PARK(ing) DAY 2011: paARRRrk-let
For our sixth annual Park(ing) Day* installation, we decided to create a prototype Parklet situated in front of 826 Valencia that created a “ship” to nurture an urban tree and provide a place for people to lounge on deck in its shade. The volume of the paARRRrk-let (borrowing from the pirate theme of its neighboring storefront) is 800 cubic feet – which is equivalent to the minimum soil required for a healthy urban tree to develop a healthy and stable root system and flourish. Our long-term concept for this prototype was to create a network of urban nursuries that double as social spaces.
*PARK(ing) Day event begun by REBAR
PARK(ing) DAY 2010: Hayday
PARK(ing) DAY 2009: Forest on Foot
PARK(ing) DAY 2008: Hanging Native Garden
For IAs third annual PARK(ing) day installation, THE HANGING NATIVE GARDEN tackled the subject of integrating native ecology into our urban environment. We chose this year a parking meter beside a busy Gas station along a major pedestrian commuter access route, at the corner of 24th Street and The Valencia Corridor. Re-using the 40 timber bamboo culms from last year, a twelve foot tall interconnected lattice work was created in situ, into which 300 feet of shade cloth (Donated from Burning Man) along with 24 bales of hay was woven, to create a seating display area, sun shelter and suspension structure for over one hundred native plants (from Flora Grub) and animals (From SF Native Rescue).
Simple shade, it turns out, is an important and often overlooked, component for some of our native plant and animal species. The area of a single parking space could provide habitat for 30 shade-loving native plants, cover for local gopher snakes, and would retain the moisture necessary for the creation of a localized microclimate. The installation created a busy information kiosk, and experience center, for native plants and animals encouraging awareness and promoting permeable street planting grass roots projects. The temporary structure hosted Tree Frog Treks, whose founder Chris Giorni brought 4 foot Gofer Snakes and a Red Legged Box Turtle named Trucker that could be held and touched by fascinated children and adults alike. All the plants were later planted in the public right of way into 800 square feet of permeable sidewalk planting strips by a local neighborhood group Fix 26 and the hay bales were donated to a local elementary school.
PARK(ing) DAY 2007
PARK(ing) DAY 2006: Temporary Wetland
SITE: Mission Neighborhood, San Francisco, CA
SCOPE: Temporary Park