Category: Design Section: Faculty Title of Work or Project: Radical Makeover for Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art Size: 24”x24” Media: Inkjet Print of Digital Raytracing Short paragraph describing the purpose of the image(s): The design is an unsolicited proposal for a site-specific artwork. The installation treats the building as someone who needs a makeover, and uses prosthetics, jewelry and hair to “beautify” the subject. Issues raised include appropriation, decoration vs. design, and gender. The images serve as a way to promote discussion about how to design buildings that relate to the human body. The “before and after” format mirrors a trend in popular culture, making the design accessible to an audience beyond the confines of the architectural community. By working with realistic images of a real building, the ideas and issues enter the real world, leaving the rarified atmosphere of theoretical works unbound by natural laws. Short paragraph describing how the image(s) related to and affected the design process: The images served as a way to study the design and try out new ideas, looking at the building from a variety of vantage points and approaches. The initial conceptual drawings were made freehand on trace, and then the new design elements were integrated with the existing building. Some items studied while creating the images included color, proportion, scale, texture and pattern. Short paragraph describing what was learned (about design communication, architecture or interior design) as a result of creating the image(s): The existing building (the “before”) has a very regular design, is designed on a series of modules, and is very flat, lending itself to quick computer modeling. This raised questions about whether the computer may have played a part in the austerity of the original building. Also, after showing the before/after layout to a variety of people, it seemed that using the comparison technique helped explain what was being proposed better than just showing the “after” images that are common to design presentations. In addition, people seeing the images became engaged with the issues raised without very little written input.