Vancouver Design Nerds

Design Nerd Jam 6.3 – STREET PARK JAM

sarah — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:54:50 +0000

Come! Jam with us on May 18!

This jam brings together Julien Thomas (Late Nite Art), CoV’s passionate Parks Board and Engineering staff and -you- to generate ideas for turning some of Vancouver’s streets into park land. In support of Vancouver’s greenest city goals, we will focus on how to increase access to nature and consider things like accessibility, history, food production, play, ethnobotany, spatial poetics and more. The way we’ll do this – is by using the Green Streets Game which leads us through collaborative role play scenarios in order to design a shared vision for the future of specific communities.

Bring food & drink to share – this is a potluck affair! All are welcome – come armed with a playful spirit, an open mind, potluck food, and of course – ideas!

RSVP here: streetparkjam2012.eventbrite.com

Design Nerd Jam 6.2 – HiVE Alive

sarah — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:03:36 +0000

RSVP here: http://hivemind.eventbrite.ca

Meet the Hive Mind, the consultative think tank growing within the Hive. For this inaugural event Hive Mind decided to pair up with the Vancouver Design Nerds to host a fantastic evening to get things rolling. The Hive Mind will use its collective intelligence to provide solution development services to organizations of every size. And its first client is – the HiVE!

Here’s the Design Challenge:

The HiVE is a shared workspace. We have both a permanent desk area and what we call a “hot desk area,” which is a multi-use space. By day it features desks for HiVE bees to work temporarily, and by night becomes event space for many awesome gatherings.

So it’s kind of a big deal.

The Challenge: Create a better quality hot desk space that will benefit current members and attract new hot deskers, while preserving its ability to effortlessly transform into an event space.

We’re looking for ideas related to the following:

Interior Design: acoustical dampening, lighting, furniture, feng shui
Marketing / Branding: to increase hot desk membership, social media roadmap
Programming: educational/fun/enlightening events?
Wildcard: the hot desk area is missing an “it” factor. How do we re-conceptualize ground zero?

Criteria:

Functionality of space for programming/events
Modularity of movement
Sustainability: reused or local materials, energy consciousness
Dynamic, attractive, seductive, fun!

Presentation of solutions: Elevator Pitch – 90 SECONDS or less

Name it.
How it might be financed
Present it dynamically – powerpoint, images – whatever works best for your idea

A little more about Hive Mind

The Hive brings some of the best and liveliest minds in the city together. The range of companies and individuals who work and collaborate is broad – from industrial designers to process architects, from apps aficionados to green building gurus, from landscape architects to photographers. More than simply space mates, they share a desire to work together, and to create a real and ongoing positive impact in the drive to a more sustainable world and community. The Hive Mind taps into this vibrant resource, offering solution services to organizations of all kinds, turning multiple minds to integrated, elegant and often unconsidered approaches to overcoming any of a myriad of organizational and operational challenges.

City Studio Jam

sarah — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 22:52:31 +0000

CityStudio engaged the Vancouver Design Nerds to plan and facilitate a Nerd Jam for their CityStudio-Partner Course. The theme of the jam was “Transforming Vancouver’s Unused Spaces” and brought together students, faculty, City staff and designers for an evening of idea generation, inspiration and co-creative fun!

Participants gave 90 second idea pitches (24 in total), after which similar ideas were merged into 9 breakout groups, who then presented their brilliant ideas at the end.

Held on February 9th from 5-8pm at the Salt Building in the Olympic Village.

For more information on CityStudio, visit citystudiovancouver.com/

Facilitation Innovation

sarah — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:34:45 +0000

The Design Nerd Board and Steering Committee members are taking an active role in improving and developing our facilitation skills, methods and techniques. Over the course of the year, we will be inviting professional facilitators to enlighten us with stories, advice, best practices and practical techniques to help us make Nerd Jams more awesome.

Get in touch if this is something that you would like to be a part of.

Design Nerd Jam 6.1 – OPEN JAM

sarah — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:14:42 +0000

Come one! Come all! Our first jam of 2012 is as open as the sky. If you have a collaborative project you are working on or thinking about starting, come out and pitch it to the group. You will have about 90 seconds to do so. This is a fantastic way to garner feedback, connect with a diverse group of thoughtful people and propel your ideas forward, sideways, upside down or right side up.

Bring food & drink to share – this is a potluck affair! All are welcome – come armed with a playful spirit, an open mind, potluck food, and of course – ideas!

Design Nerd Jam 5.10 – re:CONNECT

sarah — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:48:56 +0000

Come! Jam with us on Oct. 21 at the HiVE Vancouver!

We’ll be focusing our efforts on Vancouver’s latest ideas competition – re:CONNECT invites the citizens of Vancouver, to dream new possibilities for the future of the Viaducts and the City’s broader Eastern Core.

Bring food & drink to share – this is a potluck affair! All are welcome – come armed with a playful spirit, an open mind, potluck food, and of course – ideas!

RSVP: http://re-connectjam.eventbrite.com/

The competition’s site has a ton of background information on the area and on the larger study being undertaken by the City: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/reconnect/index.htm

Brief:

re:CONNECT challenges the public and design community to give shape to the future of these two specific areas and scales of the city, while also providing a platform for less confined thinking through a ‘wildcard’ category. Here are the three categories in more detail:

1. Connecting the Core (“THE BIG SCALE”) – this component of the competition seeks high-level ideas for the future of Vancouver’s Eastern Core (including the False Creek Flats). Design solutions should seek creative, “big picture” opportunities that envision a sustainable and innovative future for this area as a major component of our City’s green economy.

For more details: Connecting the Core

2. Visualizing the Viaducts – this component of the competition seeks conceptual design ideas for the land currently occupied by the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts or for the structures. All ideas are encouraged, from full-retention with repurposing of the structures and/or land beneath to complete removal and replacement of the viaducts with something entirely different.

For more details: Visualizing the Viaducts

3. The Wildcard – the Wildcard category will consider ideas that push the envelope of creativity in a specific and detailed way. Applicants are encouraged to focus on one element or idea which could revolutionize the way people think about this area of the city. This may be a unique, unexplored use of these lands, or a new spin on the vision or details of the area.

For more details: Wildcard
All submissions must be designated for a single award category. Entrants are allowed one unique submission into each of the three categories with each registration fee.

Viva Collingwood O-Zone

sarah — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:23:54 +0000

A Viva Vancouver Project by The Collingwood Neighborhood House located at Joyce-Collingwood Skytrain east entrance, August 24th – September 4th, 2011

A festival plaza and public common constructed with free materials diverted from the recycling stream, and with a mission to divert the flow of people passing through the site by inviting them to step out of the ordinary routine. The materials were borrowed from various businesses and contractors

Design Nerd Jam 5.9 – REFAB JAM

sarah — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 04:49:58 +0000

Design Nerds are teaming up with Architecture for Humanity, Patch and SOLEfood to bring you the REFAB Jam. We’re excited to say that this event will also be the wrap up event for the Design Thinking Unconference! The evening will focus on generating and teasing out ideas on how to repurpose old sail cloth from Canada Place under three main areas of design: 1. urban agricultural structures; 2. furniture; 3. shelters. Teams who decide to take their ideas and prototype them will be invited to display their projects at ID West this fall. Time is tight so come prepared with ideas and enthusiasm!

This jam will be held at HiVE Vancouver: 128 West Hastings, Vancouver BC. 7-10pm.

Food and beverages will be provided courtesy of Patch, donations accepted, and feel free to bring your own food and drink to share!

RSVP here: www.refabjam.eventbrite.com

Nerd on!

Portland Design Nerds First Jam!

eesmyal — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:02:14 +0000

Come out to Portland’s first Design Nerd Jam!

July 29, 2011 | 7-11pm
Bamboo Revolution: 1300 Southeast Grand Ave
Portland, OR

The theme of this jam is Urban Interventions, which are fun projects that can be done with little or no money, and with small teams of 2 or 3 people over a weekend.

Come pitch your ideas and make them happen!

Definition from wikipedia:
a number of different kinds of activist art practices, art that typically responds to the social community, locational identity, the built environment, and public places

Facebook Group
Facebook Event

Summer Spaces / Livable Laneways

sarah — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:01:03 +0000

17 August 2011: SUCCESS!

Paths to Plazas, a collaboration with Livable Laneways has now concluded with great success. Working on the activation and improvement of this “urban void” was a great experience and we look forward to work on future ventures related to the topic of urban improvement and community engagement.

Thanks to Ocean for taking these photos:

To read more about this project you can go to:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Alleys+cities+unexplored+unused+treasures/5179224/story.html

http://spacingvancouver.ca/2011/07/29/how-to-transform-an-alleyway-into-a-thriving-public-space/

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/city/2011/07/16/fresh-future-vancouver%E2%80%99s-back-alleys

http://www.straight.com/article-403487/vancouver/finally-someones-livening-citys-laneway-dead-zones

http://www.e-hub.ca/2011/08/livable-laneway-5/

7 July 2011: Help Stencil this Weekend!

Yes!

The laneway graphic transformation will be happening this weekend and it would be swell if of you have time to help out with the extensive painting that needs to happen! There is about 300 square feet of stenciled graphics to be painted onto the walls and ground of the laneway in preparation for the upcoming markets and events.

Painting will happen this Saturday and Sunday between noon and 7pm in the laneway just west of Main between Broadway and 8th. Let me know if you have time to help out! There are many patios within 1 block of the site so there will hopefully be sunny beer and snack opportunities!

We will also need to do some postering next week on Wednesday or Thursday within a radius from Main and Broadway. (I can be available for this at any hour of the day or night.) The posters are designed to link together in aggregate to that they can fill spaces of different sizes, so I think there will be some creativity involved in putting them up. Come out and we’ll cover up some ________ Yay!

Alex Grunenfelder
alex [at] ovaloffice [dot] ca
604.700.4408

5 July 2011

Over the past few months we have been collaborating with Liveable Laneways in the activation of a laneway located near Broadway and Main Street. It is the north/south directed commercial laneway west of Main Street that runs between Broadway and 8th Avenue.

Liveable Laneways has been working on developing the programming for 3 consecutive Saturday nights in the month of July (16th, 23rd, 30th). Each evening will have a very unique theme starting with a night of arts and culture by Beaumont Studios and The Drift (July 16th), a Community Market curated by Blim (July 23rd) and a foodie night organized by the Mount Pleasant BIA (July 30th).

In the meantime the Vancouver Design Nerds have been keeping busy designing elements that support the activities to be held in the laneway. Some of these elements include a stage/seating component made out of 60+ wood pallets, stencil graphics, signage and a canopy…and we need HELP to finish building, painting, sanding, doing stencil, cleaning, and assembling these elements on site!

If you are interested in collaborating with us please send an email to medina.laddaga[at]gmail.com. We will briefly send a work schedule listing the time, day and type of activity we will be working on for the next month.

24 May 2011

A combined group of Livable Laneway enthusiasts and the Vancouver Design Nerds has been selected by the City’s VIVA Vancouver program, which is intended to reallocate roadways for public spaces. Our proposal is to transform a commercial laneway into a public space and summer night market. The laneway is located at the heart of Mount Pleasant near Broadway and Main Street. It is the north/south directed commercial laneway west of Main Street that runs between Broadway and 8^th Avenue (adjacent the Chutney Villa and Reno’s). It is in this laneway and the adjacent (parking space) ‘rooms’ that we intend to install design interventions and hold a night market on four consecutive Saturday evenings in July (9^th, 16^th, 23^rd, 30^th).