2024 Galleries
The Spark Gallery pages are one of our most popular design destinations, with thousands of visitors each year. Check out some of the latest Spark entries, in the galleries below.
Galleries // 2024 Spark:Spring Student // La Ofrenda y Los Bancos
La Ofrenda y Los Bancos
Winner - Silver
Competition: Spark:Spring Student
Designer: Isaac Mendez
Design Type: Spaces: architecture, interiors, landscape
Company / Organization / School: Syracuse University
Before there was writing, there was storytelling, an act occurs in every culture and from every age. It exists and existed to entertain, to inform, and to promulgate cultural traditions and values. For myself as a Mexican-American this particular point was very important to my own upbringing, learning about Mexico primarily through stories from the mouths of my family. This encouraged the research and interrogation of my cultural identity, and what emerged were two icons: “La Ofrenda'' and “El Banco.” Through the design process these icons were used to serve as connecting to, and formatting the tradition of storytelling for children, and in turn encourage a transition into storybooks and reading. The social dichotomy between these activities was referenced in the scalar relationships of the proposal, where small individuals each with their own character are set with the larger (monumental) collective. As such La Ofrenda Y Los Bancos alongside a collection of paintings which provoke the imagination to connect the project forms to some unseen story, will become the centerpiece of the children’s section of the library at the Mary Lou Johnson Library in Kenton, Ohio and may travel to other libraries within the county to serve those communities.
