Stock Exchange

Karen Lewis
Assistant Professor of Architecture
University of Kentucky

Beautiful buildings cannot solve public problems, especially ones that involve hundreds of trucks, thousands of cows, and tons of manure.

The visual design research architects produce – diagrams, maps, and drawings – has significance beyond the final form of a building. Architecture can do more than just design buildings, it can also visualize the physical, social, and economic impacts of an institution.

In order to engage with the community debate surrounding the relocation of the Bluegrass Stockyard, the nation’s third largest cattle auction facility, architecture students at the University of Kentucky formatted their research into a public exhibition titled “Stock Exchange” that graphically demonstrated the Stockyard’s environmental and social impacts. The maps, drawings and diagrams were used to help educate the public and, as a result, the research was used to amend Kentucky zoning laws. Article 718.2.M now includes stockyards in light industrial zones.

Watch the video of the presentation here: http://www.socialstudiesconference.org/node/233