Drawing on the Public Good
Drawing on the Public Good, a collaboration between Jack Isles and Urban Think Tank for the Journal of Architectural Education, presents the Public Spectacle Parklet designed and built with SwissNex, Jan Gehl Architects, and students at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2014. The built project provides a structure that captures the full volumetric potential of two parking spaces in the heart of San Francisco, returning portions of busy streets to pedestrians and the public domain.
The “parklet” took on different configurations through a set of moving elements attached to a steel frame, transforming itself for performances, lectures, screenings, public seating, and other inventive appropriations by users. In essence, the project provides a formal structure that lends itself to informality. For its documentation the project was represented in a manner that would reference the adaptability of the design; multiple uses, interchangeable materials, geographic flexibility, and temporal evolution are all manifested in the image. Drawings included for publication in JAE were as much for architects as for the general public, which goes back to the project’s original motivation: prioritise the public good.
Image: Sample of drawings produced for Drawing on the Public Good’s publication in The Journal of Architectural Education Issue 70:1