Project Feature: City of Kelowna Parklet Challenge
Final built design, taken from the middle of Bernard Avenue looking South.
In our field, one of the biggest realities we face after leaving design school and beginning the journey into the working world is dealing with budgets, clients, and timelines. If you’ve been in the industry for a while, this isn’t news to you. But for those just starting out, the art of juggling multiple projects, managing client expectations, and adhering to the fees available will add a degree of practicality, learning curves, and parameters to your work that did not exist in your design labs back in school, where creativity ruled. This can be a sobering experience for any young, wide-eyed, and ambitious designer.
All that said, we still jump at the chance to hone our design skills, and as young designers, to hold onto the unbridled passion and energy we had in design school. And sometimes, it’s nice to just let loose and have fun. One of our first adventures, as a new Team, found us on the historic Bernard Avenue in downtown Kelowna in the summer of 2021.
“We learned first-hand how critical it is to consider the feasibility of a project, and the realities of designing for a built environment. ”
LOCI was invited by the City of Kelowna to participate alongside several other companies to design a parklet for the Meet me on Bernard Festival - a summer event hosted by the City of Kelowna that converted the 400 and 500 blocks of Bernard Avenue in Downtown Kelowna, into a pedestrian/active transportation corridor and outdoor event space that included outdoor patios, pop-up shops, public art venues, and parklets.
Each parklet converted a 2.4 m x 8 m on-street parking spot into an activated space, following a fast-forward/rewind design theme. With the theme and our parklet’s location at the corner of Pandosy St in front of 99.9 Sun FM Radio Station, two things immediately came to mind: the ability of music to evoke nostalgia and “fast forward/rewind time”, and the mechanisms of a cassette tape.
In collaboration with local Kelowna companies, Cabin Resource Management Ltd (the contractor), and Elegantly Wooden (CNC Contractor), we brought our design to life and supported the City of Kelowna in providing the Community with a lively outdoor summer event. Check out a behind-the-scenes look into our design, process, and the lessons we learned along the way!
Close-up of the wood top bench. Each piece was uniquely shaped, modelled by LOCI and CNC’d by Elegantly Wooden.
The Concept
Structurally, we were drawn to the cassette’s sensory components of fast-forward/rewinding, whereby the user can see and hear the movement of the magnetic tape coated with melodies, gathering from one wheel to the other. This flow of tape between two reels presents a tangible passage of time and finds itself at the core of our design.
Photo of cassette form (left) used during early concept stages to inform the shape of the design as shown in our parti diagram (right).
LOCI’s Parklet consists of a raised deck accessible from the sidewalk with a ramp, with two articulating benches emerging from the deck-surface that creates a clearance for wheelchair accessibility and connects both sides of the deck. The curved shape of the top bench created with a series of uniquely shaped wood pieces reimagines the cassette’s reel by creating two opposite-facing nodes featuring a pollinator-friendly planter on one side, and a table to gather and rest. A moment of nostalgia was expressed through a mosaic of 300+ donated vintage tapes attached to the base of the bench, illuminated with a continuous string of down-lit LED light for use at night.
Original renders of the initial concept design by LOCI.
The Process
We kicked off the project by answering the 5 W’s – Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Who will be using this Parklet? What will this Parklet be used for? Where is this Parklet located? When will this Parklet be used (night/day/season)? And, Why would someone be drawn to use this Parklet?
From this discussion, each team member produced a rough sketch of a proposed design and presented it to the team. Once the best ideas were combined for an initial Concept Design, the team began putting together diagrams, 3D models, plans, and sketches that brought together the design concept package.
Preview of our Concept Design Package submitted to the City.
Following City approval, we struggled to find a contractor and CNC company with only 1 month left before assembly day. After a week of countless phone calls and rejections due to the budget and timeline, we were introduced to CABIN Resource Management by the City of Kelowna and came across Elegantly Wooden online. We were immediately taken by their expertise as contractors, determination to give back to their Community, and openness to manifesting our vision.
Working closely with CABIN and Elegantly Wooden throughout the build, we were able to bring together all the materials required and work out several structural components of our design that we failed to consider, such as the curvature of the top bench suitable for the CNC Machine, how the curvature of the bench could be built, how the tapes were going to be installed, lighting solutions for our budget, and top bench drainage.
CABIN Resource Management team assembling the sloping bench section. Each wooden bench top section was CNC’d by Elegantly Wooden to achieve the curvature in the design.
The Build
One of the biggest challenges we faced/something we didn’t take into account enough was 1) how much material and labour was required for our design, and 2) how difficult it was going to be to find the material (wood + cassettes) within our timeline and budget. CABIN generously donated wood and after our countless phone calls/emails to various organizations (i.e., schools, public libraries)/private vendors (i.e., Kijiji/Craigslist) in the City for old cassette donations, we managed to gather the 300+ tapes required to cover the base of the bench.
A highlight of our build was the base of the bench, which saw hundreds of tiny incisions made manually on the inside of plywood, and nailed to a wood frame to create the curvature of the base (see photo below).
Contrasting this manually constructed curve, the featured top bench, however, involved each piece uniquely modelled and designed through Rhino 7 by LOCI, then precisely cut through a CNC Machine by Elegantly Wooden, labelled on the base and stained, then assembled on-site by Cabin Resource Management. Without CNCing, we would not have met the deadline.
Top bench pieces laid out upside down with base after CNCing with unique labels written to identify location on bench during installation.
Top Bench (front) laid out for staining and base of bench (back) drying after application with PL Construction Adhesive.
Each tape was hand-glued by LOCI in CABIN’s Kelowna workshop during the 44° C + heat wave! Despite the City construction stipend, CABIN, Elegantly Wooden, and LOCI all donated hours of labour to cover the cost of the assembly.
Buckets of donated tapes being laid out before being glued. Over 300+ tapes were applied.
Planting mockup at the nursery by LOCI designer, before installation on site.
At LOCI, we value collaborative teamwork because of the mentorship and hands-on learning it facilitates across our team in a short amount of time, while also letting us play and grow both individually and as a team. With Meet me on Bernard, we found the perfect opportunity not only to work together, but also to exercise creativity in our design, our budgeting, and the build. Working alongside two local firms who shared our principles of fostering a sense of place, championing public space, promoting landscape architecture, and a call for adventure, through this design challenge we learned first-hand how critical it is to consider the feasibility of a project and the realities of designing for a built environment.
Check out the slideshow below to see some more photos of the Meet me on Bernard event!
