01.17 // Field Trip and Assignment
Resources
Syllabus | Class Box Folder | Observation Assignment and Missions
Last class, we talked about observation and its relevance to design research. This class, we introduced our first project, giving students the opportunity to use observation in practice. We arranged a trip to “Goodwill meets Home Depot,” Construction Junction.
Construction Junction (CJ) is an organization that accepts donations of used and surplus materials and sells them in their 30,000 square foot warehouse space.
“Last year, we sold 7,000 doors,” Terry shared, gesturing toward the large warehouse space and the materials on shelves and floors. We saw everything you could imagine needing in a home, from materials (screws, metal scraps, tile, etc) to assembled sets (rooms, kitchens, etc), in every style and configuration.
Operating at such scale involves the daily inflows and outflows of material. Donated materials come through the door, get priced, inventoried, then goes to the floor in its appropriate department, so that people can easily shop for things. Thirty employees including Terry run these daily operations.
But CJ isn’t just a store that “sells old stuff”, says Terry. They do a job training program with Goodwill, participate in a donation program called ReGive which donates to other non-profits, hosts events including with Project RE, which collaborates between CJ, the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh, and CMU Urban Design, always keeping busy.
Observation assignment
Students can access the observation assignments and particular team missions in the class Box folder.
Documenting and presenting findings
For next class, we asked students to prepare their research in two formats — (1) published blog post with research documentation and (2) in-class presentation using medium of their choice (slides, poster, video, audio, etc).
