Join Some of the Most Creative Thinkers in New England:
Push the limits of design thinking, reframe critical issues in interdisciplinary “design studios”, exploring ways to design a plan for the realization of the food campus vision.
Planning is underway for The Center for Creative Solutions 2011 Workshop
The Retreat Farm: Sustainable Solutions, Brattleboro, Vermont
Michael Singer
Michael Singer is an artist and designer. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Michael Singer’s work opened new possibilities for outdoor and indoor sculpture and contributed to the definition of site specific art and the development of public places. From the 1990s to the present his work has been instrumental in transforming public art, architecture, landscape, and planning projects into successful models for urban and ecological renewal. In 2002, Michael Singer formed a collaborative and interdisciplinary studio providing architectural and landscape design, planning, exhibit design, fabrication, and construction services.
Michael has received numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His works are part of public collections including the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Center for Creative Solutions 2011 Workshop:
The Retreat Farm: Sustainable Solutions
To be held at the Marlboro College Graduate Center, Brattleboro, Vermont.
Vermont is at the forefront of the local, sustainable agriculture movement. Internationally known artist and designer Michael Singer is at the forefront of the integrated design movement, creating models for successful urban and ecological renewal. The Center for Creative Solutions (CCS) demonstrates how designers, planners and artists can work creatively and collaboratively to address challenging community issues. All three of these forces will come together for an exciting look at the Windham Foundation’s vision of a sustainable campus at their Brattleboro Retreat Farm location.
Building on the success of last year’s “Renewing the Riverfront” workshop this year the Center for Creative Solutions is planning an intensive, interdisciplinary workshop exploring sustainable uses for the historic Retreat Farm in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Details and dates will be available soon so please check back soon.
History:
1967: The Grafton Village Cheese Company is started by the Windham Foundation in 1967 as a for-profit business supporting the missions of the Foundation.
2001: The Windham Foundation purchases the 475 acre Retreat Farm on Route 30.
2007: The Windham Foundation and Brattleboro Retreat work with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, who overhauled nine-miles of trails on the Retreat Farm and Brattleboro Retreat properties to create an environmentally stable network of publicly accessible year-round recreational trails.
2008: Grafton Village Cheese Company opens its new production facility and retail store at the Retreat Farm in Brattleboro.
2009: Windham Foundation President & CEO John Bramley offers a vision for a “Food Campus” at the Retreat Farm that uses sustainable approaches to food and energy production, encourages entrepreneurship, welcomes education and recreation, and promotes connections to the travel, tourism, and the hospitality industries.
2011: Now What?
Is the Windham Foundation vision or another sustainable solution at the Retreat Farm feasible?
In what ways can the Retreat Farm food campus create productive synergies with local agriculture and sustainable living movements?
What would a green and sustainable Retreat Farm look like?
To answer these questions, we are looking for creative thinkers, social innovators, economic and development professionals, architecture, design and planning practitioners, urban enthusiasts, as well as foodies and local agriculture community members to participate in identifying the opportunities for the Retreat Farm. Recent graduates and current students are all welcome to apply. Marlboro College’s Graduate Center will award two (2) graduate credits upon completion of the workshop for those requesting academic recognition. Regardless of training, participants will share a desire to work collaboratively and to work on a real-world challenge.
Participants will push the limits of design thinking, reframe critical issues, and communicate new ideas. The workshop will be structured as an interdisciplinary “design studio” to explore and describe ways to design a plan for the realization of the food campus vision. Participants are the core of the design team. The Center for Creative Solutions Fellows will work with participants as they draw on models to communicate the opportunities presented by the site and provide integrated tools for measured decision-making about the long-term viability of the project and its future. Guest critics will introduce the team to ground-breaking ideas to integrate into the final proposal.
