ARQ

Urban Archipelagos

In an effort to encourage outdoor activity while enforcing state-mandated social-distancing requirements, Baltimore City with the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) sponsored an ideas competition entitled “Design for Distancing.” ARQ architects submitted an entry called “Urban Archipelagos” that used 6’-0” diameter orange cones with plantings to communicate the spatial separation required, while offering a point of contemplation. At night LEDs would softly illuminate the orange plastic material creating a series of glowing islands arranged along the street edge.