Through collaboration with students attending high school in Brownsville, Brooklyn, I, along with a team of three others, were able to redesign a park in the area in hopes of "bringing together" a broken community.

1. bringing together brownsville
amboy community garden
design development
Vicki Sotiros
Jennifer Newkirk
Caroline Bodum
Vu Tran

2. table of contents
Abstract ii The Final Design
amboy community park 19
What is EATS? 1
phase one 20
Brownsville? 2
phase two 21
Visit 1
getting acquainted 3 phase three 22
Visit 2 phase four 23
cafeteria breakdown 6
in perspective 24
Visit 3
the real problem 8 The Next Step 25
Designated Space Looking Back
new restrictions 9 what worked 26
Visit 4 Our Experience
brainstorm party 10
Prototype Thank You
take one 12 the end 28
Visit 5
prototype critique 13
Material Research 15
Prototype
take two 16
Visit 6

3. abstract
In our design development class our
group was paired with a local high
collaborate in a semester long project
about community driven gardens
lasting about nine weeks. For the topic
we prototyped a re-designed space
into a communal garden. To execute
skills and methodolgies including
prototyping.
ii

4. what is EATS?
agriculture project that works with
small communities to create farm
and food distribution systems.
The mission of EATS is to provide
neighborhoods with the tools and
knowledge to sustain their farm
sites while promoting healthy
lifestyles with affordable food.
executive director Linda Goode is
accompanied by project manager
Andrew Casner and Marion
Marcelle.
1

5. Brownsville?
Once assigned to work in the EATS
research would be necessary in grocery store
that none of us were aware of the
restaurant
community or what it entailed.
school
public space
we continued to identify its local
church
then generated a map helping us to
After researching Brownsville as
research the school at which we
would be working. Located on
Academy is an accredited college
prepatory school with competitive
admission.
2

6. visit 1
getting acquainted
talked about our education and skills
gained from Parsons, and discussed
the semester long EATS project.
After our introductions we went
outside to document our site location
of the Amboy garden.
The current condition of the
space was poor. There was debris,
trash, falling fenses, displaced
benches, old fashioned playground
equipment, and dead trees. The
garden beds were not producing
vegetables and fruits but they were
the soil was prepped for planting.
After seeing the garden size,
condition, and the empty beds we
were left with multiple ideas for our
project topic.
3

7. visit 1
4

8. visit 1
5

9. visit 2
cafeteria breakdown
On our second visit we did the
‘Cafeteria Breakdown’ activity. For this
we all went down to the lunch room
and wrote down every ingredient we
saw. The majority of the food offered
were deep fried mystery dishes.
We then went back upstairs and
handed out blank paper plates and
markers. We asked them to draw their
favorite meal but required that they
include a healthy ingredient. Students
then presented to the class and shared
their meals and why they liked them.
Together as a class we created a few
plates. To keep our proposed meals
food with healthy alternative sides. For
cooked carrots or pea over chicken.
6

10. visit 2
7

11. visit 3
the real problem
We proposed the idea of re-
designing the park layout with
the students. This included
This idea was not successful
because they had a hard time
understanding the concept of
students were weary of this
proposal becasue of the issue of
community safety and approval.
This was a breakthrough because
we then discussed the students
wishes for their experiences in
Brownsville. These concerns also
affected our project topic in that
we really wanted to add value in
order to create an impact.
8

12. designated space
new restrictions
9

13. visit 4
brainstorm party
On the fourth visit we conducted an
in-class brainstorming session about
redesigning the Amboy garden. We
and pamphlets from Home Depot to
We then did the ‘Imagination Activity’
where the kids closed their eyes
and imagined the space completly
empty. This method helped them
out in. They shouted out their favorite
common interests.
basketball hoops were also main
interests of the students. Jon also
gave us new space limitations of the
back section rather than park in its
entirety. These restrictions actually
the process of re-designing the park.
10

14. visit 4
11

15. prototype
take one
KIDS’ EXPERIMENTAL
BEDS
GRILL
COMMUNITY COMMUNITY
TABLE TABLE
ENERGY PRODUCING
MERRY-­GO-­ROUND
TABLE
TABLE
BIRD BATH
TABLE
Herzl Street
BASKETBALL
HOOP
TABLE
TABLE
TABLE BENCH
BASKETBALL
HOOP
HAMMOCK
Blake Avenue
12

16. visit 5
prototype critique
The Brownsville students critiqued our
visit was identifying all the potential
garden users and including correspond-
ing objects in the communal space. For
this activity we handed the students an
illustrated map and markers and asked
them to visually critique the space. This
the role as ‘designers’ by including all
-
ests. They suggested the appropraite
needed to satisfy all the different park
visitors.
Insight-We connected the addition of
‘the stage’ to increase safety and inter-
action in Union Square to the Amboy
community park. We wanted a stage
-
bined them. They imagined renting it for
serves as the main communal object in
the park.
13

17. visit 5
14

18. material research
draft one
project that works with small
communities to create farm and food
CHALK/
distribution systems. The mission of
EATS is to provide neighborhoods
with the tools and knowledge
DRY ERASE
to sustain their farm sites while
promoting healthy lifestyles with
affordable food. The organization
PAINT
Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
As for the team, founder and
executive director Linda Goode is
accompanied by project FOR:
manager
Jonathan Wilson, farm mananger
Gus Jones, and additional farmers
Andrew Casner and Marion Marcelle.
15

19. prototype
take two
draft one
KIDS’ EXPERIMENTAL
wood table painted white WATER FOUNTAIN
BEDS
GRILL
COMMUNITY COMMUNITY
TABLE TABLE
ENERGY PRODUCING
MERRY-­GO-­ROUND
SANDBOX
EXTENDED
PATHWAY
TABLE
TABLE TABLE
BIRD BATH
FOUNTAIN PATHWAY
STAGE
Herzl Street
LIGHTS
BASKETBALL
TABLE TABLE
HOOP
BENCH
TABLE
BASKETBALL
HOOP
HAMMOCK
DRAWING NOT TO SCALE
Blake Avenue
16

20. visit 6
Or last visit was reserved for
space assessment. With the help
of the students we took exact
meausurments of the space in
order to scale our prototype map.
We had a discussion of any further
relocated the energy producing
promoting the future community
park to the local community.
17

21. visit 6
18

22. amboy community park
draft one
19

23. phase one
draft one
20

24. phase two
21

25. phase three
22

26. phase four
23

27. in perspective
24

28. the next step
draft completion of the park re-
After
one
additional steps in advertising
the park. Advertising the re-
design will help inform the
community as well increase its
appeal.
and school activities will help
enhance awareness and use of
the new amboy community park.
25

29. looking back
what worked?
draft one
our group as well as with the students.
bad learning from each experience would
be most important.
Methodologies we used included
with the students thus creating a more
comfortable atmosphere; an atmosphere
that produced unedited ideas and
allowed free expression.
26

30. our experience
draft one count
making it
way to consider all points as well as our
own. While attempting to please our
consider the students’ suggestions but
also the surrounding community.
through it all we discovered what was
our design was meant to achieve.
Through re-designing the Amboy
an impact. By creating this park we not
also set the foudation for togetherness
and a closer knit community.
27

31. thank you.
draftend
the one
28