I stopped by The HangArt last night to see a concert that was happening. I didn't really know who was playing, but Jake let me know that there was a show going on so I showed up. Low and behold, two bands from out of town that I don't know very well, but that play on a compilation CD that I really like were playing that night. It was pretty good live music too. There were four bands from out of town all playing, and only about 10 people there who weren't in a band, all regulars.
Leona and Eric were asking the question, "How to we get more people to come to these things"? Seriously. I think we need to figure that out very soon. Obviously promotion needs to be done to some extent, but we also need to establish ourselves with little niches and perks. There need to be things the HangArt is known for besides lowly attended shows. Leona and Jake, and I'm sure others have talked about food. I've seen it before too at one show they did last year. There was a build your own vegetarian burrito bar and people really liked it.
I think as the place gets cleaned up and seating is available etc, people will start to return more often.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Ideas and Goals
In talking about different ideas and goals Jake has for The HangArt we have come up with some pretty interesting things. Jake is pretty adamant about collecting as much rainwater as possible, maybe some day becoming completely self sufficient on rainwater. He wants to do this as a demonstration that people can collect large amounts, and it should be done in industrial/commercial settings. With all the rainwater we plan on collecting we have to come up with ways to use it as well.
This ties into one of the other goals Jake has. This goal is to provide a space for touring bands to stay and sleep for the night, and to be able to provide them with food while they are in Town. We have this wild idea of being able to give the bands that come through a meal made from freshly grown food that was grown on the HangArt site. I think this is a great goal and would be a really cool perk for bands that come to play at the HangArt.
In providing food and shelter for the bands I also suggested that we offer a fleet of bicycles for bands that come to town. Not only would they get fed and housed, but we could offer them sustainable and fun transportation. I've heard of bigger bands bringing bikes with them on their tour buses, but many smaller bands ride across the country in just a van or even a packed car.
Another all encompassing goal we have is to turn the HangArt space into an active demo site for what a sustainable art and music space could look like. We want to set an example of how different aspects can live intertwined and healthily. We want people to be impressed with the possibilities of what we can create when we really strive for achieving lofty goals.
This ties into one of the other goals Jake has. This goal is to provide a space for touring bands to stay and sleep for the night, and to be able to provide them with food while they are in Town. We have this wild idea of being able to give the bands that come through a meal made from freshly grown food that was grown on the HangArt site. I think this is a great goal and would be a really cool perk for bands that come to play at the HangArt.
In providing food and shelter for the bands I also suggested that we offer a fleet of bicycles for bands that come to town. Not only would they get fed and housed, but we could offer them sustainable and fun transportation. I've heard of bigger bands bringing bikes with them on their tour buses, but many smaller bands ride across the country in just a van or even a packed car.
Another all encompassing goal we have is to turn the HangArt space into an active demo site for what a sustainable art and music space could look like. We want to set an example of how different aspects can live intertwined and healthily. We want people to be impressed with the possibilities of what we can create when we really strive for achieving lofty goals.
Flood Prevention
One of the big physical issues on The HangArt property is that of flood control. The property lies on the edge of a FEMA 100 year flood zone and there is a large lot to the north that slopes toward the HangArt lot. At the edge of these two properties there is a 2 foot drop down on to the HangArt lot. Sometimes rainfall floods into the Quonset hut and water gets in from the sides of the building, and most of the stormwater runs straight toward the 100 year old gallery building.
All of the Stormwater On Site Flows to the Corner of the 100 Year Old Gallery
One of our main goals is to address flood control on the lot. This is actually a really complicated situation. On top of the stormwater runoff from the adjacent lot, we also have to deal with the water running off of the Quonset hut, which does not currently have any gutters. There are also two small roofs that make up the sound room and the adjacent ramada (mentioned in the previous post).
In Tucson, it is starting to become popular practice to dig small stormwater basins to help catch runoff and help cultivate native vegetation. These basins catch and slow stormwater and help reduce flooding. They have even done these on neighborhood scales in The Rincon Heights Neighborhood in Central Tucson.
The problem on the HangArt site is that adjacent lot combined with the roofs create more stormwater than the space we have to dig basins can handle. The obvious solution is to install a cistern on the Quonset Hut, but for the time being we don't have the funding to buy a tank.
We also have to figure out how to divert stormwater from the adjacent lot toward the basins we dig. This is tricky situation though because there is only about 6 feet of space between the lot's fence and the Quonset Hut. Ideally we would be able to build a retention berm on the adjacent lot to direct water toward the basins. We don't know if this will be possible though as it would take cooperation from the landowner next door.
The Adjacent Lot Gives A Lot of Its Water To The HangArt
There Isn't Much Space to Direct Stormwater
There is also the careful balance we have to achieve between catching stormwater, and making sure it doesn't pose a threat to flooding in major storms. In designing how we want the water to flow, we have to make sure there is an emergency measure allowing stormwater to flow off of the HangArt site and into the alley. If our basins over flow we don't want to have them flood the buildings. The water must go elsewhere.
One thing we can do fairly soon is catch rainwater off of the smaller roofs, such as the ramada. We are incoperating rain barrels into our design for the ramada/snack/seating area. By catching this rain in barrels it takes some stress off of our basin system. The ramada site design will be discussed in detail in a later post.
All of the Stormwater On Site Flows to the Corner of the 100 Year Old Gallery
One of our main goals is to address flood control on the lot. This is actually a really complicated situation. On top of the stormwater runoff from the adjacent lot, we also have to deal with the water running off of the Quonset hut, which does not currently have any gutters. There are also two small roofs that make up the sound room and the adjacent ramada (mentioned in the previous post).
In Tucson, it is starting to become popular practice to dig small stormwater basins to help catch runoff and help cultivate native vegetation. These basins catch and slow stormwater and help reduce flooding. They have even done these on neighborhood scales in The Rincon Heights Neighborhood in Central Tucson.
The problem on the HangArt site is that adjacent lot combined with the roofs create more stormwater than the space we have to dig basins can handle. The obvious solution is to install a cistern on the Quonset Hut, but for the time being we don't have the funding to buy a tank.
We also have to figure out how to divert stormwater from the adjacent lot toward the basins we dig. This is tricky situation though because there is only about 6 feet of space between the lot's fence and the Quonset Hut. Ideally we would be able to build a retention berm on the adjacent lot to direct water toward the basins. We don't know if this will be possible though as it would take cooperation from the landowner next door.
The Adjacent Lot Gives A Lot of Its Water To The HangArt
There Isn't Much Space to Direct Stormwater
There is also the careful balance we have to achieve between catching stormwater, and making sure it doesn't pose a threat to flooding in major storms. In designing how we want the water to flow, we have to make sure there is an emergency measure allowing stormwater to flow off of the HangArt site and into the alley. If our basins over flow we don't want to have them flood the buildings. The water must go elsewhere.
One thing we can do fairly soon is catch rainwater off of the smaller roofs, such as the ramada. We are incoperating rain barrels into our design for the ramada/snack/seating area. By catching this rain in barrels it takes some stress off of our basin system. The ramada site design will be discussed in detail in a later post.
Cleaning Up
There is a lot of "Junk" on The HangArt Lot
One of the big issues at The HangArt right now is the clutter all over the lot. So many things have happened here over the years with so few people running it that the junk and clutter can stack up pretty easily. Once places get run down it becomes easy to not take good care of it anymore. Visitors that come to a place that looks junky also assume that they don't have to take care of it either and leave trash around or inflict further damage to the property.
The first big step we need to take at The HangArt is to clean the place up and remove trash and clutter from the lot. Jake and I took the first stab at this last week. We spent a solid six hours cleaning up the Quonset Hut lot, especially under the ramada. The difference in appearance is remarkable after just a few hours of cleaning and raking. I still need to snap a picture of the results, but it looks much nicer now.
Making the lot look nice and more inviting is a key to the HangArt's mission. If we want people to hang out and be comfortable we need a lot that is enjoyable to be in, not just covered in trash and broken debris. After raking up a lot of organic material we moved and stored clutter temporarily. The next step in this area under the ramada will be converting it into a space with benches for seating and flood retention, an area for a snack bar, and a garden space for growing food. I'll go into the details of our plan for the ramada in another post.
I'll also post on building our composts containers. We are going to need to build some big ones considering all the organic material we raked up last week. There is already some pretty good soil forming. This will be great for our plans for a garden.
Permaculture Design
For the HangArt project we are using a lot of concepts that come from the method of Permaculture Design. This is a concept that was developed by a guy named Bill Mollison. It is a way of developing human habitats that are ecologically sound and sustainable. Some basic info about permaculture can be found here, though there is a lot more to the study of permaculture.
One of the first steps we take in this design process is to analyze what is going on at the site we are designing. Rather than going right into the process of designing new things for the site we take a step back and look at what is going on at the site already. Who uses the site? What do they do there? Where does the sun come from? Where does the water flow? Where does the wind blow? Where are the utilities? What inputs are being given to the site? What outputs is the site giving us? There are many more questions we ask as well.
After we understand what's happening we can start to look at what works and what doesn't work. What do we need? What do we need to get rid of? What can be changed?
We also want to look at how one thing serves many different functions. The more functions that we stack, the more sustainable and functional our sit will be. We can install a bench that's just for people to sit on, or we can design it in a way that it also helps aid flood prevention, storage, and aesthetics. We could think of many other functions this bench could serve as well and try to incorporate it into the design. We can do this with physical things as well as social and economic aspects. This makes the design process much more complicated than drawing a plan on a piece of paper, but in the long run it makes the project much richer.
One of the first steps we take in this design process is to analyze what is going on at the site we are designing. Rather than going right into the process of designing new things for the site we take a step back and look at what is going on at the site already. Who uses the site? What do they do there? Where does the sun come from? Where does the water flow? Where does the wind blow? Where are the utilities? What inputs are being given to the site? What outputs is the site giving us? There are many more questions we ask as well.
After we understand what's happening we can start to look at what works and what doesn't work. What do we need? What do we need to get rid of? What can be changed?
We also want to look at how one thing serves many different functions. The more functions that we stack, the more sustainable and functional our sit will be. We can install a bench that's just for people to sit on, or we can design it in a way that it also helps aid flood prevention, storage, and aesthetics. We could think of many other functions this bench could serve as well and try to incorporate it into the design. We can do this with physical things as well as social and economic aspects. This makes the design process much more complicated than drawing a plan on a piece of paper, but in the long run it makes the project much richer.
Welcome to the Project
Hello readers.
This blog is set up specifically to follow the progress of our project at The HangArt in Tucson, Arizona.
The idea behind this project is to look at the existing infrastructure on this downtown warehouse district lot and come up with a holistic plan for developing The HangArt space into a sustainable environment. This doesn't just apply to environmental sustainability, but also includes social and economic sustainability as well.
What is The HangArt?
The HangArt mostly focuses on music, but is by no means limited to music. Several local bands use the Quonset Hut as a practice space and concerts are also played there. The HangArt also has recording equipment and local bands record music there.
There is a one hundred year old warehouse on the second HangArt lot that houses an art gallery space. Art shows occasionally happen in this space, as well as acoustic music concerts. There are several artists and artisans who also use spaces on the lot to create their pieces.
As the project moves along I'll talk about things that we want to do to The HangArt to improve it and the concepts behind how we are coming to these conclusions.
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