PICNIC IN THE PARK(ing)

To mark the beginning of a new year at DJCAD we start off working in teams to have another go at the open-source global event of Park(ing) Day. Where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into temporary public places.

This year our team decided to strip the concept back to its original idea which is to create social green spaces for interaction. We had discussed several possible ideas including a photo booth, mini hockey pitch or something with food. Each idea focused on what we would have the users doing while also taking inspiration from what was happening in and around Dundee, such as the hockey tournament and the flower and food festival. By the second day of our project we had decided that we were going to create a ‘Park’ space inspired by the victorian era and picnics.

“As more and more people lived in urban and suburban locations and worked in factories and offices, they began to feel the need to occasionally return to nature and soak up some rustic charm. Many cities began accommodating this phenomenon by setting up picnic groves in parks.”

We used this quote from our research as a reference of what we wanted to achieve. It can be noted that how the Victorians felt about the Industrial revolution, there are similar feelings towards the Digitalisation we see today. Our main purpose of the space was to allow users to stop and relax at a space on the Perth Road that they would never have imagined before.

After our initial research stage we began designing what the space was to look like. We wanted to create a contemporary picnic space, avoiding a victorian looking cliche with vintage props.

Seating within the space was vital but we needed the space to be green to exaggerate a park environment. We began by considering plants and grass. We also thought about the addition of an abstract tree, to add height and dimension. The cut out style allows the shape to have presence but not use up too much of our precious floor space.

We experimented with stools and a picnic bench, then considered creating a ‘hill’ out of carpet tubes as parks are never flat and typically that is where most people rest and relax, with their picnic blanket stretched out and lying on the grass.

This years parking day was another success – PICNIC IN THE PARK(ing) was a sociable spot on the Perth Road attracting plenty students walking to and from class as well as several members of the public – both young and old.

WALK THRU

After arriving at DJCAD on my first day like a little fish out of water, I was quickly thrown in to the deep end (pun pun pun) and introduced to a team made up of students in all years, to work on a project for two intense weeks associated with the global event that is Park(ing) Day.

     

Park(ing) Day is “an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks.” (taken from their website http://parkingday.org/)

It was a great chance to engage in a movement that people were taking part in everywhere. We were kindly given a parking space on campus that featured a massive dip and pot holes, not an ideal space to work with but as a team we created a funny and controversial ‘Walk-thru’ which played a key role in emphasising to the students, staff and passers-by that green space is very minimal in large cities while also having a fun twist by joking about fast food chains.

Our space was created out of many different recycled materials and as a team we managed to build an effective space within the allocated time that attracted many different people to take away our ‘happy herbs’ meals.

I found the experience very rewarding, after putting in a lot of hard work to produce our design, and to watch and engage with people enjoying our space was a great feeling. It was a great way to start my stint at DJCAD and look forward to taking part again and seeing what we come up with next year!