Updates:
Updates appear below in chronological order. You may organize posts by specific charrettes (to the right) or browse through them in order of posting.
In order to actually keep this thing moving along the fine folks at LAUNCH Cleveland have joined w/ |re|decle to celebrate the community based idea of taking back the streets. With this in mind a whole new series of charrettes is being offered at LAUNCH based upon the premise of studying existing street conditions and questioning what would make them better.
Now that LAUNCH (with its much smoother running web presence) is offering hosting space this site will begin to dwindle towards nothingness as the new location takes over. Do not fret, the events here are being archived and saved for posterities sake. In the mean time jump on over to the new website and take a look at the new charrettes.
reDesign Cleveland Charrette 2007.10.01
Alright, this month I am tacking on the charrette to an event happening in town this week sponsored by a group of designers who are basically attempting to do the same thing I am doing right here but with markedly more success. You know how I determined that? Because there is more then one person paying attention.
It is called LAUN-CHair
location: Buckeye Beer Engine.
intent: Temporal exploraration of temporary exterior furniture. Cardboard furniture to be designed and constructed on the patio of a location to be revealed closer to the event date. Pieces will be critiqued according to a surprise sety of criteria to be revealed to the particpants at the beginning of the event. This could be a theme, an overall idea or a surprise material.
overall timeline:
2007.10.03 - Charrette release
2007.10.07 - LAUN-CHair event
.pdf Flyer
Lets see what happens and how it affects what is going on here.
While most business studies would proponent large scale entertainment facilities next to or upon the river this plan calls for a smaller, ‘intimate’ venue to be placed within the river, submerging the floor in a ‘bathtub’ below the water line offering a rare and hopefully interesting way to interact with the Cuyahoga. -Dru McKeown
reDesign Cleveland Charrette 2007.09.01
location: Cleveland - basically all around the city.
intent: In order to bring the people greater choice in television viewing or internet capability or some such, SBC or ATT or whomever is placing gigantic above ground panels. Now, only some neighborhoods are getting this 'special treatment' and are lucky enough to have these gigantic humming metal boxes on their street corners.
Some may argue that these humungous boxes are eyesores, blocking views and interupting sightlines. Some may even argue that they block traffic views to crosswalks and could endanger pedestrians. I am sure most of these arguments pale in comparison to being able to watch all 42 channels of ESPN.
I also think that there is a great opprotunity here to do something with this canvas that has been handed to us. I understand the arguments about why these things should haven't been put in above ground and why they should have been placed in vaults however since it has become apparent that 'utilities' (how is cable television a utility? I always figured a utility was a necessity of sorts) can take over any city owned land they want in order to make their lives easier I think that the people of the city can take them back.
With this as a premise I suggest that this month's charrette center on what could be done to properly hide/decorate/show off these utility boxes. Think of this as a city beautification project.
submission form: Maximum of 2 800x600 pix) electronic images (jpg preferred) and 100 word max description.
deadline: 2007.09.30
registration fee: 2 calzones from Cleveland's Central Calzone District
prizes: all the fun bucks collected from last month's registration
judging: everyone is a winner
overall timeline:
2007.09.03 - Charrette release
2007.09.30 - Submission deadline
2007.10.07 - Submission posted online
While not at all configured within the 'project parameters' I couldn't resist re-'fungineering' the Euclid Corridor project and harnessing our massive dirigible knowledge to serve the public.
-Dru McKeown
-I know this submission was uploaded late. I took pity on it since TOIstudio flooded. (ed)
