Page 71 - Designing Ways 242

Project 2: The Hangout was
designed through a series of
participatory design meetings
with members of the Lower
Ninth Ward community in New
Orleans, LA.
Photo credit: Michael Flanagan

design workshops to become a connector
between two neighbourhoods. The Project 3: Entangled is a platform for
residents and visitors to learn and share
community wanted a piece that would the history, stories, and music of Haitian
spark a moment of pride, empowerment, culture outside the doors of the Little Haiti
and inspiration for their residents as Cultural Complex in Miami, FL.
they passed through the new park being Photo credit: Christopher Brickman
developed.
The work was created as a platform
for sparking a conversation between the
residents and visitors about the adversity
the community has gone through and
continues to go through today. It was
designed to evoke a moment that would
empower and inspire the neighbourhood’s
youth through a playful conversation.
The piece is made up of three aluminum
totems that resemble tree trunks emerging
from the ground.
Each totem has a series of units that
can be rotated to spell out different words
like strong, knowledge, go vote, pride, and
many more. At the base of each totem is a
larger section for people to sit and converse
about the neighbourhood’s past, present,
and future. The piece was designed not to
be a static piece that one just walks by but
a catalyst for a larger conversation about
the area’s misrepresentation.

Project 05: Why sit when you can play?
“Why sit when you can play?” is
a musical public park bench system on the specific space in which they reside. of musical notes. The notes are made
designed to begin to bring the everyday The flowing organic form is designed from solid aluminum bars that are cut
park bench back to life by providing an to encourage different levels of seating individually to resonate a specific note.
open-ended playable platform within interactions, from a romantic couple The musical notes can be played with
the built environment. The benches’ to a large jam session. The benches’ attached mallets. dw
unique forms are custom created based musical sections each contain two octaves
www.theurbanconga.com

dw • Issue 242 71