Landing
The 'Museum' of Residency - Welcoming All Home
The Museum of Residency, where the cultures of the world are curated and displayed by Refugees in Chicago, offers a residency program to 100 refugees each year. The museum facilitates programming to aid in the process of assimilation and produces diverse activities and exhibitions as the residents curate experiences and education for the community. Private housing is provided on site for half of the allotted residents while the other half lands throughout the larger framework of Chicago breaking down the barriers of cultural misunderstanding.
Mapping the foreign born population within Chicago situates Chinatown as an example of a culturally diverse experience. Creating general spaces that can be dramatically altered by what the program or resident requires produces environments that are constantly changing in relation to events and residents needs/desires.
The Museum of Residency lands between new and old Chinatown and creates an experience of awareness as the ground peels both up and down creating a system of ramping and landing allowing the blurring between interior and exterior. The architecture recedes into the background as people and events activate the spaces in which they inhabit.
