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Graham Projects

Curbside Commons

The Curbside Commons Design for Distancing project converted a parking lane into a public space for community, shopping, services, and culinary encounters along Hamilton-Lauraville’s main street, Harford Road. Design for Distancing is a tactical urban design initiative of the Baltimore Development Corporation and Neighborhood Design Center intended to help small businesses in Baltimore reopen without compromising public health. Led by Graham Projects, the design-build team included Property Consulting, Inc. (PCI), LANNINGSMITH, and Annie Howe Papercuts. We collaborated with the Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street and adjacent small businesses to understand their needs to stay open while maintaining physical distancing and other COVID-19 precautions. Through discussions facilitated by PCI, merchants asked for outdoor seating, distancing markers, event space, pedestrian and wheelchair accessibility, public art, signage, bicycle parking, and artful wayfinding. 

In meeting merchant needs, Graham Projects implemented all of its contributions in the Design for Distancing Ideas Guidebook published earlier in response to the pandemic. Click here to download the free resource on created COVID-19 safe public spaces.

For the Curbside Commons we created safe pedestrian space using traffic bump outs, line striping, flex-posts,bike racks, and a first-of-its-kind midblock crosswalk with traffic island. Artful, high-contrast asphalt coating visually unify the Curbside Commons while demarking the former parking lane as a premiere safe space for pedestrian conviviality and commerce. From the “Gridn’ Safe” modular stencils and footprint markings participants take visual and tactile cues for maintaining their publicly healthy personal space. Creative pavement stencils by local artist Annie Howe evoke the businesses and services offered along Harford Road, inviting pedestrians to patronize the many shops, restaurants, and service businesses. 

LANNINGSMITH fabricated the 3d aspects of the project. The “Rampin’ Over” ADA curb ramps provide adjustable height mobility access midblock. The modular “Wingin’ It” hinged partitions are set at different angles to appropriately frame spatial distance. Recycled industrial drum planters anchor the separators, provide beautification, and serve as protective barriers for curb-lyfe enthusiasts. Shade sails and benches provide added pedestrian comfort for outdoor hangs.

Since installing the space local businesses have reported an increase in foot traffic and sales. During the warm months merchants and shoppers filled the pedestrian spaces with activity, especially during the locally organized First Fridays evening event series. The Curbside Commons has proven so popular that the Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street, participating merchants, and countless residents have already expressed enthusiasm to keep the public space intact beyond the necessity of COVID-19 precautions.

Design-Build Team
Graham Projects, Property Consulting, Inc., LANNINGSMITH, Annie Howe Paper Cuts, Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street

Partners
Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street, Baltimore Development Corporation, Neighborhood Design Center, Baltimore City DOT, Equus Striping

Benefiting Businesses 
Zeke’s Coffee, Indu Wellness, The Children’s Bookstore, Dominican Stars Salon, Propr Design, Fire & Rice Restaurant, Annie Howe Papercuts, Tortuga Boutique, Function Coworking Community, Main Obsessions Salon, Aaduri Healing Arts, Red Canoe, Maggie’s Farm, Found Studio, 4 Hour Day Lutherie, Cloudy Donuts, Koco’s Pub, Domesticity, Blue Spark Barbers, Chop Shop Salon, Lady’s Touch Salon

  • Place:

    4300, 4700, & 4800 blocks of Harford Rd, Baltimore, MD 21214

  • Approaches:

    Placemaking, Public Art, Civic Engagement

  • Project Date:

    June - November 2020

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    @grahamprojects on Instagram

    grahamprojects

    Work in progress: The #GrahamProjects concrete #co Work in progress: The #GrahamProjects concrete #cone #bollard test 1, under fabrication by the amazing crew at @kylelanningsmith. Integral pigmentation means this #trafficcalming device will look like art through and through. Yes we like the trippy bleed. 💯🤪
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#completestreets #livablecities #placemaking #concrete #concreteart #sculpture #trafficart #streetsforpeople #wip #wipart
    The Druid Hill #CanopyCrosswalk will celebrate Dru The Druid Hill #CanopyCrosswalk will celebrate Druid Hill Park while improving street-crossing safety for pedestrians using the Fulton Ave crosswalk. Local residents are invited to contribute their favorite tree leaves in Druid Hill Park to serve as artwork inspiration. Link in bio. https://makeplacehappen.com/canopycrosswalk #grahamprojects #TAPdruidhill #auchentorolyterrace #publicart #completestreets #placemaking
    #TBT / #FutureSite: #OakWisdom #artcrosswalks in # #TBT / #FutureSite: #OakWisdom #artcrosswalks in #CollingtonSquare. Last fall #GrahamProjects completed the #trafficcalming #publicart bump outs and crosswalks. This spring we are working with local youth on extending the artwork onto adjacent sidewalks. Also go @amtrak! 
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#liveablestreets #completestreets #placemaking #streetmural #creativeplacemaking #safestreets #baltimore #thebmorecreatives #bmorecreatives #dronephotography #mybmore #trains #amtrak #trainstagram
    #GrahamProjects is seeking a part-time Associate P #GrahamProjects is seeking a part-time Associate Placemaker to support our #publicart and #urbandesign-build practice. The ideal candidate is a dynamic communicator, highly organized, creative, tech-savvy, responsive, and brings a joyful sense of design thinking to improving places with people. Learn more & apply: https://grahamprojects.com/team. Link in bio.
    #GrahamProjects offers high-durability, low-mainte #GrahamProjects offers high-durability, low-maintenance permanent #wayfinding sidewalk and street art made of custom @ennisflintinc Decomark thermoplastic materials. Let’s get weird and walk the rainbow! 🌈 👟
    #GrahamProjects is honored to be featured on the c #GrahamProjects is honored to be featured on the cover of FORWARD, the successor to Public Art Review magazine. Read about our #publicart for ped safety at  @forecastpublicart!

Repost:
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ANNOUNCING FORWARD #2: How Artists Create More Responsive, Equitable and Sustainable Transportation Solutions, guest edited by Ben Stone (@ben_j_stone) of Smart Growth America (SGA) & Transportation for America (T4A), with a lead essay by Charles T. Brown of Rutgers University (@rutgersu) and created in partnership with SGA & T4A.

FORWARD #2 focuses on sharing the stories and pushing the boundaries of how art and culture can create more responsive, equitable and sustainable transportation solutions. It offers examples, provocations, talking points, a toolkit, and a dream job. This issue also introduces Public Art Now; featuring leading voices sharing public art of the moment, Public Art Now is a new special collection of selected works that will accompany each issue of FORWARD, as an additional page in the publication. The inaugural presentation of Public Art Now is curated by Forecast consultant Tricia Heuring (@tricious), a Thai American curator, arts organizer and educator.

We are living through a moment that will bring major changes in transportation. From trains to highways to safe sidewalks, how we get around, how and where we build infrastructure, what we connect, and how it feels to move through space all matters. We know that these decisions impact different people in our communities inequitably. What kind of changes do we need structurally, politically, culturally? How are artists some of the major voices advancing and manifesting that change? Learn more in our newest issue of FORWARD.

Then register to join us next week on 2/18 at 1pm CST for our roundtable conversation with Charles T. Brown, Naomi Doerner (@thetinyurbanista) & Melvin Giles.

📸: Graham Coreil-Allen's Reverberations Crosswalks #2 is a pavement mural designed to enhance pedestrian safety for children and residents near Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore, while celebrating the school’s art education focus. Photo by @baltimore_aerials
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