And this is about as crazy as they come. My application for Park(ing) Day NYC 2008 Application. Park(ing) Day was founded in 2005 by REBAR, a San Francisco-based arts collective, as a national event in which people in cities all over the country reclaim parking spots for one day, transforming them into vibrant, functional public spaces. In the years since its debut, it has expanded globally to include over 200 Park(ing) Spots in 50 cities around the world.
For about a year now, I have had this walking daydream in which I look down the street and watch other pedestrians step onto special squares on the sidewalk, squat down a bit, and suddenly launch up into an open window at their 2nd or 3rd, or maybe even 4th-floor destination. Yes, it would save the pedestrian quite a bit of time by cutting out the stair climbing or elevator waiting, but this obviously isn’t a proposal overly concerned with practicality.
Imagine how wondrous and futuristic it would look if businessmen, sous chefs, and fashion models were launching into the air all around you without a lick of warning, tracing beautiful arcs through the otherwise-unused low-altitude airspace of the city streets. Not to mention how fun it would be to do it yourself! Personally, I would like break down laughing on a daily basis. I would seriously never get tired of it.
Of course, the tough part isn’t the launching, but the landing. For this, you would need 1) a helmet 2) a carefully planned trajectory calculated using body weight, the angle of launch, the location of the window, and the force of the launching system, and 3) something soft to land on, but not too soft since you are not actually “falling” anywhere – none of which are terribly difficult to engineer.
My proposal is to build such a system using 2 (two!) adjacent parking spots – one for the launcher, and one for a building facade with a makeshift 2nd floor destination, but we could probably get by with 1 spot if necessary. By presenting these launching platforms as an earnest Alternative Vertical Transportation proposal with pamphlets, a petition, probably men in lab coats, and posters describing the physics, I hope to share my daydream with passers-by and hopefully inject some wonder into their daily commute while also providing a fun flying experience.
I would like to collaborate with an engineer who could help me build the launcher, which can probably be modeled after a stuntman-style launcher. If no engineers are available through the program, I know many at my current job (Eyebeam Art and Technology Center) who can fill this role.
On the subject of liability: I have no idea – I’m not a lawyer. But we can definitely build this in a safe way that would merely *suggest* higher and more dangerous launching technology instead of employing it ourselves.
Sometimes you just have to go for the crazy
And this is about as crazy as they come. My application for Park(ing) Day NYC 2008 Application. Park(ing) Day was founded in 2005 by REBAR, a San Francisco-based arts collective, as a national event in which people in cities all over the country reclaim parking spots for one day, transforming them into vibrant, functional public spaces. In the years since its debut, it has expanded globally to include over 200 Park(ing) Spots in 50 cities around the world.