On September 21, Upland Design participated in PARK(ing) Day for the second time. Starting in 2005, PARK(ing) Day is an annual worldwide celebration that encourages professionals, students, and community members to transform parking spaces into a parklet for the day. PARK(ing) Day is a fun, creative outlet to transform a small portion of vehicular real estate into a space for users to recreate.

Our theme this year was Dynamic Play, which celebrated key elements that define great park and play spaces. These include: moving parts, nature, social inclusion, imagination, seating, safety, space, and diversity.

Our parklet included outdoor games such as life-size checkers and baggo that included moving pieces and social inclusion. We had benches for seating and our favorite Little Tikes dinosaur, Sara, to welcome visitors. Sara was set on Rubber safety tiles, a common playground surface that meets ASTM required impact attenuation. To inform locals of what dynamic play is, informational signage of each of the dynamic play elements were scattered throughout our two-stall-park. The team had a fun day in the parklet with locals from nearby shops and restaurants who made pit stops to join us. Check out our Instagram @uplanddesignltd to see more pictures our parklet and give us a follow to see on-going projects!

Go to www.asla.org to learn more about PARK(ing) Day and see how other firms around the country designed their parklets!