Last summer I became involved with an awesome group of local designers volunteering their talents to “green and screen” vacant lots on Penn Avenue bordering the northern edge of my neighborhood. This is only the second year of the program and two sites are being designed for implementation in 2011.
The Green + Screen project is centered on creating architectural screens and landscaping that can fill in the gaps on the Penn Avenue Corridor and make a more cohesive arts avenue. Even though Penn Avenue is an arts district and there are several galleries and shops, there are 25 empty lots and blighted buildings. The first Green + Screen was completed in the fall of 2010 at the 4903 lot of Penn Avenue. Goals for a Green+Screen Project are: Cost effective screens and landscaping - Temporary, movable, and modular to adapt to new spaces - Be contribution to the Avenue - Inexpensive but elegant - Secure to prevent litter, loitering, and crime.
My team’s site is adjacent to Spak Bros. Pizza at the intersection of Winebiddle and Penn.
Check out Matt (O4D cohort) Zambelli’s renderings of our bench configuration made from oak louver panels we spied at Construction Junction. We're now in the process of figuing out the details so that we can build this summer.
Eco Designers Guild (eDG) are a group of volunteer professional designers based in the city of Pittsburgh. Their common goal is to utilize their design backgrounds to give back to the city of Pittsburgh in a green and sustainable way. The eDG designers come from a variety of backgrounds centered around research, interaction, industrial, architecture, and communication design disciplines. Together they work to inform, empower and inspire the community and it’s leaders to further sustainable practices at home, in urban green spaces, and the collective culture. More about our past projects and events can be found at: www.ecodesignersguild.org