ADA MITCHEV
NAMAzing Parklet, MA
NAMAzing Eagle Street Initiative, Parklet Competition Submission
2017
The Cognition of NAMAzing and its Social Memory:
The seasonal extension of Eagle Street’s pocket park exhibits traces of industrial elements and an artisanal vibe that charms visitors of North Adams. The architecture itself stands beyond passive public spaces commonly embraced by traditional parks/parklets. It provides a canvas for residents to input artifacts of meaning directly into its foundations.
The identity of North Adams is one that lies beyond what is published in today’s saturated culture and can be expressed through its community. The NAMAzing Parklet is a destination that (through its installment and presence) erects as a point of interactive social engagement. It will allow residents and visitors to discover the town’s past while strongly rooting its future, rich in cultural memory.
The community will partake in the building process by engaging with local craftsmen and contractors to decide what artifacts will be placed into the gabions in addition to the provided base of recycled, crushed concrete, hay, and bricks. This method will allow for the parks budget to be flexible and encourage creative minds to work together in curating the details. Used concrete, bricks, and hay symbolize the essence of manufacturing and agriculture as a romantic past while the vegetation and additional objects are sprouting the new interactions and conversations that will form along the NAMAzing Parklet.