This EMPIRE

There will be no comic this week for This EMPIRE, elsewhere in the multiverse a group I work with Young Architect’s Forum finished up this past weekend the second round of bus benches for the city known as Have A Seat.

The Young Architect’s Forum of AIA Triangle’s community service project began in 2008 when Henry Newell, a local intern architect, read an article in the News & Observer detailing the lack of seats or shelter at bus stops around the Triangle. A mear 25% of these bus stops have benches and less than 10% have shelters. With this inspiration in mind, YAF set out to make a difference through the design and building bus benches.

Here is an online album the project’s development.

Previous benches were located:

Site 1: Dacian Road & Glenbrook Drive

 

 

 

 

 

 

Site 2: Rush Street & Hammond Business Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year’s benches are located at:

Site 3:  Fairview and Oberlin

Site 4:   Corner of Clark and Bellwood (near the Cameron Village Library)

The program the goal was to provide a desperately needed service to the public and enrich the discourse between a community and local architects.

How does one get the opportunity to do these projects? Well it’s pretty simple; just show up and offer to help anyway you can.  It’s going to take a lot to get the project accomplish. You’re going to make a lot of mistakes along the way.  I am not the most adept to working in a materials lab.  There also a budget, design criteria, review meetings all for the greater good. This has been a good opportunity to take an idea from conception to fabrication, to get “one’s hand dirty.”

Pardon the interruption with updates for This EMPIRE. Back to making comics.

 

Thank you for reading

DGC