PORTAL | Sacramento's Urban Incubator

TEMPORARY INSTALLATIONR STREET | SACRAMENTO, CA

DESIGN/PROJECT MANAGEMENTQuadriga Landscape Architecture + Planning, Inc.

DESIGN LEAD Kimberly Garza, ASLA

PROGRAM MANAGERTre Borden

FABRICATIONMatt Porr, Trent Dean, Nile Mittow

MEDIA PARTNERCity Scout Magazine

PROJECT SPONSORSCapitol Area Development AuthorityHeller PacificSacramento Municipal Utility DistrictAmerican Society of Landscape Architects, California Sierra Chapter American Institute of Architects, Central ValleyMartin Consulting Group, Inc.The California EndowmentSacramento Public LibrarySilent Events

COMMUNITY PARTNERSSacramento Clothing Co.Hacker LabFood Literacy Center Unseen HeroesMetro EdgeZuda YogaFarm-to-ForkSacramento Steps Forward

TEAM

Booklet by Quadriga: John Rabago and Kimberly Garza © 2015

Photo Credit: Andre Elliot

PORTAL is a temporary interactive installation designed to bring life to dormant spaces within Sacramento’s urban fabric and to engage local community through programming that celebrates the region.

Conceptually, portals are capable of transporting people into a future time and space, and PORTAL’s activation empowers citizens to experience and influence the future of Sacramento and the Northern California region. By building a platform for community members to engage directly with their city, PORTAL promotes a cohesive vision for Sacramento with diverse input from the people to be most impacted by the region’s future.

Open to the community for a one month-long period, PORTAL anchored over twenty events with the support of over twenty-five local businesses and organizations. Events included community focused lectures, author talks, performance showcases, pop-up shops, yoga classes, a drought tolerant planting exhibit, a movie night, and a silent disco. The installation concluded at TBD Fest, Sacramento’s 3-day music and arts festival.

Unlike other installations, PORTAL operates outside of traditional forms of design engagement (i.e. request for proposal and or competition brief), and thus promotes grassroots efforts to activate vacant sites within the urban environment using short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions that are reflective of the region. Through participatory events, PORTAL inspires community members to take an active role in shaping Sacramento’s development.

PORTAL is a grassroots community initiative led by Quadriga Landscape Architecture and Tre Borden.

This booklet provides a snapshot of the process behind PORTAL, including design, production, implementation, and organization of events.

ABOUT

R STREET ICE BLOCKSSACRAMENTO, CA

The installation occupied the side-walk of the newly constructed R Street streetscape in front of the historic Ice Block Builing.

In the heart of Sacramento’s Midtown, along R Street between 16th and 18th sits the historic Crystal Ice Building. This 82,000 ft2 building was constructed in 1924 by A.R. Carstensen, known for delivering 100-pound ice blocks to customers for food preservation. Unfortunately for Carstensen, with the 1950s came the advent of refrigeration and ease of long term home storage, bringing a halt his business.

Over the past 35 years, ownership of the property has been bought and sold between a number of developers who failed to gain the support of local Midtown residents and Sacramento planners. With this absence of activity, the surrounding streetscape has become a forgotten and decrepit, highly underutilized space.

Noting the sterility of this three block stretch through Sacramento’s bustling Midtown, developer Michael Heller hopes to revitalize the area with retail, office, and high density housing space in coming years.

Though large plans are in motion for 2016, the space still remains silent and inactive in the interim. By introducing vibrance and excitement to this idle space, PORTAL offers a preview of what’s to come.

LOCATION

R Street between 16th & 17th

An aerial view of R Street | Photo Credit: City of Sacramento

Photo Credit: Randall Benton, Sacramento Bee

DESIGNPORTAL is a 12’ high installation that occupies an 8’ by 8’ area on the R Street sidewalk. The structure’s steel frame supports an interior of mirrored plexi-glass panels and an exterior of wood slats lined with 9000 LED lights, overlaid with a mural by local artist, Jake Castro. The design of PORTAL provides a visual anchor for the space it inhabits, enabling flexibility for events and programming.

PORTAL preliminary concept diagrams

Rendering of PORTAL on R Street

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

Fabrication process at HackerLab | Photo Credit: Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee

Fabrication process at Hacker Lab | Photo Credit: Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee

Quadriga worked with local maker space, Hacker Lab, on the fabrication of PORTAL. With the help of Matt Porr and Trent Dean, the structure was assembled at Hacker Lab’s Midtown workshop, and was transported to R Street once completed. Nile Mittow programmed the installation to respond to social media input through the use of the custom hashtag, #portalsac. PORTAL photos, stories, and ideas were posted by the community via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, triggering the LED-clad structure to change colors with each post.

FABRICATION

Installation of PORTAL at R Street

PROGRAMOpen to the community for a one-month period, PORTAL anchored over twenty events with the support of over twenty-five local businesses and organizations. A designated website, portalsac.com, provided a calendar of events for visitors that included community focused lectures, author talks, performance showcases, pop-up shops, yoga classes, a drought tolerant planting exhibit, a movie night, and a silent disco.

Capitol Dance Project

Planting for the Future

PORTAL Launch

Community Outreach Meeting

Silent Disco

Open Mic Night

Morning Yoga Sessions

METRO EDGE 916 Block Party

Nighttime Movie Screening

Pecha Kucha Presentation

Plexi-glass interior of PORTAL

Custom social media hashtag

Interactive LED light display

TBD FESTWEST SACRAMENTO, CA

TBD is Sacramento’s own music and arts festival introduced to the city in 2008. It is an event dedicated to establishing connections between musicians, artists, designers and creative individuals at the local, national, and international levels. The PORTAL installation concluded at the 2015 TBD Fest.

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WHY DO YOU LIVE, WORK, PLAY IN SAC?

PORTAL was used as a community survey platform at Sacramento’s TBD Festival for attendees to share what they love about their city.

QUADRIGAlandscape architecture + planning, inc.

1415 21st Street | Studio ASacramento, CA 95811

916.441.2129www.quadriga-inc.com

@quadrigadesign