DCD Summer Design Studios 2026 | Week 2: EXPLORE

Jul 17

The theme of Week 2 of our Summer Design Studios, EXPLORE, is all about understanding a challenge in its full complexity — through research, mapping, observation, and meeting the people who will benefit most from said challenge being addressed. For our interns, that meant trading the studio for tape measures, notebooks, and site visits across Providence!

We kicked off the week with a big reveal: our Summer 2026 Community Clients! After revealing the results of their anonymous vote from last week, both studios learned which community clients they'd be spending the rest of the summer with. Design/Build will be working with Tides Family Services and 50 Sims / Scout, while Creative Change will be working with Pete & Andy's Food Pantry and the George Wiley Center.

To make the most of their first site visits, our teen designers split into focused roles before heading out the door: an Interviewer to ask the client questions, a Note Taker to capture key details, a Documentation lead to photograph the space, an Observer to watch how people actually use the site, and a Space Analyst to take stock of the physical environment. Dividing up the work meant every one of our interns had an important role to play and a clear lens to explore through, which ensured they collected everything they needed for the work ahead!

Design/Build visited George N. Hunt School to learn about Tides Family Services' work supporting at-risk youth and families, taking measurements and beginning early sketches for a storefront shade-and-seating structure to support Tides' pilot horticulture program. Over at 50 Sims, interns toured the site's loading dock and chatted with neighbors to get a better idea on how to create a community gathering space that will serve the most people possible.

Creative Change headed to Pete & Andy's Food Pantry to see the space firsthand and start imagining a series of welcoming banners for families visiting the pantry, and dove into some deeper research and early design concepts to prepare for their upcoming site visit to the George Wiley Center, a local grassroots agency that organizes members of the low-income community to advocate for systemic changes that address the root causes of poverty.

At DCD, we know that exploring a challenge is more than just research: it’s about opening up space to imagine. Throughout the week, both studios dove into brainstorming through a mix of methods, such as an all-out Idea Relay Race that had teams sprinting (literally) to generate ideas under time pressure, deeper research into each client's world, and hands-on model-making to start giving early concepts physical form.

To conclude the week, our summer interns ventured out of the studio once more for a fun team field trip to Lang's Bowlarama, allowing everyone to recharge together before turning their full attention to their service projects next week!