The Rosewood Studio was a pedagogical experiment rooted in design justice, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement. In partnership with the Real Rosewood Foundation and descendants of survivors, the studio confronted the legacy of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre while advancing equity, sustainability, and community empowerment. Graduate students from Florida International University’s Landscape Architecture and Interior Architecture programs reimagined a 29-acre site in Archer, Florida, as the Rosewood Educational, Cultural, and Scholar Center—a living memorial and community hub for remembrance, reconciliation, and renewal. The pedagogy emphasized critical inquiry and socially engaged design. Students translated oral histories, archival research, and descendant narratives into proposals that balanced symbolic commemoration with strategies to reframe Rosewood’s future. Projects included memorial paths, interpretive exhibits, sustainable farms, and ecological restoration, grounded in renewable technologies and economic opportunity. The studio demonstrated how design can mediate difficult histories and foster collective healing and dialogue. Culminating in a public exhibition at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Art Museum in Miami, the work expanded dialogue beyond academia, inviting wider communities into remembrance. The Rosewood Studio reframed pedagogy as civic practice, where education, collaboration, and community voice converge to address trauma and envision hopeful, sustainable futures.
