The framework of the outsidein project was to allow shared space to grow from the voices and the presence of “the people.” I envisioned the book, entitled “outsidein: a community space for hale county,” architecturally, as the first equal access forum space for this area, with each of the interviewees present together within the “volume.” As the people were given a forum for their voices many became invested in the idea of shared space, which led to our creation of community discussions and pot-luck dinners. Once gathered, the people wanted to discuss race, and claimed that this project enabled black and white people to come together to socialize intentionally for the first time in Hale County.

We worked together to organize regular community events where people shared their common interests and skills. We then claimed shared space through the renovation of a building for the purpose of regular community gathering.

The Birmingham segregation ordinances, which can be acquired from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, objectively describe the required separation of space before desegregation, demonstrating the subjective power and/or tension that shared space can have. The two documents together illustrate racially charged space and the possibility for progress in the form of claiming space that stands for dialogue and connection. The outsidein group has since grown into a larger building and [in their words] continues its “efforts to encourage change in our world of Hale County...”