establishing a shared direction

Over the past couple of weeks members of DSRA's design team have each submitted ideas and thoughts about what they feel is missing in their community. This past Friday afternoon we met to discuss each of these thoughts. Each member of the team was given a maximum of 4 minutes to present their ideas to the rest of the team whose role it was to listen without judgement. The following is a list of ideas that were presented during Friday's meeting,

Quinpool Regeneration – mixed-use development, infill projects, corner markets, affordable housing – increasing the social value of the street

Adaptive Re-use Bell Aliant – connecting building to the street rather than reconstruction

Creating outdoor social spaces in Halifax winter

Spring Garden Business Association – new, smaller skating arena in more permanent area – wanderer’s grounds with usable winter garden and rink

Designing infrastructure for rink – making it usable in winter and summer

Accidental creation of outdoor spaces – removal of Chronicle Herald building – could this  be a viable place for an outdoor public space?

Multi-generational use of public space

Covered bus shelters – heated?

DSRA - facilitators of design competition – ie. student competitions, professional entries, awards

DSRA partnering with School of Architecture – develop small scale interventions

Temporary shelter in the commons during the winter – maybe they are made of snow

Park space shelters that serve as spaces for picnics, social gatherings, sleeping spaces, homeless refuge, safely inclusive

Rethinking the programming of a homeless shelter

Small lockers to secure belongings of transient persons – what are the potential ripple effects of an intervention like this?

A small shelter/bicycle rack/recycling depot that has w.c. facilities – placement of these facilities – modular?

Connecting public services to HRM solar hot water initiative/Greenfield sewer

Guerrilla Architecture!

Examining the symbiotic relationship between the suburbs and the city

Co-housing – integrating generations

Small format retail – infrastructure amongst “big box” – regional and local

Mixed-use, light industrial nature corridors 

Community building around recreation facilities – the need for a centrally located place for community building in the suburbs, inclusive of age and interest

Collective consumption – share programs – elimination of single-use items  - shared resources

Bicycle Infrastructure – connecting suburbs to city - modular units, community showers, secure place to lock bike

After each of the ideas were presented, conversation about the oval became the focus. There has certainly been an overwhelming response from the public in favor of making the temporary center a permanent one. This article in the CBC news is evidence of that. However, concerns around the permanence of the facility have been raised. How can this facility be used year round? What value does a facility like this offer to the city of Halifax? Where in the city is the most suitable location? Where is the funding to support this project? Within these questions there is even greater opportunity to explore the needs of the community and all stakeholders involved in order to design a sustainable solution.

So, where do we go from here? Ideally the process of developing a project intended to meet the needs of a wide audience would demand that a thorough understanding of the community be established. However, in this case the call for a proposal is immediate. So, we as a team at DSRA have decided that we will submit a proposal - an idea really, backed by a genuine intent that if approval is granted our focus throughout the project will be the needs of the community it is intended to serve.