The brick, rammed earth, and ceramic-tiled structures of Soil Lab in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood are host to community brickmaking and wall-building workshops. Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, the commissioned project by designers from Copenhagen and Dublin draws on the work of landscape architect and Danish immigrant Jens Jensen, who founded what he called “a school of soil” in Wisconsin at The Clearing. Photo 7 of 10 in How One Community-Minded Designer Is Tapping the Potential of Chicago’s Vacant Lots

How One Community-Minded Designer Is Tapping the Potential of Chicago’s Vacant Lots

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The brick, rammed earth, and ceramic-tiled structures of Soil Lab in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood are host to community brickmaking and wall-building workshops. Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, the commissioned project by European designers James Alvert Martin, Eibhlin Ni Chathasaigh, Anne Dorthe Vesterm, and Maria Bruun draws on the work of landscape architect and Danish immigrant Jens Jensen. In 1935 he founded The Clearing, a school in Wisconsin that offers adults coursework in fine arts, crafts, humanities, and natural sciences.