22 Sep PARK(ing) Day in Pioneer Square

PARK(ing) Day was originally started in 2005 by REBAR, a San Francisco design studio. Last year, there were 700 parks in 140 cities, 21 countries, and 6 continents. And so far, the organization thinks that it was even bigger this year, including parks that appeared in cities like Tehran and Paris for the first time.

To add a little scandal to the PARK vs. parking situation, there were PARKs this year that were actually being shut down and people who were told that they couldn’t use public parking spots as parks. (link + link)

Down in Pioneer Square, there were two architecture firms that participated in the event.

(As posted earlier this week) Miller Hull set up their PARK at Yesler + Western with a sculpture of tires and a dance floor made from recycled cardboard that featured local musicians and salsa dancing. When we arrived, groups of people were sitting on the tires and the dance floor, and two couples even got up and started dancing.

We then headed over to the southeast corner of Occidental Ave, where Olson Kundig Architects had set up their own PARK. They rolled out grass, had [amazing!] benches made from reclaimed barn wood (made just for the event), a barrel with umbrellas in case of rain, and a string attached from their 6th story window to a cymbal.

Besides coveting the benches, I couldn’t figure out what the cymbal was for, until a piece of paper came flying down and hit the cymbal with a “ding!”

Then I saw the sign that advertised free sketches from one of their architects. Awesome.

As I was with two colleagues (one architect + one urban planner), we asked for a sketch of a group of architects. At first, I expected a stick figure drawing to come flying down within a minute or so, but when it was became longer than 10 minutes, I knew a masterpiece must be coming. Or perhaps Tom Kundig himself was doing the sketch for us.

But when our “ding” finally came, we unwrapped the sketch, not by Tom Kundig, but by someone named Jorge.

As we walked away from their park and headed back to work, I thought of how great it was that groups could claim spaces normally used for cars and turn them into spaces for people.

We also now have a cool sketch hanging in our office.