PLANT YOUR GRASS

BOX OF EDEN

PARKLETS

LOCATION // Wynwood Art District. Miami, USA.

CLIENT / Wynwood Diner + Panther Coffee + Plant the Future + UM School of Architecture

YEAR // 2016

STATUS // Completed

PROGRAM  // Installation

FUNCTION // Park(ing) Day Intervention

The first project of the Emerging Practitioner Teaching Fellowship was to demonstrate the impact of unsolicited urban practices in the ideation phase of an open thesis design studio. The Miami Park(ing) Day competition challenges teams to design and build mini-public spaces for one day all over Miami.

Students worked alongside Studio James Brazil designing and building three ‘urban-agricultural’ themed projects, Eight student teams and three professional design teams competed for cash and prizes on September 16, 2016 during PARK(ing) Day Miami; one team winning ‘the Best Parklet in all of Miami.’ The students were challenged to complete the design build project in 10 days.

The projects were curated in collaboration with local businesses to offer a temporal perspective on how to reclaim ‘in-between’ public spaces, such as parking spaces, in the Wynwood Art District. University Miami School of Architecture students, won the ‘Emerging Designer’ category with their project, Hexat Garden.

The competition was made possible through the generous support of the Parks Foundation, Urban Impact Lab, the Miami Center for Architecture & Design, AIA Miami, Miami Dade County Parks, Neat Streets Miami and Miami Parking Authority.

STUDENT PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

HEXAT
For Park-ing Day Miami, we are transforming two parking spots in Wynwood into a garden escape. Using the hexagon as our design inspiration, we created a topographic garden that incorporates edible plants and a unique design for the public to use. By providing a modular design, our installation has the potential to evolve and morph into a different structure.The concept behind the Hexat Garden is to provide a new type of gathering space in which the public can come together and bring awareness and promote urban agriculture in under-utilised spaces around the neighborhood.

We worked with local business Wynwood Diner in developing a system to aid the restaurant in the idea of growing their own herb garden. This would help the

PLANT YOUR GR[ASS]
Our interactive parklet, Plant Your Gr(ASS), is an urban collaborative
unit that can be transported to diff erent urban locations and become easily interactive and relevant at diff erent places within a neighborhood. Consisting of nine lounge units with removable and adjustable seating, this installation also houses small plants and trees for shade and opportunities for public green space and DIY crafting elements that can be affixed on the backs of the lounge units. Due to the ease of construction, these lounge units, which consists of a repetition of wooden planks held by a single rod at each intersection, can be produced relatively quickly.

While the focal point of the installation is the student-designed adjustable seating that can be easily arranged in multiple configurations to cater to a space, the project is not complete without the contributions of local businesses in the endeavor to promote urban agriculture and green design. From the trees and plants provided by local nurseries, to compost from cafes (Panther Coffee) for the plants, to refreshments and recyclable crafting supplies from local restaurants and businesses, involvement from local businesses is what completes this project and brings a sense of community to our parklet, Plant Your Gr(ASS).

BOX OF EDEN
Box of Eden is an inverted perspective on Wynwood’s relationship with the theme of urban agriculture. The exterior of the boxed garden installation is framed by sharp white gallery walls, the dominant interior typology of the art district. The arrangement of the installation in relation to the parking space is determined by the placement of mirrors, forcing the perspective of the visitor. Only by sitting on the movable bench or walking along the sidewalk edge of the parklet can you view the secret garden. The garden installation was curated in collaboration with the adjacent business Plant The Future, who also sponsored the plants along with the Flower Tree Society.

COLLABORATORS

Shaikha Al-Duwaisan | James Brazil | Avleigh Du | Gabriel Fischler | Donnie Garcia-Navarro | Randa Hadi | Dorianne Marie Paris | Chloe Pereira |  Zachary Silver | Andrew Schneider | Davin Stancil | Samantha Schneider | Corey Weiss | Yuanxun Xia