Section 001 at Washington Park
What is Section 001?
Section 001 is a collaborative furniture studio between industrial designers and architects that was developed to encourage interdisciplinary partnership and teamwork outside of our own fields.
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This year, our studio partnered with 3CDC, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to the revitalization of downtown Cincinnati, to create unique furnishing solutions for Washington Park - the largest green space within downtown city limits.
Washington Park - Cincinnati, OH
Create a furnishing solution for public use in Washington Park
Site Visit
On a class visit to Washington Park, we got a behind-the-scenes look at the ins and outs of the everyday work of 3CDC. We toured the space and gained important insights into organizational logistics, storage, and prak demographics to help us come up with the best possible solution for Washington Park.
How our project can accommodate 3CDC's needs
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Portable
We want this furniture to be portable so that is can be used in multiple locations throughout the park and be easily moved to storage in case of an event
Stackable
This furnishing solution should be stackable to save space in storage and allow for a consistent, repeatable family
of forms
Interactive
This solution should encourage park goers to engage with the furnishing in new and exciting ways, allowing the furniture to have multiple functions
Our Ideation Process
As a class, we developed 10 general directions for the project to brainstorm around. Together, we created hundreds of functional sketches to develop common themes and narrow our vision through voting and discussion. We arrived at 8 new areas to explore and developed teams dedicated to the research and development of each one.
After weeks of ideation, discussion, modeling, research, and critique, our class had 8 well-developed proposals for Washington Park
3CDC's Feedback
After presenting our 8 proposals to 3CDC, they wanted us to move forward with proposals Flow, Modular, Canopy, and Turf.
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I joined the turf group to assist with design finalization, building, and assembly.
The Building Process
The Framing
After creating these structural pieces from sheets of 3/4" plywood on a CNC router, we fastened them together with a high-polymer wood glue and a nail gun. These waffle-like structures will serve as the base for our next 2 layers.
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The Weather-Proofing
In order to protect our arcs from the weather, we layered them with 1" sections of PVC, creating an air-tight seal. We again routed out the shapes on the CNC table. Then, using ratchet straps, we secured the flat pieces of PVC to the wood framing while we reinforced the layer of adhesive glue with screws at even intervals.
The Turf
The final step in our assembly process was covering the arcs in turf. Using the same adhesive, we added a layer of glue and then laid it down on a secondary piece of PVC that fit snugly on top of the sides of the arcs. We folded the edges of the turf over and secured them with a staple gun, avoiding any visual gaps.
Our Solution in the Park
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