Goetz Alley Update

Though I love doing graphic design and marketing work at ArtsWave, I still occasionally miss interior design (my undergrad degree.) My friends Sarah, Justin and I teamed up with our design skills and entered a urban design competition with the Niehoff Studio and UC's Community Design Center.

The DIY Urbanism competition proposed designing a project utilizing public space that would, if implemented, be a temporary installation altering the space for the public good. After some discussion (and searching on the Hamiltion County Auditor's website for possible public spaces), my team started tossing around the idea of altering one of the alleys in Over-the-Rhine to make it a more hospitable space.

Our final result is the Goetz Alley Update. Goetz Alley is parallel to Main Street in Over-the-Rhine, connecting 12th Street near Park + Vine and Neon's all the way north to Liberty Street. Inspired by public installations in France, Copenhagen, and NYC, we envisioned a series of lighted sculpture pieces creating a colored walkway, leading Fringe Festival attendees (this is a pretend temporary installation, remember) from one venue to another.

The basic setup takes standard scaffolding and colored 3-Form plexiglass, along with solar powered LED tube lighting, to create the arches. With one color of plexi spanning one block, the combination of scaffolds create a wayfinding system and a colorful, unique experience that is surprising and dynamic, day and night.

Our team trio was unstoppable - we created the idea, drawings, and board in under 15 hours - after work! I headed up the concepting, copy, and graphics - maps and board layout. Sarah was a rendering superstar - she developed the awesome drawings in Photoshop. Justin (an arch major at DAAP) went technical and figured out how it would all work - and created an exploded axon drawing showing how the sculpture came together.

The cool thing about this project is that it is actually pretty feasible - could probably come together for around $1000 or so. The end result is a clean, safe, alternative way to get around in OTR. We wanted to reverse all the reasons people don't hang out in alleys more.

If you want to see it in person, please come to the DIY Urbanism reception - there's a people's choice award (so you could vote for the project...) and see the other submissions from other local designers. It's Friday, June 1, from 6-9 pm, at the Architecture Foundation of Cincinnati - 811 Race Street (next to the CityBeat offices). See you there? If not, the exhibit is open from June 1st - June 14th.

Check out the deets (and more work, hint!) on my portfolio site.