Hej! I am going to talk about my first assignment in my Urban Design Studio Course. Before our class dove into our main design project, we were required to do some analysis of our site in Nørrebro. The objective was to collect as much understanding about the site and its surrounding context before the initial design work began.
There are many approaches to conduct a site analysis:
- Activity, Edges & Functions
- Movement, Connectivity & Culture
- Scale, Spatial Features & Context
- Physical Site Model
- Climate
- Engagement Methods
As for me, I chose the engagement methods, in a groups of three. My group members were Logan and Emily. We needed to set up a temporary installation or an activity to engage with people currently using the site. The goal is to investigate how people respond with our intervention at the site. At the same time, how the intervention has changed the space.
After a few days of discussion and planning, we decided to construct a bench on site using unwanted wood pallets. This was because the site was lacked of resting spaces. On the day of the construction, we arrived at our site and saw lots of human activity. People were hanging out around the bench, vehicles were using the roads frequently, cyclists used the site for bicycle parking, and pedestrians walked around the site.
First, we went to the nearest hardware store to collect unwanted wood pallets. After getting the owner’s permission, we brought a few unwanted wood pallets to our site.
Next, we deconstructed the wood pallets using claw hammer and saw. By deconstructing the wood pallets, we reused the remaining woods to construct parts of the wooden bench.
Also, we painted the color cyan on the wooden bench.
As we were constructing the wooden bench, the people around the site were curious about our activity.
The people started to help and guided us on making the wooden bench. They taught us how to strengthen the wooden bench as a whole.
After about four hours, we completed the wooden bench.
After the completion of the wooden bench construction, our class had a picnic, which was beside our construction site. This is also our first picnic for our class.
As we were eating, we observed our site. We were delighted when some people were resting on our constructed wooden bench.
“People and human activities attract other people. People are attracted to other people.”
– Jan Gehl, Life Between Buildings
From this construction experience, we observed that people are attracted to the process of making a wooden bench as well as the use of a wooden bench as a resting space. In other words, human activity and resting spaces are important features to enhance the use of public spaces. Nevertheless, I learned that collaboration for this assignment was essential to make the wooden bench successfully. I can’t help but be thankful to my group members!
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