On July 17, 2015, Design Future Dallas hosted a one night charrette at BEEFHAUS where architects, designers, and urban minded individuals alike had the chance to meet fellow creatives and share visionary ideas. Within our current civic zeitgeist, the subject of what to do with Fair Park is continually being discussed. Over the past several decades, numerous plans have been published that study Fair Park and consider ways to revitalize the park. However, few plans fully explore the connectivity between the park and the surrounding neighborhood. The DFD charrette team sought to explore the Fair Park neighborhood, beyond the park itself and the fields of parking lots to consider the question: “what does a post-automobile Fair Park neighborhood look like?” The team dove in with quick idea generation on post-it notes and had a lively discussion of the neighborhoods’ inherent opportunities and assets. Some of the ideas for potential projects consider utilizing Parkdale Lake, which was formerly used to cool the now dismantled Dallas Power and Light electrical power plant, and currently channeled White Rock Creek as the spine of new green axis through the neighborhood. Other ideas question redeveloping the underutilized parking lots at Fair Park to bring the neighborhood closer to the park itself, and exploring burying the section of I-30 that cuts of the neighborhood from the rest of east Dallas.
Design Future Dallas unites renegade thinkers to elevate the quality of design in the Dallas community. These projects are not intended to be built, but rather to encourage people to question current urban conditions and future plans for our city.
Special thanks to the folks at ART BEEF for collaborating with DFD and donating the BEEFHAUS space at 833 Exposition Ave. ART BEEF is a collective of artists based in Dallas, Texas who produce site-specific installations, exhibitions, and events utilizing vacant commercial and public spaces throughout the city. Their goal is to cultivate dialogue concerning the status and function of art, particularly within the city of Dallas, while challenging notions of authorship, market structure, and placement.
Visit their blog, http://artbeef.blogspot.com/.
Also, thanks to Craft and Growler for serving tasty local libations for which us creatives always enjoy to discuss over
