Reimagining North End Seating *Update*
The concrete planters along Gottingen Street have received a facelift! Plus, new seating throughout the North End of Halifax.
With a $50,000 grant from the Nova Scotia Business and Labour Economic Coalition (NSBLEC), the North End Business Association (NEBA) was able to create opportunities for people to gather, and be in their community.
The goal was to breathe new life into the concrete planters along Gottingen Street as well as to create new opportunities for public seating, interaction, and community growth. NEBA collaborated with four architectural design firms and partnering community groups to bring public street furniture to the district.
There were two main components to our project, to create additional seating throughout the district and to revitalize the Gottingen Street planters by converting them into seating and functional art
Revitalizing Gottingen Street Planters
NEBA was joined by our friends at Omar Gandhi Architect, Cities and Environment Unit, Peter Henry Architect, and FBM Architecture to reimagine the concrete planters on Gottingen Street. These firms have collectively adopted four planters and worked in collaboration with their partnering community organizations at Phoenix Youth, Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, Radstorm and the Bus Stop Theatre. Together they creatively designed and built public seating, along with other implementations such as plants, art, and activations. We also added (6) wooden end caps to an additional 3 planters.
Community Bench Building Workshops
NEBA collaborated with the Cities & Environment Unit and OSO to conduct two workshops during the Open Streets events where the community came together to build fifteen, wooden benches that were dispersed throughout the North End to add seating to the district and also used for seating at the Open Mic House for our Friday Night summer concert series.
Outcomes
As a result of this project, 13 community organizations were engaged as part of our process; collectively with our community partners, we held approximately 10 engagement events/sessions with 100 people in attendance; lastly, in addition to the funds provided by DNS/NSBLEC we leveraged an estimated $100,000 through in-kind sponsorship, i.e., architects design and contractors.
