Design

Two Los Angeles designers want you to bomb the forgotten spaces of your city. The duo repurposes gumball machines into street-side “seed bomb” dispensers, now popping up in cities across the country. The “bombs” are a mixture of clay, compost and seeds that users throw anonymously into parking medians or sidewalk cracks, temporarily infusing a bit of green into an otherwise gray urban site. Read more about the “GreenAid” seed bomb project here.

Partners’ recent forum with the Hirshhorn Museum, “Building Livable Communities: Creating a Common Agenda,” served as a positive platform to re-announce a new and exciting agenda for architecture, design, and social experimentation: The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s Bubble Expansion and book store renovation. Attended by Congressional representatives, federal agencies, think tanks, cultural institutions, and community development leaders alike, Director of the Hirshhorn Museum Richard Koshalek discussed the museum’s upcoming plans.

The "Bubble,” as it is called for the short-term, is a joint venture of Koshalek and Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, a renowned New York-based design firm, to re-invent the Museum as an intentional classroom and illustrate intersections of public and private space. Additionally, the museum book store will undergo a transition from a common commercial entity to becoming integrated as a part of museum exhibition space, through a renovation and move to the basement of the building.

Perhaps this new agenda comes from the idea that we need to adapt spaces to peoples’ readily changing needs. Perhaps this comes from Richard Koshalek’s desire to make the Hirshhorn a world class modern art museum with a daring new exposition. Perhaps this comes from the need to blur public and private space by incorporating The "Bubble” as an almost space-less entity into a negative, or void, of the concrete mass building; and the book store as an experiment in museum exhibit space. Or perhaps this agenda just comes from a need to make the stolid flimsy, the serious fun, and the patron part of the exhibit. 

The American Society of Landscape Architect’s weekly blog, “The Dirt: Connecting the Built and Natural Environments,” posts detailed highlights from “Building Livable Communities: Creating a Common Agenda,” Partner’s recent Forum in collaboration with the Hirshhorn Museum.  Recapping the panel of Federal officials including HUD, DOT, and their overlapping agendas to create an “infrastructure for livability” through “interdependencies,” the blog also includes highlights from the speakers representing local government, non for profit agencies, and corporate entities. The Dirt showcases some of the newest ideas and agendas surrounding the national livability framework presented at the forum. Read about it here

Fairfax County, VA

Active steps taken by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to prepare for a rapidly increasing older population.

North Adams, MA

A cultural institution has brought stupendous growth to the surrounding community.

St. Paul, MN

A development bank and vehicle to fund the revitalization of the Lowertown area in downtown St. Paul.

El Paso, TX

A central entertainment hub and source of pride for the El Paso community.

Founders Award for Civic Leadership

A life-long commitment to improving livability through design.

Bridge Builders Award

A unique program that promotes a better understanding of Islamic culture through the study of art, architecture and cultural heritage.

Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award

A powerful couple who have worked to transform downtown D.C. into the lively urban center it is today.

A city that was completely transformed by the strong will of civic leaders and innovative urban planning strategies.

Investors in America Award

A husband and wife team that has worked to advance social and economic advancement through affordable housing.

Entrepreneurial American Community Award

For their success in supporting local artists, youth education mentoring and neighborhood transformation through their groundbreaking mural program.

Entrepreneurial American Community Award

For their role in strengthening Denver’s public elementary schools and their surrounding neighborhoods by designing new multi-dimensional school playgrounds.

This report documents the Centralina Aging in Place Workshop and features the central role of transportation and housing in the work of land use planners and designers. Click here to download the report.