The People's Market

Now today is both a bit of a preemptive post (because I am pretty sure this project will feature largely on "The Block" this week) , and at the same time I can't believe I haven't featured this sooner. The project I am referring to is "The People's Market", a community shipping container market located in a car park in Collingwood, Melbourne by Emerge Studio. This temporary and completely portable project, focused on the theme of "recycled garden" is even more impressive for being the first project two part Emerge Studio has created. 

The People's Market via Emerge Studio

  

Although at first glance it might appear like just another shipping container mall, when reading the thought process behind this project on Emerge Studios website, I believe a lot of attention has gone into making this project a high functioning and engaging community space. When looking at the mix of uses, including the COMA art gallery viewable 24/7, shops, cafes and bars and the flexible nature of the space it is clear that considerable thought has gone into making this a 24hr space Jane Jacobs herself would be proud of. Also come on, those timber trees are fantastic!

The PVC Pipe Container via Australian Design Review

   

I also love the fact that all the shipping Containers have a point of difference, whether it be a vertical garden, PVC piping (as above), Bike Wheels, or just the encouragement for graffiti and Street art around the back of the containers. This personalisation really helps to create an activated and interesting site, drawing the attention of the community. 

So what do you think of The People's Market, are shipping container markets simply building on a great idea or are they "overdone" in the public realm? I personally still think they are pretty awesome. 

The Creative Christchurch Transition

Some of you may know that the original purpose of this blog was to aid in helping me right my honours thesis for my town planning degree, and although I have been pretty side tracked by other cool projects here - I have still been busy working on my thesis in the background. So I thought seeing as it is already June (!!!) and six months have flown past, I would create a little update (okay, it was originally meant to be an info-graphic but my skills just aren't there yet!) on the key points of my thesis below. 

I leave for Christchurch on the 25th to conduct interviews with some pretty cool people so I can start the data analysis part of the thesis  and have this whole project completed by the end of October! If you are from Christchurch and have had first hand involvement with these temporary projects I would be stoked if you got in contact either here or via twitter and if you have 5 minutes, can fill out my survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VG6FBT7. It will be super appreciated.