Vanka’s Canvas | Architectural Interface for Immigrant Art
Duration: 1 Semester
Affiliation: Group Project of ASOS on Social Justice @ CMU 2022 Fall
Contributors: Qiushi Chen, Jerry Yang
Instructor: Christine Mondor
Toolkits: Rhino + Grasshopper, Enscape
Murals
A reflection and interpretation of Vanka’s murals within the church reveals a powerful integration of social justice themes, conveyed through his sincere religious imagery and visual language. As an early Croatian immigrant in the United States, Vanka used his art to confront inequality and express a deeply human, honest perspective on war, faith, labor, and dignity.
Vanka Murals | Save Maxo Vanka Initative
(Analysis Credits to Dongtao Bi and Qiushi Chen)
Typology Mapping of Millvale - creating chances of exchange through affinity diagramming over the mapping
At the Individual/ Family/ community scale, we conducted an active typology mapping of Millvale to uncover and propose potential opportunities for social and spatial exchanges. Drawing from affinity diagrams developed by our entire studio cohort, we identified a range of gradient property levels that support or hinder exchange. By situating existing conditions in Millvale within this broader framework, we were able to pinpoint gaps and opportunities—offering insights into how targeted design interventions might enhance connectivity and foster meaningful community interactions.
(Diagram Credits to Dongtao Bi, Yiting Zhang and Qiushi Chen)
(Places of exchange credits to the whole ASOS studio members)
How do you investigate and apply social justice and exchange in your campus design?
Our Concept - Our Concept – Building on insights from our initial mapping, we prioritized strategies that promote exchange and inclusivity. We began with the idea of making the mural more publicly accessible—extending its influence across broader communities through time and tangible elements within the landscape. This led to conceptual drawings that reflect a vibrant color palette and spatial qualities rooted in daily interactions between the campus, the forest, and the surrounding community.
The project explores the concept of media as message, asking how architectural forms can critically engage with social narratives. The redesigned church façade, along with integrated display boards, serves as a dynamic canvas for artists to express their voices—raising awareness about the Vanka mural, advocating for its preservation, and amplifying the social justice themes embedded in Vanka’s original work.
Rethinking Museum Typologies
Traditional museum models often centralize galleries and artwork into singular, monumental spaces. While powerful, these institutions can feel overwhelming and require a large time investment—making visits infrequent and distancing art from everyday life. To shift this dynamic, we reimagine a more distributed and accessible form of engagement.
Decentralize the Colossal Museum Experience
Through a network of low-maintenance display boards—installed throughout Millvale and the greater Pittsburgh region—we extend the symbolic “veil” of the mural into public space. These boards serve as everyday encounters with art, seamlessly integrated into the rhythms of daily life. Although this approach disperses the medium, it does not increase the burden of maintenance. Instead, it fosters a sense of shared stewardship.
By cultivating community awareness and ownership, the system is designed to be self-sustaining—encouraging local participation and making art a living, evolving part of the social landscape.
“Tension”
The campus design mainly surrounds 3 datums of physical and visual transparency that connects all the buildings within the campus. Within the design, there are moments of polarized spatial references such as the void central courtyard vs church mass and the sculptural vertical egress of the gallery and the void vertical egress of the entrance building.
Parti & Datum
“Media as the Message”
The concept of dispersing the museum across the landscape and positioning artists along the campus edges—where the site meets the neighborhood—is central to the final campus design. At the heart of the plan, the church acts as both anchor and medium, surrounded by a series of modular screens that serve as canvases for a dynamic, ultra-public exhibition.
These installations allow for the projection of Vanka’s murals and in-house artists’ work at curated moments throughout the day. The screens become a living archive—displaying time-lapse footage of the Vanka mural’s restoration process to highlight the urgency of preserving disappearing voices worldwide. Simultaneously, they provide a platform to showcase contemporary pieces that speak to ongoing issues of social justice.
By blending architecture, media, and public space, the campus becomes not just a container for art, but an active agent in communicating its message—immersing the community in a continuously unfolding visual dialogue.
Exploded Iso of Campus with Elevation Height Levels Annotations
Spatial Experience and Sequence
