19 September 2013
Interior Environmental Design students participate in Dundee's First PARK(ing) Day event
Photo opportunity: 11am-5pm on Friday, 20th September outside Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design,
Perth Road.
Parking spaces in Dundee's West End will tomorrow be temporarily transformed into public spaces by students at Duncan of
Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), one of more than 100 such events taking place across the globe simultaneously.
Undergraduate Interior Environmental Design students from DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, have organised the city's
first PARK(ing) Day event on Friday, 20th September, the ninth time the worldwide celebration has taken place.
The students will create six new installations that encourage social engagement by allowing members of the public to relax
in spaces where cars would otherwise be parked across the University of Dundee estate and in nearby streets.
PARK(ing) Day aims to raise awareness to the need for more urban green space, generate debate around the allocations of
public space, and improve the quality of the city environment. Around 70 IED students have be working in teams to take over
six car parking spaces around the University campus and on Perth Road, where they will reinterpreting the private interior
in a public setting.
The students have been developing their ideas over the past two weeks, and on PARK(ing) Day the public will have an
opportunity to engage with interventions within parking spaces, according to IED Programme Director Andy Milligan.
'We're delighted to be taking part in PARK(ing) Day for the first time as it is an innovative global project that encourages
people to reconsider their environment and the importance of public spaces,' he said. 'We're responding to industry in
delivering short 'deep-dive' projects that better reflect the pace of creative practice and are really grateful for the
support of the University and Dundee City Council, who have given us given us the spaces for a day.
'The students have done a great job in designing and making structures that enable members of the public to enjoy spaces
that would normally be given over to cars. The Interior Environmental Design department will gradually expand the PARK(ing) event
across the city in coming years, promoting the concept to more people locally and putting Dundee on the map globally.'
PARK(ing) Day began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco interdisciplinary art and design studio, converted a single metered
parking space into a temporary public park. Since 2005, PARK(ing) Day has evolved into a global movement, with companies and
individuals creating new forms of temporary public space in urban contexts around the world.
PARK(ing) Day has evolved to feature simultaneous creative action in 162 cities leading to 920 parking space interventions on
five continents, each reclaiming the street for social engagement. Across the globe, artists, activists, citizens and designers
and members of the public collaborate on these projects.
The Dundee students' themes include 'We're Here to Make You Smile', 'RE(cycle)', 'Cityscape', 'Play Don't Park', 'CAR(nival)', and 'Share Fly Connect',
and the designs will be built at DJCAD, the Biological Sciences Institute, Old Hawkill, and Perth Road.
For more information please contact Andy Milligan on a.milligan@dundee.ac.uk or
01382 385303.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
