This single-day installation was designed for a San Francisco Planning Department neighborhood engagement day in which residents near Guerrero Park were invited to contribute design ideas and programmatic suggestions to the park's redesign. The purpose of the installation was to act as a colorful beacon dancing in the wind, drawing people to the site, while also serving as a collector of people's ideas, which were written onto balloons and released into the translucent plastic shell. As more balloons were added the beacon took shape, eventually lifting off the ground, swaying and bobbing above the asphalt. While this project drew formally from our previous project, Lifted Dreamscapes, it also borrowed a key concept: that the aggregation of many ideas is crucial to creating a fuller, more accurate understanding of a place. If this occurs at the scale of parks and neighborhoods all over the city, the result is (ideally) a collaborative, inclusive city made for the residents, by the residents.

The materials used were 5 mil polypropylene sheeting, helium filled latex baloons, and painted cinder blocks to anchor the beacon in place.

Video courtesy of Brian Jencek.