Park-Park
Urban Park Installation for PARK(ing) Day 2018
Duration
Jul - Sep 2018
Roles
Conceptualisation, Workshop Facilitation, Prototyping, Execution
Background
PARK(ing) Day is an annual worldwide event where community members transform parking spots into vibrant public spaces for one day.
In Singapore, this event was organised in collaboration with the Urban Redevelopment Authority(URA). I was the Assistant Project Director of the event and also worked with a team of 9 other students to propose and design Park-Park, a research project that looked at using material assemblages to activate parking lots into public spaces of connection and engagement.
Designing For Communities
We identified 3 different community groups to bring onboard for this project. These groups were chosen as all three represented different communities and allowed us to design around the requirements of the different activities that they hosted.
[ Strategy ]
Design Process
Given that there was a tight timeline for the project, we decided to allocate more time within the two months for prototyping and fabrication. Hence, it was decided that the design process would be streamlined and kept compact.
[ Challenge ]
How can we create opportunities for social interaction that weren't there before?
[ Engage, Empathise, Ideate ]
Stakeholder Engagement Workshop
The stakeholder engagement workshop was conducted as a method to accelerate the design process. Over the span of 5 hours, several exercises were conducted with the representatives from the 3 community groups to allow us to understand their needs and define the problem space. We also ideated together which was very effective as we managed to obtain feedback rapidly and were able to uncover more considerations that they had.
Workshop Objectives
01
Create mutual understanding of physical and spatial needs of the community groups' outreach events
02
Find common needs between the community groups that allow shared use of infrastructures
03
Find potential for co-location of planned events and begin to understand the infrastructure needed to support collaborations
Sketches from stakeholder engagement workshop
[ Solution ]
Specialised Infrastructure
With each of the community groups having different types of programmes, some being more communal in nature while others being performances, we had to design each set of structures specifically to the activities being conducted.
Bamboo poles were sourced from previous projects and cut to the desired sizes required. The poles were a good base material to use as they were very sturdy and lightweight.
Used plastic chairs were sourced from the scrap dealers. We had to hose each chair down and cut the chair legs to different heights as we wanted to create different seating settings for the various types of activities.
Sustainable Materials
We wanted the design to be lightweight and be as sustainable as possible. Repurposed bamboo poles and used plastic chairs were hence decided to be used as the main materials for the infrastructure.
Performances, Demos & Classes
Bamboo nodes were designed to be able to store props in order to accommodate the performances and demonstrations that some of the groups were planning. These were kept compact to allow for more space for the performers.
Chairs were placed in a circular arrangement for demos and tutorial purposes.
![1 [Converted].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d9be72_e27159329ad1461e9da10cbd71a42e02~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_200,h_509,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/1%20%5BConverted%5D.png)
![2 [Converted].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d9be72_e13a3697e7c74c318ed8f034e635f34d~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_471,h_495,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/2%20%5BConverted%5D.png)
Communal Meals & Conversations
A central bamboo node was designed as a long table structure that would display the ingredients and also host conversations around it.
Surrounding it were smaller nodes designed for smaller group seating as well as cooking stations.
![3.3 [Converted].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d9be72_e9ffccc49b6d4df99a0cbea0d3cf95b5~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_749,h_550,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/3_3%20%5BConverted%5D.png)
Sheltered Play Space
A balloon canopy structure was designed using parametric design tools to house a kids' play area and also doubled as the main shelter for the urban park. This helped to provide shade and cool the kids down as they were playing. This structure was also versatile as it could expand or contract depending on the play area required.
Chairs were arranged around the play space to allow parents to sit around and keep an eye on their children.
[ Takeaways ]
Have a flexible design process.
The design process might not always be fixed. Depending on the timeline and the demands of the projects, the different stages can be conducted at the same time or even revert to a previous step. The process should be kept fluid and spontaneous to allow for better solutions to be created.
Designing for communities is hard, but it's very rewarding.
Park-Park was an interesting project that involved the active participation of the different communities and created spaces that helped to facilitate the execution of their activities. As a designer, this project had an interesting design process that involved giving the agency back to the users. Furthermore, it was encouraging to see the users enjoying the spaces created after the project was executed.