What Should We Build?
After our participatory meeting with the community we decided on two simple interventions, wind catchers and trash corrals.
The wind catchers were a response to the community's desire to have some sort of public art. The pieces would be made of small metal squares that would reflect the light of the sun as it danced in the wind. Over time things could be added to the wind catchers to make them bigger, louder, shinier, etc. One would be made for every house in Martin Drive East with the grand scheme that every family would take one and hang it out front, unifying the neighborhood with art. The trash corrals were a response to the importance the community had towards the trash issue on N 37th St. The street acted as an alley for the houses on N 37th Pl and N 36th St, as such all those houses had their trash cans lining the side walks and extra trash laying in piles up and down the street. The hope with the trash corrals was to hold the trash cans in something attractive, to take the eye away from the cans and instead to individualized pieces of art. They would also hopefully catch any stray trash that missed the can. These corrals would be made of pallets, due to the already-built structure of them and because they can be acquired for free from numerous locations city wide. They would be painted by the residents that owned them, to individualize them, and decorated with planters, bulletin boards, chalkboards, or whatever else the residents could find. We aimed to turn the ordinary activity of throwing out your trash into an extraordinary task! |
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October 17th, 2015;
With the assistance of community leaders, Pat and Phyllis, we planned a neighborhood event to hand out our wind catchers and teach the residents how to make and decorate their own trash corrals. Pat brought pizza and hot apple cider and the weather was beautiful, the event looked like it was going to go just as we planned!
The previous week we had gone around the neighborhood putting fliers in mail boxes. While we tackled N 37th Pl we encountered an enthusiastic young boy who asked us what we were doing. When we explained the even and told him that there would be painting and pizza he excitedly promised he'd be there, and he kept his promise. He showed up with a group of his friends and siblings, the first guests to our event. We set out the pallets and the kids quickly claimed them as their own, turning them into works of art.
As the painting went on more children appeared, but few adults. Our event was changing! The kids didn't want to make trash corrals, why would they? Instead they asked to make forts, and who are we to say "no" to kids?! So forts it would be! The adults who did show up spoke to us about our idea with the trash corrals. We showed them an example. One of the adults took our "how-to-make-a-trash-corral" manual and expressed interest in making one for her yard. The kids finished painting their master pieces and we quickly carried them over to a flat, open area of the park and assembled them into forts that would be the envy of any neighborhood kid.
The wind catchers were a hit as well, the kids and the adults liked them and the kids had a great time decorating them! So while the wind catchers went exactly as planned, the trash corrals went in a completely different direction than we had foreseen. We had no idea how many children were in this neighborhood and suddenly the park was full of kids running around, drinking hot apple cider, and covered in paint.
The previous week we had gone around the neighborhood putting fliers in mail boxes. While we tackled N 37th Pl we encountered an enthusiastic young boy who asked us what we were doing. When we explained the even and told him that there would be painting and pizza he excitedly promised he'd be there, and he kept his promise. He showed up with a group of his friends and siblings, the first guests to our event. We set out the pallets and the kids quickly claimed them as their own, turning them into works of art.
As the painting went on more children appeared, but few adults. Our event was changing! The kids didn't want to make trash corrals, why would they? Instead they asked to make forts, and who are we to say "no" to kids?! So forts it would be! The adults who did show up spoke to us about our idea with the trash corrals. We showed them an example. One of the adults took our "how-to-make-a-trash-corral" manual and expressed interest in making one for her yard. The kids finished painting their master pieces and we quickly carried them over to a flat, open area of the park and assembled them into forts that would be the envy of any neighborhood kid.
The wind catchers were a hit as well, the kids and the adults liked them and the kids had a great time decorating them! So while the wind catchers went exactly as planned, the trash corrals went in a completely different direction than we had foreseen. We had no idea how many children were in this neighborhood and suddenly the park was full of kids running around, drinking hot apple cider, and covered in paint.