Following up on previous engagement with seniors and youth from South Pittsburgh communities, Equity-Centered Designer Studio for Spatial Practice and our Social Impact Design team created preliminary designs for the new Creative Analytic Play Space that will be built in a vacant lot across from Brashear’s building. We held a community cookout on Friday, June 16th to gather feedback on the potential designs.
Based on ideas from community members, Equity-Centered Designer Studio for Spatial Practice — along with our Social Impact Design Team and Heather Mallak, Creative Strategist — created two potential designs for the space. At the cookout, they asked community members to pick their favorite, as well as single out the specific features they valued most from each design. Residents were also able to provide feedback on specific design elements, such as artwork, water features, and more. They were presented with images and asked to choose, for example, which gazebo, play element, or type of seating they preferred from a collection of images. See the image groupings below.
Using feedback gathered from the event and from Brashear Association staff, the team will narrow down the design options and work with emerging entrepreneur Chase Kea to create a final design document that can be used as a guide for the future of the site.
Neighborhood Allies’ Social Impact Design Program translates community visions and objectives into architectural design packages that ensure design and development projects are focused around what the community wants and needs. The overall goal of our Social Impact Design work is to make architectural and urban design accessible to historically disinvested communities by extending the capacity of local organizations and community groups, and for-profit designers. Read more about our program.
