Design Philadelphia, a citywide celebration promoting design’s ability to generate innovation, solve problems, and enhance daily life, kicked off Wednesday in its namesake city. Above | below | beyond, opening at Next American City’s Storefront for Urban Innovation tonight, will be among the many events during the festival seeking to engage Philadelphians in design.
The work of undergraduate design students from Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, the exhibition is about bringing student design work to the community – engaging the public in imagining a new future for a three-mile unused rail corridor running through the heart of Philly just north of the Vine Street Expressway. (For more info, see this post about the exhibition.)
As we prepared for opening night, light spilled out onto the sidewalk at 2816 West Girard Avenue, and curious passersby from the Brewerytown neighborhood stopped to ask about the installation going up behind the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Storefront for Urban Innovation. Though the exhibition was still taking shape, it was already fulfilling the students’ hopes: Bringing the community together and starting a conversation.
Opening Night for above | below | beyond is tonight from 6-10pm at Next American City’s Storefront for Urban Innovation, free and open to the public — come see what students have envisioned for the abandoned rail corridor, and share your own ideas!