©
2004-Present Elmore Design Collaborative, Inc.
CITY BLOCK
12-week summer street festival
Springfield, Massachusetts
Project Data-
Date: 2000
Size: 50’ x 525’
Context: On block of Main Street
Project Features-
Emergency vehicular access
Performance area Vender and outdoor café spaces
Wooden planters with benches & trash receptacles
Signs and banners
Street painting
Project Description:
The City of Springfield and the Springfield Business Improvement District hired EDC to develop a schematic design with artistic renderings for one block of Main Street to illustrate how the street may be transformed into a temporary pedestrian-way. While the budget for street improvements was small, the program was large and grew throughout the fast-track process. EDC’s design develops the street into spaces for various activities for a temporary, 12-week long summer street festival. The goal was to create and define appropriately sized special use areas without any permanent structures. To accomplish our goals, we designed 22 - 6’ square by 3’ high wooden boxes for planters and sign holders, and set them in groups of twos and threes along the 20’ wide emergency access and main pedestrian corridor. We designated the center of the street, adjacent to a small urban plaza, as the main performance area, which encourages people to walk into the space from every direction. 59 benches, which needed specially designed fasteners to attach them the planters, provide seating up and down the street.
EDC worked with a graphic designer to create a street painting design that plays upon the project’s name “City Block.” The graphic designer developed a three-dimensional sign and street banners that coordinates the festive colors and provides a playful interlude. EDC matched the bright colors in the street with the blossom colors of the flowers, thus tying the entire project together.
12-week summer street festival
Springfield, Massachusetts
Project Data-
Date: 2000
Size: 50’ x 525’
Context: On block of Main Street
Project Features-
Emergency vehicular access
Performance area Vender and outdoor café spaces
Wooden planters with benches & trash receptacles
Signs and banners
Street painting
Project Description:
The City of Springfield and the Springfield Business Improvement District hired EDC to develop a schematic design with artistic renderings for one block of Main Street to illustrate how the street may be transformed into a temporary pedestrian-way. While the budget for street improvements was small, the program was large and grew throughout the fast-track process. EDC’s design develops the street into spaces for various activities for a temporary, 12-week long summer street festival. The goal was to create and define appropriately sized special use areas without any permanent structures. To accomplish our goals, we designed 22 - 6’ square by 3’ high wooden boxes for planters and sign holders, and set them in groups of twos and threes along the 20’ wide emergency access and main pedestrian corridor. We designated the center of the street, adjacent to a small urban plaza, as the main performance area, which encourages people to walk into the space from every direction. 59 benches, which needed specially designed fasteners to attach them the planters, provide seating up and down the street.
EDC worked with a graphic designer to create a street painting design that plays upon the project’s name “City Block.” The graphic designer developed a three-dimensional sign and street banners that coordinates the festive colors and provides a playful interlude. EDC matched the bright colors in the street with the blossom colors of the flowers, thus tying the entire project together.