Public Space Fanatic

Product and Ideas for Public Space

Tag: Street Furniture

The Experiential Public Space 2

 

Experiential public spaces to succeed require a variety of different activities throughout the day. Bike-able and walk-able activities within the space should be a priority.   Neighborhood coffee shops, restaurants and retail shops can provide a catalyst for walkable traffic. Bistro seating and curbside parklets with tables, chairs and planters will enhance the streetscape experience and expand the seating capacity of any eating or drinking establishment.

One word about parklets. Many communities are spending large sums of money for custom designed and engineered parkets. Parklets have become popular enough that many companies are now offering prefabricated parklet kits. These prefabricated parkets kits contain pedestal supports for the deck surfaces, corner post, planters screens; rectangular planters, horizontal stainless aircraft cable or decorative laser cut fence panels. These parklet cost substantially less than the custom versions and are designed to be seasonally assembled and disassembled for snow removal during the winter.

Create pedestrian and bike-able destinations with streetscape parklets. Add umbrellas to the parklets and combine multiple stall bike corrals or bike racks, decorative planters and safety bollards to the space near and around the parklet to build public vibrant gathering places with public amenities. multiple stall bike racks will encourage bike riding to the destination and reduce the stress on local parking.

Bike shelters are still relatively rare in mixed use or streetscape environments largely because they don’t match local architectural styles. However contemporary bike structures entering the market are challenging the old bike shelter norms. High density two level bike parking or offset bike parking systems combined with bike shelters can provide massive amounts of bike parking in a small foot print. Bike shelters can remove the visual clutter associated large unruly randomly parked bikes

The experiential public also demands shade in the form of natural trees, shelters, windscreens or umbrellas. Shade is often overlooked in public spaces but places without shade usually don’t contain many people. Umbrellas perfectly suited to public spaces are the large cantilever or side-post surface mounted umbrellas. Large rotating or pivoting umbrellas can provide a large amount of shade throughout the day since the shade canopy can be rotated to maximize the amount of shade relative to the location of the sun. The large umbrellas that are available with surface mounted or embedded installation options are preferable since they won’t blow away and they eliminate the small table inserted umbrellas that impact direct visual contact with everyone at the table.

Do you have additional ideas that should be incorporated into experiential public spaces. If so, we’d like to hear from you.

The Experiential Public Space

Snug Play

Imaginative Play Elements for Kids

Old shopping centers, empty big box building and other adaptive reuse projects are being re-purposed as mixed use projects. The public spaces like these newly repurposed buildings could also gain a new focus as well. In the past, the public commons would have become passive space with benches for waiting, flower pots to add a mix of color and a couple of new trash cans to keep the space litter free.  In today’s experience happy environment, our expectations about public spaces are changing. What does that look like from a walkable and experience oriented view point. Here are some thoughts to run through your mind.

Mobile device are now an important part of our daily lives and as a result, we can work from almost anywhere. So it seems logical that one should be able to charge their mobile phones, pda’s and computers in public spaces. Solar charging stations are an economical way to provide that type of connectivity.

These renovated public spaces will still need to have benches and other places to sit. But the seating should be more flexible and casual than the typical street bench found in most public spaces. A mix of seat wall benches for people watching, folding chairs for easy reconfiguration and relaxed Adirondack chairs and sunloungers for stress reduction could definitely increase lingering time.

In the experience environment, entertainment is paramount. So interactive games and experiences should be incorporated into the remodeled public space. Portable stage areas for entertainment, giant board game sets (checkers and chess) table tennis and foosball tables would be one angle to take. Stationary musical instruments are an inviting engagement tool for a diverse range of ages, musical skills and available time. Large scale interactive electronic games could be an additional option in the right environment.

In re-purposed public spaces, previously hidden bike racks belong at the nexus of all entry and exit points. Up-scaled bike parking locations with artistic bike racks will add a new dimension and an inviting element to cyclist using bikes as a standard form of transportation. A bike repair station and an air pump could also bring additional goodwill.

An experiential public space is a magnet for activities and engagement. Stay tuned for part 2.