Ribbon Parklet

Parklets have a positive impact on pedestrian traffic, streetlife and nearby businesses.

Surrounded by air purifying plants, this parklet uses repurposed materials to create a mini urban park for people to relax and enjoy the city around them.

Using 2 standard parking bays, this sustainable parklet provides the following functions:

• 2 secure bicycle parking spaces
• Seating for several people
• Bug hotel to promote urban biodiversity
• Way finding – A “you are here” sign with nearby points of interests
• Plant species which clean the air
• Sustainable urban drainage

The “ribbon”, which is the central feature of the parklet design, connects all the functions together as a single sculpture.

The ribbon consists of 7 prefabricated components which are made from exterior birch plywood panels. They are economically fabricated using a timber frame as the core structure.

This modular approach will allow for efficient delivery, assembly on site & relocation in the future. The sustainable design of the project also promotes local biodiversity by providing an attractive habitat for insects & birds in an urban environment. There is also a bug hotel integrated into the parklet, which was inspired by a leaf pattern. The bug hotel will provide over sixty types of “bug rooms”. These rooms will be filled with recycled materials such as bamboo, tubes, pipes, straw, hay, leaves, drilled timber, stones, corrugated paper etc… The idea is to create various habitats for different insects.

The base of the parklet is designed to behave as a sponge, holding as much water as possible from road surface water runoff. By creating small cuts along the sole edges of the base components, this will allow run-off water to seep into the soil bed at the base. Aquatic plant species are also planted along the road edge to behave as sustainable urban drainage.