interactive community wall transforms fence by chat travieso

interactive community wall transforms fence by chat travieso
all images courtesy of chat travieso

seeking to invert the function and meaning of a fence from a physical barrier to a place of inclusion, ‘on a fence’ by local brooklyn-based designer chat travieso, is a community orientated project that brings people together. produced in collaboration with graphic designer yeju choi, the installation features in a pop-up park called pier 42 in manhattan’s east river waterfront. organized by the lower east side waterfront alliance, lower manhattan cultural council – in partnership with NY state senator daniel squadron, and also the NYC department of parks and recreation – local residents of all ages participated in the design process and volunteered in the construction. working with community partner good old lower east side (GOLES) the installation transforms a portion of the fence bordering the park into an interactive structure. incorporating colorful signage on the outside face with seating and play areas on its inside. the appearance of the fence seems opaque from an oblique angle, and porous when looked at straight on. an arrow pattern acts as way-finding signage to help guide visitors towards the entrance of the pop-up park.

constructed mostly out of reclaimed scaffolding planks and standard 2 x 4 and 2 x 6 lumber, the freestanding structure bridges the existing chain link fence, without touching it – both highlighting and obfuscating its presence. painted vertical wooden slats sandwich the fence and form the main backbone of the installation. attached along the park-side of the wall are interactive pieces; a bike rack, stepped seating, shaded areas, a sand box, a small stage, a chalkboard wall, and seating with tables. on the outside face, layered colors of the slats create a moiré effect, where the colors change and appear to vibrate as one moves past. ‘on a fence’ is open until november 2013.

the layered colors from the vertical slats creates a moiré effect

view of the bike rack and stepped seating with thatched roof

view of seats with tables, stage with chalkboard wall behind it, sandbox, and stepped seating

enjoying the seats and tables

young people drawing on the chalkboard wall

using the stage for basketball practice

young people from the grand street settlement sitting on the stepped seats

view looking through the project

using the bike rack

playing in the sandbox

drawing on the chalkboard wall

project team: chat travieso, yeju choi, eduardo m. llinás-meseguer, jerome begin, esmé boyce, cody boyce, giulia carotenuto, charlene chai, christine chang, isaac esterman, good old lower east side (GOLES), GOLES healthy aging program (GHAP), grand st. settlement, ryan hartley, jenny hong, heechan kim, raj kottamasu, colette krogol, julian morales, ken murphy, neta nakash, pietro pagliaro, carmen pedroza, teresa pedroza, matt reeves, damaris reyes, carlina rivera, leah solk, jeanette “jet” toomer, jj veronis, kristen wilke, christine yao

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.