Redesigning Cleveland One Month at a Time

When you aren't busy completing your Cleveland Design Competition submission for the site at Irishtown Bend (see the previous Design Rag post), visit reDesign Cleveland's new webpage for the results of their first-ever monthly design charrette. The design charrettes focus small design challenges at several Cleveland buildings and sites with the primary goal of re-imagining Cleveland "for Cleveland's sake."

The web-only charrettes are open to all and can be participated in anonymously or with recognition. Because reDesign is in a blog-based format, each submission can be commented on by participants and observers alike. See the webpage for more details about each challenge.

The March charrette examined the old May Company parking structure at Ontario and Prospect in Downtown Cleveland. One of the submissions (shown above) is described as follows:

"The redesign proposal uses the concrete structure of the garage as a scaffolding for a vertical garden landscape. The southern facade features ornamental planters suspended in rows with vegetation of increasing height, from native grasses to flowering shrubs to hardy urban trees, while the western exposure is shaded by columns of climbing vines. When available, rainwater would be recovered in a cistern at the upper garage level and channeled down to irrigate the plants. The daily and weekly parking cycles become re-framed in the new context of the natural seasons of the garden."

April's charrette is soliciting possible solutions for a bridge replacement at Columbus Road Bridge over the Cuyahoga River. The deadline for submitting is April 30th (thanks to Dru at TOI Studio who is "giddy with excitement").