Movie Reel Design Proposal
As a proponent of urban transit, I hope to encourage human transit in the Glenwood South District. I am encouraged by the ideas presented via the Raleigh Arts Plan, the Downtown 2025 Experience Plan, and other initiatives throughout the city. These long term goals will move Raleigh into being a more environmentally friendly city while promoting a vibrant and engaging experience of place. However, there is much we as artists can do on a smaller more intimate scale to enhance social interaction and forge an identity for smaller pockets of our urban landscape. Initiatives supported by the Office of Raleigh Arts, the United Arts Council, and the Visual Art Exchange foster more immediate creative projects due to the smaller scale. The Glenwood South Neighborhood Collaborative’s Cool Walkings Project in collaboration with these groups is one large step in the right direction. Site specific projects in the Glenwood South Hospitality District that encourage a more walkable streetscape, communal spaces, and a vibrant neighborhood identity are tangible examples of the steps to achieving the city’s goals.
The Cool Walkings Project encompasses three crosswalks. I chose to focus my preliminary sketches on a concept for the Glenwood South Neighborhood as a whole instead of a site specific design limited to a crosswalk’s surroundings. I wanted to create a feeling of movement in time and place within the confines of the city’s specifications for the crosswalk. Maintaining the recognizable characteristics of a crosswalk necessary for pedestrian safety was an interesting challenge. I chose the theme of movies for my design concept. Movies draw groups of people to a communal space for immediate sensory stimulation while also promoting future dialog about the experience. Movies can make you feel whispers of past history, promises of future accomplishments, or connect you emotionally to the present moment. Utilizing a projection movie reel countdown design embraces both the vintage historical connection and the anticipation of the future experience of the movie. I hope that pedestrians will feel this connection while traversing the crosswalk with both a historical visual countdown and current visual and audible countdown of pedestrian crossing signals. Maintaining a connection to both the history and the future ideas of Glenwood South promotes the feeling of shared community experiences. Including neighborhood volunteers in the physical creation of the crosswalk connects the community in a shared experience of time and place. The geometric style of the design is conducive to artist stenciled outlines that can be filled in by volunteers. Options for artist stencil include but are not limited to chalk outline, masking paper and paint masking tape, or 10 mm Medium Duty Blank Mylar Stencil Film. Stencil film can be cut with a X-acto knife or a specialized stencil cutting tool (www.stencilease.com).
My design is adaptable to any of the three crosswalks. For presentation purposes, I selected Crosswalk One: Glenwood Avenue at Tucker Street to demonstrate the scale of the design.
Walkscore.com currently gives Tucker Street a Walkable Score of 81 (Very Walkable: Most errands can be accomplished on foot). The Cool Walkings Project will motivate both visitors and residents to experience the crosswalks and promote human transit.
Amanda Snavely
Movie Reel Stencil
Permanent Art Installation
Cool Walkings Project
Completed Project
Permanent Art Installation
Cool Walkings Project
Movie Reel
As a proponent of urban transit, I hope to encourage human transit in the Glenwood South District. I am encouraged by the ideas presented via the Raleigh Arts Plan, the Downtown 2025 Experience Plan, and other initiatives throughout the city. These long term goals will move Raleigh into being a more environmentally friendly city while promoting a vibrant and engaging experience of place. However, there is much we as artists can do on a smaller more intimate scale to enhance social interaction and forge an identity for smaller pockets of our urban landscape. Initiatives supported by the Office of Raleigh Arts, the United Arts Council, and the Visual Art Exchange foster more immediate creative projects due to the smaller scale. The Glenwood South Neighborhood Collaborative’s Cool Walkings Project in collaboration with these groups is one large step in the right direction. Site specific projects in the Glenwood South Hospitality District that encourage a more walkable streetscape, communal spaces, and a vibrant neighborhood identity are tangible examples of the steps to achieving the city’s goals.
The Cool Walkings Project encompasses three crosswalks. I chose to focus my preliminary sketches on a concept for the Glenwood South Neighborhood as a whole instead of a site specific design limited to a crosswalk’s surroundings. I wanted to create a feeling of movement in time and place within the confines of the city’s specifications for the crosswalk. Maintaining the recognizable characteristics of a crosswalk necessary for pedestrian safety was an interesting challenge. I chose the theme of movies for my design concept. Movies draw groups of people to a communal space for immediate sensory stimulation while also promoting future dialog about the experience. Movies can make you feel whispers of past history, promises of future accomplishments, or connect you emotionally to the present moment. Utilizing a projection movie reel countdown design embraces both the vintage historical connection and the anticipation of the future experience of the movie. I hope that pedestrians will feel this connection while traversing the crosswalk with both a historical visual countdown and current visual and audible countdown of pedestrian crossing signals. Maintaining a connection to both the history and the future ideas of Glenwood South promotes the feeling of shared community experiences. Including neighborhood volunteers in the physical creation of the crosswalk connects the community in a shared experience of time and place. The geometric style of the design is conducive to artist stenciled outlines that can be filled in by volunteers. Options for artist stencil include but are not limited to chalk outline, masking paper and paint masking tape, or 10 mm Medium Duty Blank Mylar Stencil Film. Stencil film can be cut with a X-acto knife or a specialized stencil cutting tool (www.stencilease.com).
My design is adaptable to any of the three crosswalks. For presentation purposes, I selected Crosswalk One: Glenwood Avenue at Tucker Street to demonstrate the scale of the design.
Walkscore.com currently gives Tucker Street a Walkable Score of 81 (Very Walkable: Most errands can be accomplished on foot). The Cool Walkings Project will motivate both visitors and residents to experience the crosswalks and promote human transit.
Amanda Snavely