Cooper Hewitt Sign © Wired.com
The newest exhibit a the Cooper-Hewitt Museum focuses on unique projects that all take a holistic approach to solving problems in various communities around the country, each was unique and had a common goal to bring the community together to solve a problem that community felt was important.
Each project aims to solve social, environmental, educational, and legal problems that plague neighborhood across the country. Depending on the location problems ranged from social to environmental to natural problems. There were projects to help improve community relations and problems that affect community safety, food, transportation. The Cooper exhibit helped to bring these social issues together so that they were on a common and open platform accessible to the world. These exhibits did not only help to provide solutions but also to inspire other communities to work together to solve any issues they deem important.
There were a few projects that were specifically created to be implemented in New York City, for example, the Probation Resource Hub which was created in 2011 by a collaborative group of art students, painters, designers, and probation supervisor. The focus of the project was to help redesign a probation waiting rooms. The idea was that redesigning the waiting rooms and allowing more face-face contact, sort of a reverse broken window theory would foster a better chance for reintegration. This project uses what we know about psychology to help improve the prison system and hopefully end the school to prison pipeline that exists in NYC.
Current Probation Offices © Hafeezat Azeez
Proposed Probation Offices © Hafeezat Azeez
For example on of my favorite exhibits was a project that took place in San Francisco, in 1985 lead by David Baker Architects, this project called the Urban Housing Design Principles are a set of nine principles to help promote and stimulate elegance, economic growth, improved living, and a healthy urban environment. This project is one of my favorite ones because you can tell the architects behind this help either has psychological experience or consulted the help of a social psychologist.
Center principal that connects the others © Hafeezat Azeez
The nine principals © Hafeezat Azeez
Future Cycles was one of the more out there projects that would most likely never work in NYC most because it is a safety hazard, there is no space, and there is not really a need. Future Cycles is a project that essentially a lightweight efficiently and a human powered vehicle called the Orbit Vehicle, that achieves a speed of 400 mph and can store up to 6hr of battery power. The Orbit is considered a moped so it does not require motor insurance. The project designers proclaim that the Orbit is a viable alternative to sustainable commuting with weather protection. While I like this project there are definite flaws that will not apply to a big city like NYC. There is no room for the Orbit, there is barely any room for bicycles, and the high number of bicycle accidents lead me to believe that similar situations would occur only it would be more deadly, especially since the Orbit is a metal box, there is a reason they make cars, with an airbag. The Orbit would most likely only work in small cities like Seattle or small countries like Sweden. It is a good idea but it would not apply to a major metropolitan.
Orbit Vehicle © Hafeezat Azeez
There were many projects that I would also like to see implemented such as the D.C. Neighborhood Libraries, the Crest Apartments, the Superblock Retrofit, Fresh Moves Mobile Market, Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, Firehouse Clinics, Urban Housing Design Principles.
This exhibit at the Cooper is one everyone should have the chance to see because it will do as it has done for me help to inspire active community participation and only good can come from this.
This entry was posted by Hafeezat Azeez
