A corporate giant, new construction, and safe tshirts
Challenge
Google was planning new construction in the city of Kirkland, Washington. The community design research firm Openbox was called in to study potential neighborhood impacts ahead of construction.
Deliverable
Hold community workshops with community leaders who already work on issues of equity. Listen to their concerns and goals and carry that back to the client. As best we could, empower a corporate giant to treat their neighbors respectfully.
We asked: "What are the building blocks for a private developer to cultivate community trust, partnership and action towards equitable and sustainable development in East King County?"
We conducted a 3 month study of community leaders, attended various city hall meetings, community gatherings and 2 field site visits.
Learning: Kirkland is sometimes not so safe for people of color
One resident would wear different t-shirts depending on where she was spending time that day. It was her way of code-switching for various environments. It's also a handy way to understand different regions within the Washington region.
SUPERSONICS TSHIRT
"For example, Sarah and I went to a black entrepreneur fair over the weekend. I get most excited about those because I get to wear my favorite t-shirts. I had this white t-shirt that is styled like the Seattle SuperSonics, but with Black Lives Matter. When you look at it from afar, it's like she's got on a classic Sonic shirt, and then you look up close, it's got Black Lives Matter. I only wear that stuff to black events, and if we're not going anywhere on the way there on the way back."
MR. ROGERS TSHIRT
"Oh, yeah, I've got a safe shirt. It's an awesome shirt. It's a t-shirt that has Mr. Rogers his face on it. And it says 'Hey neighbor'. It's funny because my last name is Rodger (spelled differently), but still, but I wear it as a sign that I'm a safe person because everybody loves Mr. Rogers. So I'm the kind of black person that's fine so don't give me a hard time. Mr. Rogers. It works."
What "safe t-shirts" to wear in each region
We synthesized our findings, zeroing in on the concept of literal boundaries between property lines as opportunities for negotiation.
Learning: In between private corporate spaces, and private home spaces, we have public shared space. This is where we can negotiate more equality.
Final directives
Our work ended with a final report of findings, centered around these 12 directives.
Client: Google, on the Openbox consulting team, 2021
Industry: Design strategy, design research, field research, workshop facilitation
Skills used: Graphic design, in person research, stakeholder management
Impact: Advised Google’s construction team
Press: Google Planned New Sustainable High-Rise Campus in Kirkland, (Urbanist, 2022)