INTRODUCTION

CanalScape is a project at Arizona State University working to create sustainable public spaces along the canal system of Phoenix, Arizona. The expansive network of canals dates back hundreds of years to the Hohokam natives and has long been the lifeblood of agriculture in Phoenix. The goal of CanalScape is to celebrate this history with new development along the canal system that stimulates local culture, community interaction, economic opportunity, and sustainable living.

Associate Professor Nan Ellin of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University founded the program that involves the participation of graduate students from various programs throughout the university. The interdisciplinary effort includes research into the history and culture of each potential development site, demographic analysis, creation of design proposals, and partnerships with local sponsors and community organizations. CanalScape students and faculty have collaborated with city and government officials, planners, and developers to create proposals that are visionary, yet compliant with zoning and construction regulations.

The CanalScape Exhibition, held in November/December 2009, was designed around the architecture of Antoine Predock’s award-winning Arizona State University Art Museum. At the same time, however, all exhibition displays were designed to be easily transported and reconfigured for subsequent displays at Phoenix City Hall, Scottsdale Civic Center, and Gateway Community College where the exhibition is currently housed.

The exhibition design team included ASU students and faculty in design, architecture, planning, fine art, and landscape architects from AECOM Design + Planning

EXHIBITION DESIGN

The exhibit was held in the nympheum of the ASU Art Museum, an indoor/outdoor space with a linear water feature that runs the length of the room. The design team sought to leverage the placement of this water feature and turn the nympheum itself into a vibrant representation of a canalscape lined with greenery, floating gardens, and underwater lighting. The goal was to create an environment that caused visitors to feel as if they left the museum entirely and to pull the concepts shown in the exhibition’s renderings and drawings into reality.

The content of the exhibition lined the banks of the nympheum’s central ‘canal’ and was broken into three main components:

• ‘What Was’ – the history of Phoenix’s extensive canal system
• ‘What Is’ – the current conditions of canals
• ‘What Could Be’ – visions for the amenities and cultural assets that CanalScape would bring to the city

TRAVELING EXHIBIT

All exhibit displays were designed to be reconfigurable for smaller spaces as the show moved to different venues around the metro area.

PHOENIX CITY HALL

SCOTTSDALE CIVIC CENTER

GATEWAY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

INTERACTIVE PIECE

A primary element of CanalScape is gathering input and feedback from the community. If CanalScapes are to become true civic spaces that reflect the culture of the neighborhoods that surround them, then inviting everyone to share in the design process is imperative.

To open a dialogue with the community at the CanalScape Exhibition, I created an interactive piece that invited museum visitors to become designers by drawing or writing their own visions of what CanalScapes should be. The result was several collaborative renderings drawn by visitors to the museum.

After the exhibition closed at the ASU Art Museum, the interactive piece was moved to a permanent installation at the Phoenix Urban Research Lab, where students and visitors continue to sketch on it.

COLLABORATIVE DRAWINGS

CanalScape visions drawn by museum visitors including adults, children, and students (11-9 thru 11-15, 2009)

CanalScape visions drawn by students/visitors at the Phoenix Urban Research Lab (January 2010)

The interactive piece was originally designed to function as both a display and drawing surface. Original material was predominantly light wood that could be transported from venue to venue easily.

The second iteration was a more streamlined piece designed solely as an interactive display with two cylindrical elements that would allow visitors to write notes about the exhibit and deposit them.

Prior to purchasing materials, a trip to the Salt River Project (SRP) bone yard revealed a treasure trove of materials that could be used to construct the piece. Because SRP owns and operates many of the canals in the Phoenix area, I decided to abandon the convenience of a lightweight piece in favor of building the exhibit entirely out of SRP’s reclaimed canal equipment.

The reclaimed steel parts were then welded together at Desert Rat Forge in Carefree, Arizona.

Final design elements were then configured, including a replaceable title piece that could be switched for other exhibitions.

The final product includes a large drawing surface with a template for visitors to draw on, and colored pens attached to steel rings on the front.