Park(ing) Day 2019 Washington, DC

Services Provided

Design-Build

People Involved

Tim Bragan
Lyn Wenzel
Gaelle Gourmelon

Awards

2019 ASLA Potomac
Park(ing) Day Prize

Two parking spots are transformed into a playful and eye-catching native “Pollinator Gallery” with the goal of educating the community about the importance of pollinators and the role we play in protecting them.

MKSK partnered with the DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) and the US National Arboretum for Park(ing) Day 2019. Fueled by the question “What does a bee see?” the design team focused on highlighting the world from a bee’s perspective and showing how color perception, habitat requirements, and food source changes throughout the seasons and are vital to understanding how to create functional ecologies in the designed landscape.

The installation was comprised of a field of pinwheels, ranging in color from violet to yellow and painted to represent patterns of ultra-violet light that bees see on flower petals.

Arranged within a meadow of potted native perennials and grasses, the pinwheels were fixed at varying heights to indicate the yearly summer peak of insect biomass and its overall decline in recent decades.

Since 2005, designers and urbanists have used Park(ing) Day, a worldwide phenomenon, to highlight the untapped value of public space. MKSK has been participating since 2016. Each year’s project becomes an opportunity to explore new approaches to designing public space while partnering with local organizations and engaging with the local community.

As the pinwheels spin in the late summer breeze, adults and children alike stop to see the world a bit more like a bee.

The Bee Box Brackets utilize bamboo stalks of different diameters to mimic the nesting tunnels created in the ground by solitary, native bees. The brackets also became an unexpected, impromptu photobooth for enthusiastic Park(ing) Day visitors.