This is a vertical studio combining undergraduate and graduate architecture students. 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 theoretical and/or programmatic innovation. These studio options may vary from year to year.“Reparation is a construction project…. It was never entirely, or even primarily, about money. The demand for reparations was about social justice, reconciliation, reconstructing the internal life of black America, and eliminating institutional racism.” - Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Reconsidering ReparationsSection Description:This studio will partner with Oakland residents to envision reclaiming the I-980 freeway as a collective resource and reparations project. Constructed between 1968 and 1985, the freeway cut through West Oakland’s “Harlem of the West,” destroying hundreds of Black-owned homes, businesses, churches, and jobs while isolating the community from the city’s core. Promised economic growth never materialized, leaving behind pollution, displacement, and underused land. Today, the Vision 980 initiative led by Caltrans is exploring how to cap or remove the freeway to reconnect West Oakland to downtown. The goal is to return land for housing, cultural spaces, parks, and economic opportunity that benefit descendants of the displaced and the wider community. Caltrans is working with WSP and Arup on transportation planning and RBA Creative as a community lead. This semester, we will work with RBA Creative to explore reparations as both a cultural force and a catalyst for collective justice. We will draw on philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s idea that reparations should go beyond one-time payments to displaced families. His “constructive” approach frames reparations as world-building: addressing the deep, systemic roots of injustice by redistributing resources like housing, food, health care, and income, while also strengthening opportunities for political power and cultural expression. Our work as designers will focus on storytelling and scenario building, to connect personal experience to systematic change: Phase 1. Storytelling (2 weeks) We’ll listen to legacy residents in oral history recordings and in-person gatherings. We’ll draw their stories into depictions of physical space and urban fabric. (Please reserve Sat 9/6 from 10-2:30 for a walking tour’ strongly recommended but not required). Phase 2. Scenario Building (3.5 weeks) Next, we’ll combine research and design to create speculative timelines and system drawings that show how change might unfold along the 980. We’ll study how urban systems—such as investment, property ownership, community organization, and cultural activity—can spark lasting transformation. Phase 3. Community Activation We’ll bring our narrative and scenario drawings to a big, public block party along the 980 and use them to spark conversation with local residents. Phase 4. Moving In (7 weeks) We’ll design a select moment along the 980, focusing on experience at an architectural scale rather than a full master plan. We’ll learn from other buildings that change over time, and use playful models to explore the site’s complex sectional qualities. We’ll then synthesize work from earlier phases into a cohesive design, culminating in rich, playful drawings that envision the life, generational change, and renewal reparations can bring. Students in this class will learn how design can advance community justice, both through personal narrative-building and systemic scenario thinking. You will gain hands-on experience working with community members, applying your creative skills alongside local knowledge. The course will teach you how architectural design can respond to community action, develop precise representational skills that connect personal and systemic perspectives, and communicate effectively to public audiences. You will also learn to collaborate in small teams and across the studio, guided by student insight and curiosity.

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