I Wish This Was is a monthly series that transforms ignored, vacant lots and properties in Orlando into something the City Beautiful can be proud of. This series is made possible by our partnership with Interstruct Inc., a leading design and construction group based out of Orlando, and its founder, Ryan Young.
This month’s I Wish This Was is taking a closer look at a courtyard in front of Seaside Plaza (Website), a public square on the corner of Church Street and Orange Avenue in Downtown Orlando [GMap].
Ryan Young, President and principal architect for Interstruct Inc., developed the following concept for the square, based on the idea of creating a more human-scaled environment that promotes interaction and connectivity; things that we believe are currently lacking in the existing plaza.
At the moment, the courtyard is defined by a strong, angular geometry reinforced by a triangular water feature and series of square planters that dominate the space. If you look from above, the planters actually form a broken grid pattern, which inspired Young to extrapolate the geometry and create a series of octagonal pop-up structures, extruded from the forms he could already see in the plaza.
The pop-up structures could be made with patinated copper and glass to create more interesting surfaces and a suggestion of privacy when in use, but still connected to what was happening around them.
Young’s team started their Wish journey by adding more planters and landscape features to extend the already existing grid. By grouping the pods together, he created a more usable space for events, markets, and pop-up retail, while still maintaining an interactive sculptural quality to the structures, for when they’re not in use.
Young’s team also used remaining octagonal nodes for added green-space, something they thought was lacking in the existing mostly-concrete plaza.
Editor’s Note: If you see an I Wish This Was concept that you’d like to make happen, reach out to us at [email protected].
