Portland State Library Bench
A project of The Freshman Inquiry class "Design and Society"
the Capstone Class "Community Place Making"
and The City Repair Project
Volunteer | Placemaking | Cob | City Repair
Project Description
Applying "placemaking" concepts with our community partner, the City Repair Project, we the students and faculty will build a unique gathering bench at the Portland State Libary. This project occurs in concurrence with the sixth annual Village Building Convergence, a ten-day event from May 19-28, where multiple placemaking projects occur throughout the city of Portland. Building with natural material and techniques, students from three sections of Portland State's Freshman Inquiry class called "Design and Society" and a Capstone class "Community Place Making" coordinated and facilitated the construction of the project. Its goals: to focus on and expand our understanding of the impact and value of individual and group decision making in society, specifically in public urban spaces of community gathering. For the bench itself the collective participants wished to create a stimulating, functional and aesthetically pleasing structure focusing on environmentally sustainable practices.
Volunteer
If you wish to help us out by volunteering your feet and hands to the project, you can show up any of these days and fill out a release form at the education table; then jump right in and get ready to get dirty:
Sun 5/21 10 - 6
Mon 5/22 10 - 7
Tues 5/23 10 - 6
Wed 5/24 10 – 7
Thurs 5/25 10 – 6
Fri 5/26 10 – 6
Sun 5/27 10 – 6
Portland State Library's Street Address: 1875 SW Park Ave.
What is "Placemaking"?
"Placemaking means creating a shared vision based on a community's needs and assets, culture and history, common interests and shared vision, local climate and topography. Placemaking is as much about psychological ownership and reclamation of space as it is about physically building a place. In a context of isolation in our neighborhoods, placemaking is a reminder that we share common interests and the power to manifest them. Great places are created by people who use them. The community is the expert while professionals are respected as technical resources.
Placemaking touches upon deeper societal issues and contributes to participatory democracy. As the process of developing a community place proceeds; people develop deeper relationships and more energy to create together because they live. Creating a common ground that transcends the differences among people powerfully addresses this isolation and creates an environment where people feel like they can do anything they set their collect minds to". -From City Repair Placemaking Guidebook: Intersection Repair by the City Repair Project Southeast Uplift Program
What is Cob?
Cob is a very old method of building which entails mixing earth with sand and/or clay (depending on the composition of the base earth) and straw or other fibrous materials to create a stiff mud. It is quite similar to adobe in that the basic mix of clay and sand is the same, but it usually has a higher percentage of long straw fibers mixed in.
Instead of creating uniform blocks to build with, cob is normally applied by hand in large gobs (or cobs) which can be tossed from one person to another during the building process. The traditional way of mixing the clay/sand/straw is with bare feet - this can be an interesting process and sensation, though if one wishes this can be mechanized by using a backhoe to do some of the mixing.
The wonderful thing about cob construction is that it can be a wildly freeform, sculptural affair, and requires minimal tools and can be built by young and old alike.
"History of Cob by Michael Smith"
"Cob" http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/cob.htm
City Repair
The City Repair Project is a group of citizen-activists creating public gathering places and helping others to creatively transform the places in which they live.
Read more about City Repair at their website http://www.cityrepair.org/