Designing a space isn’t just about how it looks, but how it works. Successful placemaking brings people together to share ideas, inspire creativity and innovation, and encourage intellectual, political, and social discourse. It creates and strengthens connections between users and their communities, and it instills (or renews) feelings of value and pride about a space.
The art of placemaking is a carefully choreographed dance between mind and pencil, coupled with a keen understanding of people and the communities in which they live. When we approach public space projects, we think of the space as a tool that can indirectly – but significantly – shape the user experience. Therefore, designing a space isn’t just about how it looks, but how it works.
The concept of placemaking challenges us to think beyond aesthetics and focus on the users that could…
The art of placemaking is a carefully choreographed dance between mind and pencil, coupled with a keen understanding of people and the communities in which they live. When we approach public space projects, we think of the space as a tool that can indirectly – but significantly – shape the user experience. Therefore, designing a space isn’t just about how it looks, but how it works.
The concept of placemaking challenges us to think beyond aesthetics and focus on the users that could benefit from a space. It requires a vision, a deep understanding of the building program and site, and the ability to listen to and collaborate with stakeholders as well as community members. Successful placemaking brings people together to share ideas, inspire creativity and innovation, and encourage intellectual, political, and social discourse. It creates and strengthens connections between users and their communities. It instills (or renews) feelings of value and pride about a space.
While this placemaking approach applies to projects in many of our market sectors, it is especially important for our public space projects, because these projects often involve valuable, shared community resources. Whether our team is designing museums, arts centers, civic buildings, places of worship, parks or plazas, we reflect on the unique combination of people, opportunities, challenges and assets that make up a community and develop designs user-centered solutions that positively impact economic, environmental, and social vitality.
Name Jeffrey Parks
Title Former CEO, ArtsQuest
Our experience with Spillman Farmer and the completed project proved that we made the right choice, although it took a long time to get there. [They] listened to our needs, studied and understood the site, and came forth with a design that is functional, attractive, and extremely appropriate for the site. The contemporary design has been universally hailed as being complementary, not competitive, with the historic Bethlehem Steel structures on the site, while showing off the primary product of the site, steel. Our experience with Spillman Farmer was that they were responsive to our needs, especially in the design phase; their ultimate design was second-to-none; and that their costs were significantly less than we had become accustomed to with “national” architects.
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