Post-Lockdown Public Places

The lockdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak showed to many of us how crucial social gatherings outdoors are to us. Now, that outdoor spaces around the world are beginning to open, it turns out that it might be tricky to remember to accurately interpret or even keep a recommended two metres distance.

Creative director and producer David Michon and Nicholas Bell, co-founder of the agency Ask Us For Ideas, believe soultions that facilitate a safe return to public spaces can go beyond caution tape or haphazard spray paint. They have launched a Where We Stand project that tasked 15 studios creative agencies, designers and design partnerships from around the world to respond to a new reality in cities: the need for physical distancing. Each team has chosen a favourite public space, and proposed new visual systems that create a welcoming, safe – and at times provocative – environment for the public to gather. The responses were as diverse as the public spaces they aimed to help.

East London-based Accept & Proceed‘s proposal focuses on reshaping amateur football pitches to allow for matches to restart. The design features colourful marking on the pitch that indicates the area that each player can occupy so they do not come in contact with each other during the game.

Brand consultancy dn&co came up with Augmented Assembly, an AR app, which helps address safe public gathering in the British capital’s Parliament Square. The app is driven by the Voronoi diagram that produces ever-shifting patterns, which can be projected on the ground through AR. In this way, people can find their spot to take part in an activity, from performances to protesting.

Read the full article here.

Recommended by Luisa Bravo