Lawrenceville Adventure
Brief: On April 14th, our team conducted deep hangout at Lawrenceville Pittsburgh to better understand the neighborhood and observe various characteristics of the area.
Our Findings
Business
Lawrenceville consist of a varied range of business including bowling place, restaurants, clothing shops, gift shops. Especially restaurants in Lawrenceville diverse from brunch place to pub and bar. Due to the business category of the neighborhood, the population seems to vary from little children to seniors. However, the majority of the population seems to focus on young adults.
People
Where do people come together? Is there a laundromat? A funeral home? Are there teens? Older people? Families? What possibilities are there for people coming together in public space? Are people on their phones? With friends? Is it different at 10 am vs. 5 pm?
Street View
High traffic flow and the majority of sideroad blocked with lines of cars which seems to display a lack of parking space.
On the Street
Signage:
There are a number of signage of stores on the road which promotes store deals and brand.
Benches & patio:
Interesting to see stores with larger storefront space use it to hold outdoor patio, and stores with less storefront space places sitting area. Seems to add to the lively and communal atmosphere of the community.
Building Exterior
Material:
There are a lot of buildings built with bricks. Majority of buildings seems older, but some new buildings are designed to look vintage style to match with the neighborhood.
Structure:
Buildings are mostly double-story buildings. Seems to locate storefronts on the ground level and residence or storage space on the second level.
Door:
Many doors consist of transparent glass and painted a wooden door frame
Window:
Window displays are usually wide and tall, providing a view of interior space.
April 15 In-class Discussion
- Use of vacant spaces
- What are some public spaces utilized by visitors
- Extending store spaces through signage & seating areas
Brainstorming Ideas:
What did you learn from the issues we discussed with Bryan Boyer and from the outing that you did?
- Gentrification
- Growth in environment (city discussion)
- New small stores (targeted to millennial)
- Bowling Alley still there
- Residential
What ideas does this give you?
What can we do to engage people together of different age groups?
Commonalities:
- Pets
- Food (cooking)
- Nature (garden, picnic)
- Family activities
- Neighbors
Differences:
- Diverse interests
- Diverse Stores
- What services can we provide in order to solve growing economy for older people?
Might you want to build on ideas you’d explored in your previous groups (this is allowed)?
- Gathering people together
- Self development
- What new directions might you go to explore a services in a Pittsburgh neighborhood?
- Lawrenceville (interesting Frontspace)
Existing services:
Open streets
- OpenStreetsPGH is inspired by the open streets movement — a global phenomenon promoting healthy outdoor activity and community engagement using city streets.
- OpenStreetPGH temporarily closes streets to car traffic and invites Pittsburghers to reimagine their streets as places for people. This free event series connects communities to each other and creates a safe place for people of all ages to walk, bike, roll, and dance through 10 neighborhoods in 2019.
- OpenStreetsPGH offers something for everyone, from fitness workshops, to kids activities, shopping, brunch, community arts, and special promotions presented by over 100 local businesses and organizations.
- https://openstreetspgh.org/
Cookies Tour
- The Joy of Cookies, Cookie Tour is a Lawrenceville institution and holiday tradition. The Cookie Tour had its beginnings as a holiday open house at Jay Design Soaps & Gifts in 1997. Driven by the spirit of collaboration, the event grew to include more than a dozen businesses, and cookies were added around 2000. Today, the Cookie Tour has become Lawrenceville’s signature business district event, one which helps the business district grow economically, attracts new visitors and exemplifies the strong spirit of community in Lawrenceville.
- This is a free and family-friendly event. The self-guided tour allows you and your friends and family to stroll through the neighborhood, checking out each shop and sampling cookies at your own pace. Just grab a map and go!
- Get around by hopping on and off one of two wheelchairs accessible Molly’s Trolley from noon–6 pm — generously provided by the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
- http://lvpgh.com/cookietour2018/
April 18 In-class Concept Development
Common Theme
Bringing the community together
We wanted to focus on bridging gentrification among Lawrenceville by providing community bonding activities that are geared towards all kinds of the audience including family.
How to transform the feeling of distance to the excitement for the vacant space.
Often times vacant stores convey the feeling of uncertainty and negativity within the neighborhood. Thus we were thinking of ways to transform this negativity to a positive experience for both visitors and residence)
Scenario
Exploring Lawrenceville and bringing the community together welcoming all age groups.
- Went to Lawrenceville for food and shopping on the street got tired encounters vacant space (postcard graffiti → create wall space filled with graffiti)
- 40 years old mom goes to Lawrenceville with two children and the husband tries to get food but all restaurants have lines then encounters vacant space (takeout food eat in the space → community board where people can write down recommended take out places) → children a safe environment
- 70 years old grandfather comes to Lawrenceville with his dog. And wants to keep his memory with his dog. Enters vacant space (photo studio), takes a photo, and leave with a great memory. Photo studio itself is inspired by upcoming events and brands existing in Lawrenceville
Potential touchpoints
- App to display various events utilized within the vacant space.
- Posters/signage promoting the vacant spaces
- webpage for promoting the vacant spaces
- kiosk in front of vacant space
Potential Stakeholders
- Resident of Lawrenceville
- Incoming and existing businesses in Lawrenceville
- Artists or brand willing to participate in designing the space
- City councilor Lawrenceville regional council
- Visitors from other neighborhoods
- dogs
- Management / facilitators
April 22 In-class Prototyping Exercise
Feedback from touchpoint idea pitch
- Reminds me of the museum experience
- Consider facilitator, either human or another interaction point which can help visitors to initiate storytelling about their experience to the others
- Incentivizing the visit leading to overtime personal transformation
- Reference 1: San Francisco, Parklets are popping up everywhere. Cities around the world — and increasingly across Australia, from Fremantle to the Fraser coast — are introducing programs to convert roadside parking spots into more green and sociable spaces. The Glebe Chamber of Commerce is running a crowdfunding campaign to turn its pilot parklet into a more lasting installation.
- Reference 2: Parklets process
- Reference 3: Check out Pittsburgh cultural trust
- Gallery Crawl https://crawl.trustarts.org/events/2863
- Locher + Locher https://crawl.trustarts.org/events/2857
- Small mall wall at love, Pittsburgh
- Mattress Factory building small Pittsburgh
Potential touchpoint prototyping
- Provides info about the arts in the space
- Initiate Interaction
- Incentivizing visitors to visit other vacant spaces + pass down their experience to others
Our focus
We focused on simulating a vacant space we are aiming to utilize by using building blocks for the structure, and stickers to indicate art piece and red oval sticker to represent potential kiosk touchpoint outside the space. We were also brainstorming how to stretch this action space even further and expand it through the outdoor seating or outdoor activity area.
Kiosk Feature Idea
- Map — Display available vacant spaces and their current purpose (provide accessibility options)
- Flow: onboard → Introduce current vacant space themes → could choose either to participate or simply enter the space for a purpose …
Point in agreement as a group
- Combine creative space + eating space
- Inspire visitors through initiating interaction with our planned touchpoint
Resting Area and Take Out Place
Bring take out food to eat in the rest area
Seating -> mat lending system
We are planning to lend mat seating in order to create a community both inside and outside of the vacant space
Review & Share Experiences
Community Board that is interactive
People can add pictures of their experience to the board that they do around the Lawrenceville area
People can get recommendations from this board and stores can promote as well
This community board can also promote community events in the Lawrenceville area such as First Friday at Penn Avenue
April 27 Service Blueprint & Stakeholder Map
