NORTH LAWNDALE – West Siders are overtaking a lot near the Central Park Pink Line Station to create a community space for residents to relax and have block parties.
Organizers and artists will be creating a floor painting on a basketball court in many of Drake and Ogden Avenues. The property will have a playground as well as a modular art installation that can be used for seating, tables, performances and other functions, organizers said.
The work is one of the earliest projects by Under the Grid, an initiative using public art to revitalize 15 blocks near the Pink Line between Pulaski and Kedzie. The project, sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Biennial, was part of a collective of North Lawndale initiatives that were finalists for the $ 10 million Chicago Prize last year.
For the Ogden and Drake property, the Under the Grid team wanted to create a place for residents to host events because “a block party or sitting on the porch is important to our community,” said Lawndale-based artist Haman Cross.
“It’s an idea to recycle space that has been neglected. There’s about a mile and a half under the Pink Line, huge lots owned by the CTA, ”Cross said. “Under the Grid’s vision is to reinvent each of these spaces, and it can be some kind of outdoor laboratory.”
Credit: Pascal Sabino / Block ClubCraig Stevenson from Open Architecture Chicago and Lola Jenkins from WACA at the Drake and Ogden basketball court.
West Side architect Germaine Barnes came up with the idea of designing large blocks of wood that could be a multipurpose installation to serve whatever purpose residents need for the space, such as game tables or seating.
“The blocks themselves are malleable. It allows people to orient themselves the way they want to orientate, ”said Barnes. “I think this is important for a person trying to create their own legacy because they need flexibility and an innate ability to make things happen because we are used to static situations.”
The installation will stimulate people to imagine how “architecture can be an agent of change,” said Barnes. The structures, created with input from local youth and Lawndale residents, are intended to provide a foothold for people to post their own ideas to so the project can evolve to meet people’s needs, said he.
During the community feedback sessions, the local elders expressed a desire for places where games like checkers could be played so that the design incorporates these ideas so that the lottery ticket would be useful for people of all ages.
“You can create whatever you want from these modules. This is just the bare minimum. This is your framework. Build something bigger and better, ”said Barnes.
The design of the floor mural was inspired by “90s theme colors,” said Dez Lopez, 20, one of the young participants. The colorful display will “breathe life” into the eyes and includes patterns that make it a play area, like a square square and a bouncy game board, she said.
“When you breathe life into the church, there will be a little more color. People won’t be as tired as they were before, ”said Lopez. “It’s an opportunity to revive dead space and just make it something new, useful and helpful to the community.”
Credit: Pascal Sabino / Block ClubDez Lopez, a young member of the Under The Grid team who uses creative space design to activate unused areas in Lawndale.
The Drake and Ogden property has a long history as a common room. It is owned by the Westside Association for Community Action, a social services agency that has operated it as a basketball court and playing field since the 1970s.
“It all started with day basketball camps,” said Lola Jenkins, vice president of operations for the group. “We have kept the legacy by allowing the community to use it as an open space and a safe place to exercise.”
Given the difficulties Lawndale faced over the past few decades with a declining population and public safety issues, Jenkins wanted to find new ways to activate the property. The Under the Grid project was a perfect fit, she said.
“Creating the art in the space will allow residents of the community to be curious about it as the neighborhood is still changing,” said Jenkins. “It will bring a spice to life. Above all, the colors are an absolute eye-catcher. “
Pink Link’s railroad tracks form a boundary between the Black community in Lawndale and the Latino community in Little Village, said Craig Stevenson of Open Architecture Chicago, the organization behind the Chicago Architecture Biennial. So the art and local activities will “bring both communities together,” he said.
“There is no way you can see activities, gatherings and flashy designs and be curious and not do your best,” said Stevenson. “It creates small pockets of the future.”
The project of remodeling the property and revitalizing the area is a practice of creative interior design or when a community uses art to “creatively make this place their own by the way they look, feel and work,” Cross said.
“You can bring something into the room that came from you and make it come alive. Make it work. Make it practical, ”he said. “It’s a way to claim it, to put your stamp on it. … But it’s a functional, shared brand that everyone can enjoy. “
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