Malcolm X College of Health Sciences

CHALLENGE

How can we support students from diverse backgrounds achieve a career in the health sciences?

How can we create a revitalizing health and learning hub in the heart of Chicago's medical district?

 

PROJECT

In Summer 2012, Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched the Reinvention Initiative, which aligned the City Colleges of Chicago to leverage the city’s assets and better connect students to successful careers. Malcolm X College was designated the health science campus due to its proximity to Rush Medical Center on the West side of the city. The initiative included funding to create a new campus for the health science focus to fill the projected 84,000 health care jobs in Chicago. Cannon was chosen to develop the design and The Third Teacher+ led the visioning process. Liz Gerber, professor at Northwestern University joined our team to co-facilitate. 

We synthesized the programmatic, cultural, community, and educational needs of various stakeholder groups to identify the underlying design requirements and principles. This included multiple small group research sessions, on-site observation, and several large stakeholder sessions to align on a design direction.

This visioning process led to the visioning, programming, and subsequent design for a 544,000 sf multi-faceted education, health, and community space in the medical district of Chicago. Learn more about the final design here and a CityLab profile here.

“We want to change the dynamics of what people think about community college"  David Sanders,  Malcolm X’s interim president

VISIONING + PROGRAMMING • USER RESEARCH • COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS • ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

120.jpg
DSC_0078_edited.jpg
Malcolm-X-Put-In.jpg

ROLE + COMPETENCIES:

WORKSHOP DESIGN •SMALL GROUP FACILITATION• STAKEHOLDER PRESENTATION•DOCUMENTATION 

AWARDS

2017, Fast Company, Innovation by Design finalist

Phase One in collaboration with TheThirdTeacher+ and CannonDesign. Teammates included Liz Gerber, Sarah Malin (Research), Tim Swanson, Nicholas Pryor, Eric Zachrison, Daniel Niewoehner, Giannina Zapattini, and consultants.