The Voices of the Middle Branch interview series aims to celebrate the communities around the Middle Branch through visual storytelling.
ANDREW, rEIMAGINE mIDDLE BRANCH FELLOW
“I've been here in Baltimore since 2012 and I live in Better Waverly. I was living in New York, and I think I was kind of jaded by like, being such a small part in a giant city. At Morgan I felt I was part of this bigger community that just felt like it was easy to tap into and join. As a Fellow, it seemed my project was very much about immortalizing this summer after the pandemic. Our [Master of Architecture] program is supposed to be about understanding people’s needs in space. Everything that we were doing was virtual... designing from afar. The majority of our program was like that, because of the pandemic. So, this was a really nice opportunity to explore the actual landscape. My project was mainly about observations as well as really analyzing how people are learning how to be physical again and enjoying their first summer after a harsh spring or a harsh winter.
During my fellowship, I would visit the Middle Branch and observe the environment, the spaces, and the people. There were memories of different degrees of severity that made an impact on me. One of the most impactful was when I went to Cherry Hill. They have a community farm and there was a protest to save the community garden. I also watched people do really simple things, like how people sat on benches in different ways. I watched a family running down a hill to sit at a picnic. I saw fishermen who sit next to each other by the water. In this time of needing personal space but also needing to be outdoors, the Middle Branch provided an outlet. What we design and what we make must be for people. The Middle Branch has an emotional connection and I think is a reminder of personality within people and communities and how they use it.”
“What we design and what we make must be for people. The Middle Branch has an emotional connection and I think is a reminder of personality within people and communities and how they use it.”