Philadelphia-Based Art & Design
The Broad Street Stage
The Westlake Stage in Seattle
The Broad Street Stage was the first project I designed to be situated in the existing built environment. (All projects leading up to this existed in the void of the 3D modeling environment.)
For this project we were tasked with designing a public forum in a vacant lot of our choosing along a stretch of North Broad St. In the early stages of this project my professor encouraged us to be cognizant of what we were proposing, who the design was intended to serve. She asked "What does this community need?" I struggled with this question a lot, and I think I still struggle with it. Who was I to say what someone else's community needed?
Holding this question, I designed a place where the community could speak for itself: a stage. I pulled inspiration from the Westlake stage in Seattle Washington. This sculptural element has served as the meeting point for countless protests and organization, but it also offers a more passive functionality as a covered place to sit. It was important to me for my design to offer similar flexibility.
The heavy awning mimics that of the Westlake stage, and continues the datum of the awning to the right of my design.
The Broad St. Stage sits between the towering, historic Uptown Theater - a beautiful Art Deco building from the late 1920s - and a single-story mini-mart.
The theater was once an important fixture for both music and civil rights. It closed in the late 1970s, following an increase in gang-related crime. The tombstone-like elements along the North wall symbolize the now-empty theater seats still inside. It is no accident that they look like graves.
The succession of gilded monoliths at the entrance of the forum, like heavy curtains, reach up to meet the height of the Uptown, but do not surpass it.
I continued to mill over my professor's question through countless site visits. It was through these visits that I came to the conclusion that this stretch of North Broad lacked public space. This is no doubt intentional. This community has not forgotten the violence and crime that led to the closing of the Uptown. Such activity cannot persist if it is not given adequate space to persist. But the opposite is true, as well. Good things cannot persist if they are not given the space to persist.
Beyond my design's initial "stage" entrance is an open area, partially covered, and an additional stage in the back. It is my intention for this space to be used publicly, or for community events.
The heaviest criticism of this project in final reviews was that I make a lot of claims for something that is, in essence, nothing more than a series of platforms. I'll take it. The platform itself is the most basic, necessary component of this design.
It is impossible to replace the Uptown and the platform that space provided, but at the very least, I aim to pay my respects through this design.
