Tampa Design Week Brings Art to The Selmon Greenway

Pop-Up Design Fest on Selmon Greenway

The theme of this year’s Pop-Up Design festival was ‘Mobility and Connectivity’. Five teams of multi-disciplinary designers use the west end of the Selmon Greenway to create interactive installations. The designs were meant to inspire and encourage participation and engagement from the community in the making of their environment. The installations also were used to inspire play, creativity and ultimately they encouraged the use of the new Selmon Greenway to bike or walk through downtown and onto Ybority. The Nomad Studio: The Art Bus Project, a traveling arts studio for the public was also on hand.

TAMPA, Fla. (October 12, 2015) –  Tampa Bay Design Week, was held from October 9^th to 17^th was presented by The Tampa Bay Foundation for Architecture + Design (TBFAD) offers daily design-oriented events.  The second annual Pop-Up Design Festival, “Made in the Shade”, the grand finale was held on Saturday, October 17^th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Selmon Greenway between Ashley and Jefferson.

The theme of this year’s Pop-Up Design festival was ‘Mobility and Connectivity’.  Five teams of multi-disciplinary designers used the west end of the Selmon Greenway with interactive installations.  The designs were meant to inspire and encourage participation and engagement from the community.  The installations also inspired play, creativity and use of the new Selmon Greenway as a pathway to bike or walk through downtown and to Ybor City.

“Tampa Bay has a rich design history and growing creative community,” said Kim Headland, architect and festival chair. “Design Week is an opportunity to celebrate, discuss, and explore design in our region.”

Team projects were built and installed the morning of the program and were removed that evening.  Team “You”, made up of designers Dolores Browne, Graciela Aracena-Perez and Patrick Thorpe created a multi-modal sensory perception installation representing “a uniquely Tampa experience”.  They enveloped existing expressway structure with floating skins vibrant in color, texture, and scent, developing nodal points along the Greenway.  Their installation provided a sense of place and way-finding through Tampa’s urban core.

Team Urban Conga’s installation Play(ability) was about giving people the opportunity to play in an underutilized space through interactive platforms.  They created a communal space for people to gather rather than just pass through.  Instead of a pathway from one point to another, they created the Selmon Greenway as a journey of activity through downtown.  Spider web seating, a performance area, ping pong and chess were among the elements they created.

The Tampa Sprouts transformed a section of the Selmon Greenway into an Urban Oasis.   This urban oasis not only contain the means of connectivity but also provided a unique downtown experience.  Their bright interactive installation created a comfortable setting where everyone was encouraged to engage in social interaction.   The Tampa Sprouts created a blog about their installation, and you can find it here – https://tampasprouts.wordpress.com

The USF School of Architecture and Community Design and members of Urban Charrette welcomed the public to “the Big Draw.

The Pop-Up festival was planned to coincide with the TECO Streetcar Festival, further reinforcing the ‘mobility and connectivity’ theme of this year’s Tampa Bay Design Week.   The public was encouraged to take a bike ride or stroll down the Greenway for the free festival and were encouraged to experience how we can positively transform our environment through Design.

For more information, visit, www.tampabaydesignweek.com or call 813-229-3411.