Parklet
A project designed and completed in collaboration with Henry Pullin for the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network
2022
The kitchen is a meeting space, a place for sustenance, to do homework, to practice for job interviews, and to share daily joys and sorrows. It is a place for bustling activity and community. Inspired by the SSJNN’s first project, a weekly soup kitchen, Christina Dietz and Henry Pullin designed a kitchen inspired parklet.
Playful, hand carved, wooden, kitchen details like an oven mitt, egg timer, and coffee cup were attached to the walls and cabinets.
The laser cut wooden "fridge magnets" represent the different outreach programs that SSJN hosts including "Pedal Mettle", an earn-a-bike program for youth and "Genesis", a housing program that provides quality, affordable housing while working with families to build financial savings as well as practical skills required for first‐time home buyers.
The fridge and freezer becomes a free library where people may take books and leave those already read. The fridge door reveals laser cut condiments.
This parklet accommodates every day public use and provides seating, table space, and a free library. It can also facilitate community events such as potlucks or informational meetings as seats become surfaces to hold dishes or pamphlets and coffee carafes.
Detail shots highlight the counter and cabinetry seating, a planter window seat, and painted checkerboard floor.
The shade sail provides cover from the sun but the pipes can be removed when the parkelt is in transit. The plants are contained within plastic planters and can be removed for winter storage and during the transport of the parklet. An acrylic pipe system inside the planter wall allows water to drain and flow from the underside of the structure. Planters located on the parklet bumper are entirely removable with a french cleat system.
In Erie, PA., SSJNN uses the parklet at farmers markets and public events to perform outreach and to educate the community about their programing.