March 11, 2019

The Westphal College of Media Arts and Design presents the 2019 Interdisciplinary Design Charrette led by Korea-based design practice studio GAON.

The Drexel 2019 Charrette proposes the closing of selected single blocks to normal traffic in various parts of Philadelphia. Since the businesses and public facilities on these blocks are accustomed to the visibility and accessibility afforded by automobile traffic, these blocks will be redesigned to make them unique and appealing destinations to attract increased pedestrian flows. New landscape features, graphic designs, public art, pavements, street furniture and other innovations developed by the student charrette teams. Reconceiving the street as a truly public space presents profound design and cultural challenges and the charrette will welcome students from any major to participate.

Over the past several years, the Department of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism and the Department of Design have hosted a series of weekend charrettes aimed at engaging students with the ways in which design can address both public space and community dynamics at a both local and global scales. Previous projects have looked at water access campus connections, transportation networks, and community identity. Notable figures in design such as Cameron Sinclair and Snøhetta have participated and shared their expertise in past years.

This year, Lim Hyeung-Nam and Roh Eun-Joo, partners in the award-winning design firm studio GAON, will be guiding the charrette which will focus on modifying the urban fabric of Philadelphia to create areas of pedestrian-only access. The intent is to recognize the existing characteristics of the areas and propose design interventions that are appropriate and feasible, while also forward-looking and imaginative.

The 2019 Design Charrette will take place from April 12-15. The deadline to sign up for the Charrette is April 8. Sign up here.

About studio GAON

Lim Hyoung-Nam and Roh Eun-Joo founded studio GAON in Korea in 1998. They have designed and built numerous projects that attempt to achieve a precise balance of the traditional with the contemporary, the natural and the artificial and only consider their works to be finally completed by the passage of time.