For the Damascus Placemaking Festival Graham Projects collaborated with the Montgomery County Planning Department and multi-disciplinary and award-winning design firm Design Collective on engaging residents of the rural town of Damascus to envision and experience firsthand ways of transforming their four-lane wide, car-centric Main Street to be more walkable, inclusive and uniquely identifiable as The Heart of Damascus. Held October 19 – 20, 2024, the festival was one of a series of participatory planning placemaking events hosted by Montgomery County, Maryland; helping residents and stakeholders, “collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of the community.”
For six months Graham Projects worked with the county agency and design partners on engaging local residents, business, and civic organizations on planning the weekend long street festival. After kicking off the process with stakeholder site walks we co-designed and co-facilitated a play-based planning event in which the public was invited to draw and sculpt their ideas for reenvisioning a more human-scaled Main Street. Locals were also invited to share ideas through an online survey. Based on residents’ priorities and creative preferences, we worked closely with Design Collective on developing a plan to temporarily transform nearly 700 linear feet of Main Street into a pedestrian-friendly, local-business-supporting, tree-lined, and playful corridor.
Within the community-inspired plan Graham Projects designed and built numerous placemaking features; including a 550’ long interactive wayfinding pavement mural, a 150’ long protected bike lane, two freestanding overhead pennant banner canopies, four 10’ tall gateway signs, ten outdoor benches, three 8’ tall schedule chalk boards, an 82’ diameter hay-bale amphitheater, a 16’ tall centerpiece heart sculpture, and a 32’ long participatory civic mural.
Leading up to the festival, the Graham Projects team of artists led a series of community build days during which 71 local volunteers helped to construct and paint the placemaking elements. At 6 am the morning of Saturday, October 19th, 2024, Montgomery County closed off Main Street and the placemaking teams went into action. In just a few hours we dramatically transformed the four lane car-oriented thoroughfare into a people-oriented place. Throughout Saturday and Sunday over 1,000 residents and visitors interacted with an array of local vendors, restaurants, and performers along the pedestrianized Main Street.
During the festival Design Collective and Montgomery Planning staffed feedback boards for residents to share comments on and ideas for the future of Main Street. According to Montgomery Planning, “planners will share these findings in a report and presentation to the Montgomery County Planning Board, including recommendations for realistic short-term and long-term improvements.”
Urban design elements, artwork, and furnishings designed by Graham Projects founder Graham Coreil-Allen.
Project partners: Montgomery County Planning Department, Design Collective
Graham Projects production team: Graham Coreil-Allen, Melvin Jadulang, Liam Arbeiter, Zoe Roane-Hopkins, Mar Braxton, Maurice McCrimmon, Claire Pomykala
Design Collective planning & production team: PJ Benenati, Dayanara Padilla, Tiara Rachman
