Role: Lead Studio Instructor

Client: Innovators for Purpose

Year: 2016

Studio instruction to inspire students to envision an interpretive sculpture that activates a local park and draws attention to technical achievements

 PROBLEM

In 2015, Innovators for Purpose received a Cambridge Redevelopment Forward Fund award for innovative civic improvement projects and creative physical interventions that better Cambridge’s built environment and nonprofit infrastructure for the benefit of all the City’s residents, workers, and visitors. Instead of proposing a specific solution, Innovators for Purpose placed the decision of what to build in the hands of middle and high school students, so they hired Solomon Office to guide the students to investigate signature urban areas and to invent innovative solutions to activate the sites.

SOLUTION

Students met each afternoon for six weeks and were led through a human-centered design process to analyze the existing conditions in two parks, and to propose interventions that could improve the area and connect people to its history and culture. At the conclusion of each week, Solomon Office brought in experts for design reviews to encourage students to reflect on their learning, and to receive feedback from local stakeholders. By the end of the program, the students voted to build one of the proposals, and Solomon Office advised on the selection of fabricator and permitting process through to installation. 

OUTCOME

In 2018, the interpretive sculpture, The Looking Glass, was permanently installed to activate an underutilized grassy knoll at the heart of Kendall Square. It stands today, drawing people’s attention to the area’s capacity for relaxation and contemplation of the long history of new technologies that have advanced along Main Street leading from Cambridge to Boston.