In July 2016, we had the unique opportunity to participate in the Design Museum Boston’s Urban Innovation Festival which gathered 100 of Boston’s best designers for a 3-day urban design challenge. The innovators from various industries were tasked to brainstorm, ideate and prototype solutions to improve and revitalize the area around the I-93 overpass; a region divided by highway infrastructure that contributes to pedestrian safety and accessibility concerns. Ten design teams – Bose, Stantec, Fidelity Labs, Essential, MassArt, PAYETTE, Shepley Bulfinch, Autodesk, CBT and Wentworth – faced the design challenge on-site in public view.
And now you can view the designs generated at the event in the public display located along the Greenway at the corner of Atlantic Ave. and E. India Row. The exhibition tells the story behind each design in the larger context of Boston’s city planning and highway history. The exhibition is free and open to the public 24/7 from now December 31, 2017.
In our PAYETTE presentation, we proposed re_vive: a system of nine different sculptural framework types designed and assembled to provide opportunity for and reinvigorate the space for each community. And though each group has different needs from the space, each element of the re_vive collection will allow those users to plug in to the infrastructure and take ownership of the space. By designing a language of sculptural forms, we’ve provided a system that can be deployed at different levels and phases.
To illustrate our concept, we took the opportunity to build a half-scale prototype in our Fabrication Space. On the final day we were able install our prototype, which took the form of a four person swing mounted between two ladders.
Testing the Whirligig from PAYETTE on Vimeo.
PAYETTE Team:
Chris Blomquist
Garrett House
Nicolette Kyverniti
Alison Laas
Parke MacDowell
Qinhe Qian
Karen Robichaud
Related:
Bringing a prototype to the Urban Innovation Festival
Design Process Perspective: DMB Urban Innovation Festival Hackathon
Hacking the City
Creating Interactive Geometry
Each year, PAYETTE embarks on a collaborative effort to make our design services accessible to local communities through the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. This year, we celebrated our 8th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service by partnering with 7 local nonprofits:
- Breaktime @breaktime
- Brighton Main Streets @brightonmainstreets
- Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition @masstpc
- The Elizabeth Peabody House @elizabethpeabodyhouse
- Greater Ashmont Main Street @greaterashmont
- Greater Grove Hall Main Streets
- Animal Protection Center of Southeastern Massachusetts @animalprotectioncenter
To learn more about each of these projects, visit the link in our bio!
#designalways #artofmaking