of FSU and FAMU faculty, they assembled creative solutions for the courtyard space over a three- hour period presented on large sheets of kraft paper for all to see.

The event provided placed the interior design and architecture students into a place of leadership, facilitating the discussions and encouraging their young team members to voice their thoughts. In turn, the middle school students experienced the potential of design to make their school and their learning experience better.  A relationship between college and middle school faculty and administrators laid some intriguing groundwork for the dialogue to continue.

Later that afternoon, FSU IA&D students participated in a guest speaker presentation. George Bandy, Jr. is a national thought leader whose current and prior associations include the United States Green Building Council, Amazon, Mohawk, and Interface. Bandy engaged students in a dynamic conversation about the intersections of sustainability, human and economic wealth with the goals of fostering cross-disciplinary thinking and problem-solving within their current and future designs.

Altogether, it was a very full day of collaboration, creativity and possibility. It is exciting to think that future IAD students might include R. Frank Nims Middle School students whose aspirations for their future might now include design practice.

Like many places in the American south, Florida benefited from the labor of enslaved peoples in its past through its network of plantations. One such place was Tallahassee’s Goodwood Plantation, now Goodwood Museum & Gardens. In recognition of its engagement with slavery, the Goodwood Museum & Gardens organization this year held a competition to a create a memorial to all people enslaved on the property from approximately 1832 until 1865. This memorial is intended to serve as a lasting tribute to those individuals, named and unnamed, who lived and toiled in bondage here and to their descendants. The vision of the Goodwood Museum & Gardens Memorial to the Enslaved is the creation of a sacred and contemplative place that brings together the community.

FSU Department of Interior Architecture & Design graduate students took up the challenge of this memorial competition. Master of Fine Arts students Hannah Smith, Alana Houston, and Sarah Rifqi, together with their mentor, Assistant Professor Meghan Mick designed “a Bridge to the Stars”, which was submitted as their entry for the memorial in December of 2021. Goodwood Museum & Gardens has begun the review process and will be announcing the winner in February of 2022.

Project Statement by Hannah Smith, Alana Houston, and Sarah Rifqi

We believe in the importance of remembering the past in hopes of building a better future. The Goodwood Memorial to the Enslaved is a collection of features that shines a light on the individuals who once lived and worked there. As visitors enter the Memorial, a bridge carries them over a small retention pond. The supports of the bridge represent the enslaved, often hidden (as in the basement and back stairwell), but strong and capable, carrying the weight of Goodwood on their shoulders. The forms create a visual reminder of the deteriorating labor into which the enslaved people were forced. While crossing the bridge, visitors can read interpretive information about the people and their lives. The bridge also provides a better view of the lights suspended from the branches of the historic oaks. The lights have each known name etched on them and are symbolic of the lives the enslaved people never got to experience. In contrast to the bridge supports, visitors must look up in order to view the lights reminiscent of the stars. This simple act of looking up creates an interaction with visitors, a motion of respect and acknowledgement – something that was never granted to the enslaved people during their lives at Goodwood. Visitors can sit and contemplate on the benches or take a walk across the bridge. The design of this memorial serves as a place where people gather to learn, commemorate the lives of the enslaved, and honor them as the individuals they were.