As part of Historic Meridian Park’s (HMP’s) Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) Greenspace grant administered through Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc., (KIB), KIB secured HMP two new partnerships! We are pleased to announce that Ball State Architecture Professor George Elvin, PhD, will be leading his architecture students in designing our pocket park’s “imagination station.” His class’s sole focus will be on creating an innovative, well-designed, and fun play space for HMP that is safe, engaging, and encourages imaginative play. Professor Elvin is the founder of Gone Studio, a company pioneering post-petroleum design through zero-plastic, zero-waste, zero-electricity manufacturing. His designs have been featured at the Discovery Channel, Macworld, Treehugger, and over fifty other green design venues. The author of over 40 books and articles, his work on green design and technology has been published by Wiley, Princeton Architectural Press, and the American Society of Civil Engineers, among others. His talks and workshops have inspired audiences in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas for decades.
Additionally, KIB has hired the urban architecture firm w/purpose to provide an overall park design plan that creates a sense of place, is respectful to the surrounding community, and bridges the goals of the child and adult park elements into a comprehensive and aligned plan. These elements include the imagination station, native plantings and beds, benches (and other relaxing areas), and fencings and pathways. For the past decade owner Wil D. Marquez has been developing a unique product in architecture and urban design for clients who believe that good design can make a difference in both their lives and in the lives of others. His expertise focuses in finding plausible, yet non-traditional, solutions for homes, developments, streetscapes, retail centers, and installations through a collaborative practice he defines as “creative play.” A unique process of collaborative programming meets big picture thinking that he believes is the basis for how we make the decisions needed to realize a project’s full potential. His philosophy is centered around the belief that it is imperative for urban designers to seek out unique solutions if they want to contribute meaningful and relevant environments to society. Their clients include the YMCA of Indianapolis, Future Farm Workers of America, BWI, City of Evansville, Bicycle Garage Indy, Crossroads Development, Turning Point, Way of Life AMEC Church, Borshoff, and LISC. w/purose, LLC is a registered MBE Consultant specializing in architectural and urban design services, engineering project management, and engineering collaboration and teaching. To read more about w/purpose, see their website at http://www.wpurpose.com/.
KIB will continue to oversee the entire plan in conjunction with the HMP Pocket Park Committee. During January 2014, there were several meetings held between KIB, the HMP Pocket Park Committee, HMP residents, w/purpose, and Ball State University students to explore “imagination station” concepts, gain feedback from residents, and align on a detailed plan. The “imagination station” portion of the Pocket Park project will be completed by the end of April in accordance with the end of the Ball State semester.
We thank KIB for securing these incredible partnerships and the continued efforts of the HMP Pocket Park Team!
Following the first successful meeting with KIB, Ball State, and w/purpose, several outcomes were achieved:
- We reviewed in great detail the goals of the playscape piece that Professor Elvin and his BSU Architecture students will assist with through design and build. Their timeframe is to have everything completed by the end of April, so laying out the path forward with this was important. Mr. Marquez and Professor Elvin will connect and, based on the feedback from the meeting, will develop a set of design guidelines that can be used as a basis for developing the design plan.
- We are exploring what KIB’s involvement will be in a number of elements to the park, all of which of course will be dependent upon the final design and cost numbers. These elements include the playscape, native plantings and beds, and fencing and pathways.
And good news just keeps coming for the HMP pocket park. Last month the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana announced that HMP was awarded a $5000 Neighborhood Stabilization Grant to assist in building the park shelter. Moreover, KIB was awarded an additional $20,000 from the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana to go towards HMP park development. This is an additional $25,000 for the HMP pocket park development.
The HMP Pocket Park Committee is hard at work making sure that the park space is developed with several interests in mind. The park will have a shelter where neighborhood assets can be stored, an open space for mingling with other neighbors, a space where our children can play, and a less active space. All of this requires careful planning. Neighborhood input is invaluable.
In February 2014, neighborhood children were invited to participate in a focus group with Ball State architecture students who will be helping develop the children’s space under the supervision of George Elvin, PhD. Neighborhood children were asked what types of things that they would like to see in the park. The interactive session produced a wealth of ideas for the students and helped engage the youngest HMP neighbors. The pocket park is being designed and developed with all neighbors, both young and old, in mind.