D:center Baltimore is a broad cross-section of disciplines and individuals invested in improving and encouraging design-in all its iterations-in the Baltimore region. We believe design thinking has the capacity to change the world and that banding together in creative collaboration will greatly improve the quality of urban life.
While this website is under development, you can still visit us on: flickr, facebook, and especially on our tumblr blog
Contact us at dcenterbaltimore [at] gmail [dot] com
What we've been up to lately ...
D center @ MAP
Starting in June 2011, D center Baltimore occupied its first physical space after three years of nomadic existence. Through mid 2012, D center activated a 2,000-square-foot storefront gallery at 218 West Saratoga Street, Maryland Art Place (MAP)’s building. Dubbed D center @ MAP, the gallery is supported by one of Downtown Partnership’s Operation: Storefront grants, which were designed to fund creative uses of vacant commercial space in the city center. D center’s mission to create a nexus for interdisciplinary design, collaboration, and creative conversations in Baltimore is evidenced in its inaugural exhibition at D center @ MAP, the Open City Challenge Exhibition. For more information, see our press release here.
Since June, D center has curated and hosted several exhibits and events in the space, including:
The Open City Challenge Exhibition collected all of the submissions to the Urbanite Project: Open City Challenge, an ideas competition announced in March 2011. See below for more info about the Urbanite Project: Open City Challenge, and our collaborators.
H2OMG responded to and expanded on the geographic and conceptual boundaries challenged by University of Virginia School of Architecture Professors Robin Dripps, Lucia Phinney, and Jorg Sieweke at Design Conversation #28: Re-envisioning Public Infrastructure. A portion of the work in the exhibition was created by students in Sieweke’s graduate design studio at UVA. Additional participants included Biohabitats. Associated events included: Small Talk: Hug a Wetland, in which Peter May and his colleagues from Biohabitats removed their wetland from its temporary home in the gallery. The wetland had spent the past year of its life in Baltimore’s inner harbor, the result of a joint project by Biohabitats, Waterfront Partnership, and Living Classrooms. A complete ecosystem, the wetland had been living at D center @ MAP as a part of H2OMG. More Info Here
Network (Temporary Permanent Collection) re-rooted and re-inspired the conversation that led to the inception of D center: multiple disciplines, ages, and interests, convening on a moment en masse to excite and ignite design discourse in the city. The show featured work, projects, and research from contributors, colleagues, and constituents of the design center’s past, present, and future that demonstrated their relationship to design. More Info Here
We Searched For/We Discovered featured thesis work from MICA’s Environmental Design Class of 2011 and selections from AIA Baltimore’s 2011 Excellence and Design Awards. More Info Here
Women: An Exhibition: By showcasing the work of female artists and designers, exhibiting work about women’s roles in industry, and including projects about women known personally (colleagues, family, friends, mentors, role models, etc.), this show celebrates all the facets and roles of women in our lives. Curated by Sarah McCann, Women includes work by 39 artists from across the nation, 27 of whom work in Maryland (as well as one local Baltimore community organization) and 11 who hail from Colorado, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and Utah. More Info Here
... and more!: an Art to dine for event with Creative Alliance and Maria Broom, an AIA Urban Planning Committee public meeting on Westside Development options, studio and seminar classes for Morgan State University's School of Architecture and Planning, a workshop on service design, and a Baltimore Design Soiree!
Urbanite Project: Open City Challenge
The Open City Challenge was a joint project of D center Baltimore, Urbanite, the year-long Exhibition Design Seminar at Maryland Institute College of Art, the Maryland Transit Administration, and the Baltimore City Department of Transportation. Self-organized teams were invited to compete for $10,000 in prize money (provided by the MTA) and the chance to implement their solution to a pressing city issue: the quality-of-life issues brought about by the construction of the Red Line. For more information, visit www.urbaniteproject.com
Design Conversations
The Design Conversations are a monthly series of events organized by a group of rotating curators, focusing on topics that are timely and engaging. Since its inception more than two years ago, the Design Conversations have tackled food policy, public art, master planning, issues of sustainability, graphic design, architecture, and social activism. The Design Conversations are usually held on first tuesdays at The Windup Space, 12 W. North Ave., Baltimore, MD. More Info Here
... and Other Projects in the Works.
More soon ...
D center Baltimore Board Members
Klaus Philipsen, President
Sarah Doherty, Vice President
Ben Stone, Secretary
Marian Glebes, Treasurer
Marianne Amoss
Doreen Bolger
Sidney Brower
Frank Lucas
Jaimes Mayhew
Kenneth Morgan
Brian Oster
Fred Scharmen
Howard Stevens
Khosrow Vaghari
Jessica Young