LOCATION MILAN (MI), ITALY
YEAR 2019
PROJECT PARKING LOT TRANSFORMATION FOR occasional EVENTS
TYPE "Parking Day" | TerraViva + Needle Design Competition
COLLABORATORS Giorgia Marchetti, Irene Ricciardi, Kristina Senatorova, Ludovica Colonna, Maria Paola Ricci
The exercise, structured as a competition, asked to propose an innovative and unconventional project in order to transform the parking lot next to "Largo Balestra" square in Giambellino neighborhood. The “Parking Day” scenario has been conceived as a sort of one-day event where cars are not allowed to access in the parking during a whole day in order to let people use and enjoy that space as a public area.The aim of the project was to imagine a flexible space able to promote social exchange, community activities and citizens’ interaction through a multifunctional design. A crucial condition was to take into account the fact that the event could last only one or two days, so the interventions had to be easily removable to let the parking go back to the original function. Modularity and flexibility of use had to be considered as key points during the design process.
Our project, titled "Let'sGo", is a simple interpretation of the event we were asked to plan: the "Parking Day". To transform a single metered parking space into a temporary public open space, we needed to use a strategy that was able to provide an equipped and designed open area that would’ve last for only few hours and could’ve be replicated every time that would be needed. This need of making temporary interventions leaded us to select some criteria to follow in our event plan: we needed a flexible, modular and reusable material, obviously respecting the environment, game-based activities that would’ve attract the community involving and educating people through playful, interactive and creative projects. Finally we needed a sponsor, a multinational corporation, that invests and provides the necessary materials to make the event happen.
The criteria listed carried us to pick LEGO® as our sponsor, concept and main activity. LEGO® bricks can easily be combined in innumerable ways – and just as easily be dismantled. The game inspires people to use their imagination in a fun, social and environmental context, and foster their creativity promoting social interaction.
Based on this concept, every element of the project is an open ended proposal, imagined and designed by the user. Our Parking Day is basically the countless scenography that a person can freely conceive, in the respect of the dedicated areas: the artworks and murales takes place on the blind wall, the educating activities related to nature (eg. gardening) work as a buffer zone using the fence between the parking area and the park, while less defined spaces as the parking area, was dedicated to the DIY and free design.
