2015

Finalist in the 2013 Flint, Michigan Flat Lot Competition, created with Susannah Cramer-Greenbaum, Ming Yan, and Aris Garrison. Selected as one of five finalists, from a field of 221.

The Flat Lot Competition challenged designers to create a temporary community gathering space in an empty parking lot in Flint Michigan. Entrants were restricted to a very tight budget and the proposed structures had to be both easily assembled and removed so that the lot could remain in business during working hours.

The team capitalized on the existing infrastructure, using the lampposts as structure to suspend a knotted shade canopy. The canopy provides flexible space beneath, to host Flint's diverse range of summer activities.
 

The project is permitted to occupy eight parking spaces during the day. What fits in eight spaces? Four cars and two trucks. Working within the constraints of the competition, the team honors Flint's automotive history by proposing to park four Buick Century Sedans and two flatbed Chevrolet trucks under two existing lampposts. The trucks provide storage and a stage. The knotted rope canopy, made with simple climbing knots, hangs between two lampposts. the canopy is attached to the trailer hitches on the Buicks, which, in a dramatic opening event, drive out to the edge of the lot, pulling the guide ropes taut as the canopy unfurls behind them. Five hundred exercise balls hang from the canopy and provide mobile seating, customizable to community needs, and scalable to a wide range of events.