Client: Various Bay Area communities
Team: Deanna Van Buren, Brandi Mack, Oretola Thomas, David Wright & Nathan Kandus (Envelope Engineers), Sabrina Fair
Program Partners: The Butterfly Movement, Green Streets, Mandela Grocery Cooperative, Namaste Ready, KaCierge, UCSF, Bridge Housing
Project Type: Mobile
Status: Ongoing
Website: popupvillage.org
The Pop-Up Village is a site activation project that harnesses the power of design to catalyze the magic that emerges when people and programs come together in public space. Its mission is to use mobile architecture to turn blighted and/or vacant urban outdoor spaces into beautiful, dynamic, and regenerative community hubs that help under-resourced communities of color get access to the resources they need to thrive. It does so by bringing together a constellation of dynamic programming — health and wellness, youth and family, retail, food, and education resources — in customized buses, vans, pop-up shops, furniture, and other types of mobile architecture and nature. Place matters, and its power has been taken from those who stand to gain the most from its thoughtful creation.
Our program partners understand that design and place matter and are tools for healing ourselves and community. We work with them to achieve these goals in every Pop-Up we participate in.