Day laborer housing center on 4th South and Rio Grande in Salt Lake City, Utah
Creators: name: Burningham, John
Publisher: name: University of Utah
Year: 2012
Subjects: Working class
Dwellings

description: The Day Laborer and Housing Center (DLHC) was a favorite among jury members and faculty, not because of the design but because of the ideas and issues behind it. For me it was many things, mainly it was difficult.  It required more than the normal degree of  engagement, I had to become very familiar with the issues surrounding immigration and migrant workers.  This knowledge had to inform the architecture.  The degree to which I was able to do this is debatable.  The project arose from my desire to do something interesting with a solid theoretical base.  My many years working in the construction field lead me to think about many of the Mexican men that I had met and their stories which were always filled with trials and incredible hardship.  The one aspect of these stories that they all have in common and that I admire is the determination and hope of these men and their families. I wanted to do something of value other than some museum or center for the - you fill in the blank.  It took me half of the first semester to narrow the issues the surrounding immigration into the DLHC.  A border station, a Center for Immigration Policy Research and Reform were earlier thesis proposals.  The challenge came from the need for the architecture to actually speak to the issue of immigration on many levels ranging from the theoretical to the practical.  The DLHC gave me the opportunity to address many of the issues.  Looking back it was probably too much for me to handle.  Once I got through the research and programming (which developed more during schematic) I focused on more of the theoretical side of the project.  This proved to yield many different ideas, some were better than others.  They included ideas such as the "theater," and using a pez dispenser as a model for the actual day laborer center.  Many of these ideas were perhaps "too much," none the less they proved to be interesting and revealing on the power that architecture can have.  As one can see this book attempts to give an overview of the project from beginning to end while giving my perspective as well as others. So throughout this book I will add comments and perspectives in an effort to make the project come full circle.  The early conceptual design was perhaps the most promising in terms of form.  The parti design proposals were the beginning of my attempt to make this a completely theoretical project yet as I did it I felt unsure about what exactly this project needed to theoretically or "utopian."  This was due to my inexperience and tendency to make things harder than they have to be.  After I scrapped the theoretical schemes or at least lessened it, I focused on making it more "real."  I believe that it is here where the project started to really suffer for a number of reasons.  Mainly an unclear understanding by me of where I was going with this and therefore how to get there.  Additionally, trying to do what you think the professors want so you can pass, versus trusting yourself (this was a comment made by a juror who could see the dilemma that I was having) doing what you think you should do.  Anyway, the following is a compilation of my research, process, design and presentation.  I have done my best to record my process to the best of my ability so unless you are "asleep during the first half" of this book you should get a good sense of what this project is about and may it be beneficial.