This is a vertical studio combining students in their fourth and fifth year of the BArch program with students from the architecture graduate programs Students may choose from a diverse range of options of study proposed by different faculty members In general the studio options are grounded in a conceptual basis that invites disciplinary innovation These studio options vary from year to yearSection DescriptionThe recent academic discourse on the notion of care has seen renewed energy and urgency no doubt due to a bubbling anxiety from the current state of affairs Forums such as Conversations on Care1 produced by Critical Broadcasting Lab and Ana Miljacki at MIT brought a range of academics and practitioners into a discussion of the various dimensions and manifestations of care in architecture Papers such as Shannon Matterns Maintenance and Care2 and Joan C Trontos An Ethic of Care3 come to the fore asking us to reflect on our problematic relationship with issues including health labor gender race and climate The promise is that moving forward perhaps we might make architecture more carefullyIn a parallel world the institutions or industrial complex of care are thriving likely unaware of the debate at architecture schools Access to healthcare continues to be a challenge in the wake of the COVID era as insurance and drug corporations dictate the fate of many With the general population getting older and as the Baby Boomer generation ages senior care facilities have been flourishing and rewriting the conventions as they vie for affluent customers looking to retire with dignity and amenities On the other end of the spectrum child rearing is increasingly a privilege of wealth Along with higher expectations and demand for childcare and early education learning methods like Montessori Waldorf and newer intergenerational approaches are offering alternative models of careWhat perhaps ties these spaces of care together is not necessarily a philosophical orientation towards care but rather a strict set of regulatory constraints legal building codes that ultimately shape these places for caregiving Interestingly architects are similarly beholden to a professional code of conduct defined as the Standard of Care4 It stipulates that those performing architectural services must demonstrate competence comparable to other professionals performing the same task So at the most basic level to care as an architect is to know what youre doing one must know the nuances of accessibility compliances fixture counts and occupancy type egress requirements etc Professional care is rooted in competence rather than ideologyWith these differing dimensions of care and a productive tension in mind this studio will investigate notions of care for a new day care located in San Franciscos Chinatown home to a tight knit and robust minority community A day care is typically a nonresidential facility that provides supervised daytime care for children seniors andor those with chronic disabilities Each constituent has very specific requirements that will shape the kind of spaces needed Students will be asked to balance the pragmatic constraints around institutional day care occupancies while finding opportunities for exploration interaction and community How can we design spaces that spark curiosity and growth for children How can we design welcoming and inclusive spaces for seniors How can a space provide meaningful connections to its context and to the outdoorsImportantly as students of architecture and potential future caretakers of the world how might we grapple with these different definitions and necessities of care as we build our future world What should we care about How can we manifest that care architecturally or otherwise

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