Future technology for public amenities could be applied to "the future of public day lockers":

http://www.smartplanet.com/video/the-future-of-bus-stops/362991

guerilla mug assault by Philadelphia Clay Studio

The Guerilla Mug Assault November 8, 2012

"On November 8, 2012, The Clay Studio will hit the streets of Philadelphia. Stationed at six different locales with both foot traffic and an abundance of coffee shops, teams will give away 500 beautifully crafted handmade ceramic mugs to 500 individuals with disposable cups. A tag attached to each mug will include information about the project, the mugs maker, and The Clay Studios blog address with a statement encouraging the recipient to post about their experiences using their chosen mug and the relationship they develop with it. With support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its Knight Arts Challenge, The Clay Studio will explore the relevance of handmade ceramic tableware in the 21st century by distributing free handmade mugs to people holding disposable coffee cups around various coffee shops throughout center city Philadelphia. The recipients are then to share their experiences of use on The Clay Studio blog. This Guerilla Mug Assault is part of a larger project titled Made by Hand. The project began in August 2012 with two exhibitions: Derek Au Recent Work and Pots at Rest. The exhibitions explored both obvious and subliminal associations one may draw with tableware including nourishment, the sharing of food, social hierarchies of dining, and these objects abilities to serve as reminders of people, time and place. The Clay Studios Artistic Director Jeff Guido states, Countless exhibitions have been realized on tableware, but none that ask both maker and user to define its relevance or function in their lives, and more broadly, its role in present day culture - Why do people buy it and why do people make it? With the Made by Hand project, multiple voices and points of view will be given equal opportunity to express what it means to them. And the project moves beyond the converted, taking the art to the streets with the Guerilla Mug Assault, which removes a barrier for many when it comes to the handmade price. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundations Knight Arts Challenge is a three year, $9 million initiative funding innovative projects that engage and enrich Philadelphias communities. In 2011, Out of 1,752 applicants and 36 winners, The Clay Studio is honored to receive a $15,000 matching grant in support of the Guerilla Mug Assault. "
http://www.theclaystudio.org/exhibition/the-guerilla-mug-assault

SwapBox Book Draft

SwapBox Book Draft

"Capturing" a Community Collective

Preliminary images used as a seed for community Workshop

Billy's awesome project

Billy was at our midterm mixer, and here is his project. It looks pretty cool.
http://kck.st/RC1Hii

Philly Painting

 

http://www.phillypainting.org/

Groundswell Institute (the venue today)

Walk Philadelphia

Three point plan...

1. Make it Fun

• Hide the health aspect from the presentation.  Let it be a really hidden agenda.
• Create a competition out of it, more points for walking. Points can be redeemed at Whole Foods, Farmers Markets and City Sports.
• Design walks for people based on moral character

2.  Address the proper neighborhoods

• Northwest Philadelphia is the area in most need of a health change.
• Will a technology driven proposal work there? Or should it be more analog so that everyone can do it.

3. Keep it Simple

• To get the most people involved it needs to be something simple that is easy to do.  
• The Freedom Trail in Boston is just a red line on the sidewalk for people to follow.
• Branding this properly will make people more willing to join.

In summary its about tricking people into walking by making it fun, the end goal is that they get healthier.

midterm notes:

SWAPBOX MIDTERM NOTES:

·         Scalability

·         Geography

·         Measuring Impact

·         Talk to Karen from Philly FreeCycle- resource exchange http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phillyfreecycle/

·         Talk to Café’s – Greenline -> Douglas

·         To Install we need an Epoxy Anchors

·         Think about the Management Aspect

·         Be concerned about who has access to Think Phone tree—text messages

·         Contact Anthony Smyrski Creative:  http://smyrskicreative.com/

·         What is in Abundance- Old Books Swap Box many places don’t accept old books

·         We should Design one:

·         Make it a Brand—like the telephone booth

·         Phased Approach- Regimented

·         Design A Swapbox

·         Be aware of Trash Day- city recycle efforts

·         Corporate sponsors

·         An Incentive System. i.e. foot locker

·         Positive Psychology research to find: Christakis, Fowler

·         Mapping, Placement, Giving

·         How to add meaning

·         Adam Grant at Wharton: Give and Take, Pro Social Behavior

·         Education of this space: explain the meaning

·         Tell the story of objects in the swapbox.

·         People to Contact: First Person Non Profit in Phiadelphia

Exchange Concourse

Three possible directions can pursue:

  1. Collaborate with multiple artists to conduct a “collage” art exhibit in the concourse:

·         Demonstrate a theme or a short-term goal for inspiration

·         Map the concourse into several zones

·         Invite individual artist with a limit budget ($500- $1000) for occupying a selected zone

·         Propose a sequence of the exhibit

·         Collect the list of exhibition ideas (individual proposals) and document as a practical solution for presentation to the authority

  2. Propose for a sport gathering

·         Demonstrate the advantages/ uniqueness of the space regarding hosting an event

·         Investigate possible organizations (Running: Philadelphia Runner Urban Scramble)

The Urban Scramble

·         Design/propose for a possible path/ form to carry out the event

·         Provide graphic support

  3.  Draft a design competition brief

·         State an overall aim

·         Define the theme and specific objectives of the competition (building connectivity: how the influence of digital technology makes an impact on physical reality)

·         Describe the current physical and culture context (location, accessibility, environment, people, etc.)

·         Set up design limitations (site boundary, building types, building capacity, material, etc.)

·         Registration and submittal requirement

·         Jury and time frame

·         Result and awards

·         Authority and sponsors

Philly Hop Lots

Philly Hop Lots

3 Point Plan:

1. Simplify:
     - Who is it helping and how?
          - Breweries
          - Residents of neighborhoods/citizens of city
          - Students
     - What is it creating/enhancing?
          - Microbrew culture/Niche market
          - Neighborhood identity
          - Philadelphia's history as a beer city
          - Reduction in x amount of organic waste going in to landfill
     - What is being taught?
          - How to compost
          - How to brew
          - The conversion of wasted land to productive land

2. Quantify:
     - How much waste do the breweries create?
     - How much hops are needed to brew?
     - How much land is needed to grow the hops?
     - Can there be a profit?
     - Where does that profit go?

3. Contact:
     - Adam Grant
     Wharton Associate Professor
     Organizational psychologist specializing in work motivation, job design, prosocial helping and giving behaviors, and employee initiative and proactivity

     -Andrea Malmberg:
    Director of Research and Knowledge Management
    The Savory Institute

     Over the last twenty years and in many different capacities, Andrea has facilitated citizens in gathering data and interpreting and understanding biological and sociological phenomena so that they can make sound ecological, economic, and quality of life decisions.  Most notably, Andrea was appointed to the United State’ Interagency Forest Ecosystem Assessment Team in 1993, co-developed a widely used ecosystem process monitoring protocol, and is frequently cited for her work on the importance of place in creating environmental ethics and landscape meanings.

     - Local Breweries

Precedents

Spontaneous Interventions: Interboro Partners

http://www.spontaneousinterventions.org/project/lentspace

Interboro Partners was also one of the panel members of the Symposium, and discussed for MOMA PS1 project, Holding Pattern

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/yap/2011ny_holdingpattern.html





Proposal:

Introduction to current Spring Garden Proposal and initiatives.

​Large overarching goals.

Spring garden designed as a collaborative community project.

​Philadelphia Current policy on urban design projects

This type of design lacks an individual focus.

​Precedents for more successful projects featuring individuals.

Small Problems identified as overlooked within this collaborative plan.

Change in policy to adapt an approach which can meet the needs of individuals within a project for the greater good.

Proposal for a collection of ideas.

​Poster Campaign

​Collection of ideas for individual users as a “think tank”

​The utilization of a media which is accessible to many; photography

​​Cell phones, digital cameras, etc.

Examples of what could be generated

How do these types of ideas become realized?

SG Interventions:

Three Point Plan:

Research of current Policies for public development and proposals

• Research of precedents for public development projects; projects that better a specific neighborhood, are these successful, what about them is or is not?
• Who is in charge, what do they do, and are they the correct person?
• Find contacts of people in charge of policy within Philadelphia

Identify local problems overlooked by the current Spring Garden Proposal.

• Interviews with local residents and project planners
• Street Conversations with current users
• Gain access to data collected at community meetings regarding the proposal

Photographic Visual study of Spring Garden, capturing local moments and things that may be overlooked in the current proposal.

• Interviews and discussion of ideas from Antinelli Photography Professors

Create prototypes for Idea generators.

• Poster Campaign: collection of Photographs for idea generator
• List of potential ideas and how they can be accomplished.
• How do these ideas affect the current policy and way that community projects are accomplished?

Interacting With the Homeless

Three step plan to progress the project:

1) Develop a strong "branding"; this includes a project title and potential graphic.

2) Contact several people who were suggested to my by guests at the midterm mixer including Joe Willard from PEC and Adam Grant (pro-social thought). And try to focus the project toward a more specific goal.

3) Research existing programs and determine if there are any gaps in between successful programs that a small-scale intervention could make a large impact. I will look at Project Hope, the PEC, City Policy, Project Home, Fresh Start, Broken City Lab, Conservator-ship, pro-social thought, the Homeless World Cup, and First Person Arts.

SwapBox Sample Mid-Term Presentation

POP_UP CURATED SPACE

Hawthorne Hall- 3849 Hamilton Street :

 

THE AREA:

POSSIBLE COLLABORATIONS:

   

MAKE YOUR MARK 

Interface Studio

People's Emergency Center

Lamar Wilson of Wilson Associates

Lower Lancaster Revitalization Plan 

BIG EVENT THIS FRIDAY!

Make Your Mark Facebook

More:

Penn Design (Historic Preservation, Architecture, Fine Arts)

Drexel (Architecture)

Youth As Resources (YAR)

http://www.yar.org/

 A non-profit organization providing grants to groups of young people to design and carry out community improvement projects. 

EPA Environmental Justice (EJ) Small Grants Program

http://www.epa.gov/epahome/grants.htm

For projects involving environmental cleanup, gardens, education and training.

Philadelphia Cares

http://www.philacares.com/

A non-profit partnership that mobilizes people to address local social, educational and environmental needs through volunteer action.

UCNET University City Community Council

http://www.ucnet.org/uccc

P.S More articles on Hawthorne Hall:
1. Building Spotlight
2. timeline

SwapBox Teaser

Walking

I decided that since I have been looking at the connectivity of the city and its walkability it might also be a good idea to look into the health benefits of walking.

Walk & Talk - The West Wing Reunion - YouTube

This leads to the idea of making the signage be more than just for tourists who are temporarily in the city and more for people that live here permanently and try to get them out of their cars and to walk.

BEH

Below is a link to Built Environment and Health Research Group lead by Dr. Andrew Rundle from Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.  They have been doing research into the health benefits of walking and how certain cities have been designed better than others to accommodate this.

http://beh.columbia.edu/

SG Interventions

I am still working on a title, decided on SG Interventions today just to give the project a working title.

I mapped the location of the Spring Garden Greenway plan and three proposed areas which I viewed as being the most important connection areas to the rest of the Philadelphia. I am viewing this three as being the most influential areas and also the areas which are of biggest impact. 

The image above illustrated the businesses and key locations along Spring Garden as illustrated during the public meetings developed in order to show importance of these spaces within the master plan.

Design for Social Value

Business and social innovation leaders from a variety of industries share their visionary approaches to creating social value at GAIN: AIGA Design for Social Value Conference.

I recommend browsing through the speaker bios!

Swap Box Strategic Diagram

When you no longer have a particular use for an item, there are a couple of options to dispose of it.  The most common would be to dispose of it through the landfill waste stream.  But what if that item still had unused potential?  Another option would be to donate it to a second hand store, but the item may be funneled though various distribution channels taking time from getting into the hands of others.  Yet another option that bypasses this is the concept of a Swap Box.  Items placed within the Swap Box have the potential to be exchanged locally.  Based on each Swap Box location, items and people move throughout the city in the thrill of the hunt.

As research has progressed, I came across a similar concept and name; The Swap Box Project

found

could you use these for the swapbox idea?
found them near the new Barnes Foundation.

So this video is a little odd at times, but I think that the mission of the group is pretty interesting. This is a link to their website: https://carrotmob.org/ This obviously has the potential to make huge social, political and environmental impacts, but is not immediately spatial. I think, however it is a great example of how manipulating a system, or reinventing how that system is used (rather than actually looking to change the system completely) can create beneficial changes. 

CONFETTI_ sistema de iluminación urbana diurna/nocturna

Project I used for a case study while studying abroad. It is primarily about creating outdoor human scaled spaces. A temporary exhibit utilizing color gels to create an outdoor ceiling.



Olafur Eliasson also does temporary architectural interventions, some really interesting projects including color and light, and human perception of space.
Olafur Eliasson

collaborative design show: above | below | beyond

Hey everyone:

It took a while, but we finally launched our kickstarter to raise funds for a student exhibition of Temple and UPenn undergrad design work for Philadelphia's unused railroad corridor. Please take a look at the video and share the kickstarter with classmates, friends and family!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/348743890/above-l-below-l-beyond-futures-for-a-former-railro

Exchange Ideas

Still, with uncertainty whether it is a “tactical” approach, I decided to open the question of design solution to the general public.  I went back to the concourse at south Broad St holding a piece of paper with a simple question on it: I would like to see _____ here.  To me, the space is like the blank on the paper waiting to be filled out with answers.  It was not a hard question, and I had 87 people’s answers in one and half hours.  

After summarizing and diagramming the result, I realized it still covers a broad range of topics.  I don’t think a quantitative method will offer a good solution, not to mention this is not a big sample to begin with.   So I choose to equalize every idea. It is like a parking spot with a meter; a cabinet in the locker room; a massage chair with a coin slot.  It is public but not sharing. It is equal to everyone with a time limit.  I call it a space that we can exchange ideas.  

In-House composting system

In-house composting system.

This system out of Germany allows the entire composting process to be done in doors and, more importantly, in a dwelling.
www.nilsferber.de/kitchen-composter.html

Mount Moriah Cleanup 9-22-2012

Apps Vs Songs

The number of Apple app downloads cough up with iTunes song downloads. What does it mean for the future of our cities?

El Campo de Cebada

These are my photos from El Campo de Cebada which is a collective formed by neighbors who decided to take a position on the degradation of this empty lot situated right in the city center of Madrid, Spain.I used to live was two minutes away so I would frequently stop by and participate in the events: open air movie nights, and urban design exhibits, salsa classes open to the public, DIY furniture workshops etc.

At El Campo de Cebada it is believed that public space should originally reflect the wishes and desires of the society that creates it. And it’s working! The project has been a finalist of the European Prize for Urban Public Space, an initiative of the Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona. I’m really interested in following up on the story of this initiative, especially since the municipality is planning to use this central location to build another shopping mall…