X. Design from Patterns to Detail
New England's mill towns are notoriously dilapidated, drug-ridden and economically deprived. Franklin, the town adjacent to Sophie's is such a town. In the "Crotch" of three main rivers, once a thriving industrial down-town, lie the quickly crumbling bricks and glass of factories. The main street is entirely subsidized housing. Their inhabitants are 18 to 24 years of age and known for abusing methamphetamine. The town had the highest teen-pregnancy rate in the country several years running, and thus became known as "Skanklin."
Sophie was invited to do an Advanced PDC to redesign the mill buildings situated amongst this low-income settlement. The mills were surrounded by countless stores with "For Sale" signs, dusty and crooked in their windows. The design charrette team examined the meta-context, the other mill towns along the same river and beyond and the historic patterns of our ever-changing world. Once the patterns were determined, they began picking away at the design microscopically until they could zoom out again to see the complex whole. They designed multi-generational housing units, a brewery and restaurant, an herbal medicinal training and healing center, a year round food-hub, and stormwater management systems.
In the drawings, Sophie imagined herself there, drawing every last flower petal knowing some children would come and pick them for their mothers. She worked on the deconstruction and renovation strategies and protocol, promising herself that she would be on site for the implementation. The designers have been presenting to the town council, the community organizers and to developers. It is a slow process, but once the project is bought, the feeling and deep-understanding will be transparent to the locals, the workers, and the surrounding communities.
Un/Learning commentary
I learned that by slowly moving into detail, I become acutely invested--emotionally and logistically. Powerful works of art are created when there is care of patterning followed by appropriate attention to detail.
XI. Use and Value Natural & Renewable Resources & Services
When Sophie was five, her neighbors Eric and Heide began constructing a timber frame straw-bale home. She helped wherever she could and quickly they became a strong influence. She babysat their kids, who dubbed the river running through their shared forest "Sophie's Stream."
Eric started a maple-sugaring operation to supplement his forestry work. After Adam passed and Sophie was living at home, Sophie joined his maple sugaring team where she worked hauling buckets of sap, boiling for long hours and cleaning equipment. She drank the blood from the trees, feeling the rush of health wash through and renew her body and mind.
Sophie joined a Natural Resources Stewardship class the day after beginning Gaia University where, for eight hours every Friday, she intimately rediscovered her bioregion. The watersheds, the wildlife, the local governing and volunteer forces--she was fascinated and elated to know that she loves her home. Her wanderlust slowly dissipated, her itchy-feet stopped itching. She knows her bioregion the best of any bioregion in the world. Why leave it in the hands of the careless and watch it slowly be altered and destroyed?
Un/Learning commentary
I learned that not only are the woods, the waters, the birds and the bees all integral to our health and the health of the planet, but that me and my energy are an incredible asset. I wake every day refreshed and renewed, am willing and able to grab a shovel and dig my ponds, haul manure and build a fence. We only live so long, and I vow to work for the health of the people and the vigor of the environment.