PARK(ing) Day 2018

After nearly five weeks of hard work, approximately 68 second-year architecture students are working to construct installations for PARK(ing) Day in downtown Lincoln. Over the next few days, their final efforts will lead to seventeen installations that will reclaim parking stalls along P Street (between 11th and 14th St) on Friday, September 21, 2018. The students and their work will be on site from 9am-5pm. Taking part in this annual global event promotes a better urban environment that is too frequently and uncritically given over to cars. We hope that by placing design in the foreground of this tactical reimagining, we can start to raise expectations about our city. For the event’s fifth year in downtown Lincoln, we are expecting a strong public turn out over the entire day. This includes visitors from the AIA Nebraska Conference who will be touring the event and will have a chance to talk with the students. PARK(ing) Day, as the first project within the architecture curriculum, offers numerous benefits to the architecture students. To be successful, students must collaborate; address multiple parameters including safety, logistics and tectonics; develop clear intentions such as ideas and arguments; and work through design development, prototyping, construction and finally installation. Not only does this complexity challenge their fundamental representation skills and understanding, it tests their ability to mobilize and stay within a modest budget. As a final note, the teaching team, teaching assistants and students have a number of people to thank. This event would not be possible without the continued support and involvement of AIA Lincoln, the College of Architecture, the University of Nebraska and the City of Lincoln.