INTERWOVEN
Client: Greater Baybrook Alliance & The Brooklyn Neighborhood of South Baltimore
Location: Garrett Park: 3560 3rd St, Baltimore, MD 21225
Services: Community Engagement, Design, Fabrication, and Install
Interwoven is an open-ended communal space providing a place for residents to listen, observe, dream, and reflect. The space was created for the community by the community in Garrett Park, located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of South Baltimore. A neighborhood that is dealing with a lot of traumas based around drug abuse, gun violence and pollution. We were told by kids that they were scared to walk into the park because they had stepped on used drug needles. People talked about the pollution that plagued the park and neighborhood that made it hard for them to breathe at times. During the conceptual design phase, there was a mass shooting at a community event that took the lives of several community members. With this small footprint, we couldn't solve these massive systemic issues encompassing the neighborhood, but we could work with the community to create a space that sparked inspiration and hope. The community is focused on moving beyond these adversities and showcasing the positivity and strength that exists within this neighborhood.
“I helped create this! This is my space to come get away and relax! ”
The work encourages people to explore what they hear, see, feel, and dream while in the space. Interwoven was created as a place for the community both young and old to gather, discuss, and reflect on these issues and the changes that need to be made. Perched at the top of a hill with a view of the entire city of Baltimore, the area becomes a place for people to gather and reflect on the area's goods and bads. Baltimore is home to various industrial facilities, and the Brooklyn neighborhood suffers the most, being in the midst of a majority of the air pollution put off by these establishments. Interwoven puts a spotlight on this issue by directing the user's attention through each of the portals, purposely guiding towards an area of the city where pollution occurs as well as various areas of the neighborhood, highlighting both the positives and negatives of the surrounding environment.
Creating a space that could evoke a larger conversation and bring people together to make change. The community was the driver in this project, and we were simply a tool to tell their story. The project was designed through many workshops around the neighborhood, where community stories and feedback were collected throughout the entire design process to help shape a design the community can call theirs. From the early conversations of the desires and hopes for the community, to the final design of Interwoven – the community has gifted their stories, experiences, feedback and more to enhance their neighborhood and create a brighter future. Play methodologies like play therapy were utilized during the process to create a safe place for people to share and open up around the traumas. Every component of the space was created, critiqued, and refined by the community.
The work consists of four stepped seating structures that point directionally towards different areas of the neighborhood and city reflecting those views onto the work itself. On each of the four separate pieces, prompts are in place to provide open discussion, intimate conversation, and private reflection on the issues within the neighborhood and hopes for a better future. These prompts ask the questions of what do you dream, what do you hear, what do you see, and what do you feel. Each serving as a conversation starter in the space. Each component of the space was designed to create a calming environment from the work's color to the curved forms. Keeping the main space open for programming like community meetings, dance classes, birthday parties, movie nights, and more - the ground mural creates an open-ended game space to spark playful imagination by use of its interweaving geometric shapes. The interweaving pattern of the work creates a safe, playful, and open-ended space for the community to make their own.
“This gives this space purpose and allows a place for imagination.”
