From car pull-off to mini-park

PlanCharlotte.org is asking readers to nominate spots in the Charlotte region that need a design makeover. (See our first installment in this series here and our most recent installment here.)

Urban designers Keihly Moore and Alex Borisenko have launched a website, www.completeblocks.com, where they’re proposing a series of urban design retrofits, many of them nominated by readers.

Among their designs so far are new visions for Rama Road, Monroe Road and the Seventh Street bridge over Interstate 277. This week, a small piece of North Tryon Street uptown is transformed into a small park. (Note: These re-imaginings are not official city plans, simply ideas for consideration.)

This week’s retrofit

This week’s redesign is proof that you don’t need a ton of acreage to create a park – or at least a “parklet,” as urban designer Alex Borisenko calls it. A pull-off spot for cars on uptown Charlotte’s North Tryon Street in front of the Foundation For The Carolinas could be remade into a people-friendly resting spot.

One option creates café seating behind a landscaping wall. A second option Borisenko proposes (see image below) adds a canopy shelter, flexible seating and a greenery-filled wall.

Both visions are inspired by PARK(ing) Day, an annual worldwide event in which designers and others turn parking spots into tiny, temporary parks in an effort to spark creativity in the use of urban space. The next PARK(ing) Day is Sept. 19. Here’s a link to Charlotte’s PARK(ing) Day 2013.