Inhabitat


GRASS WHEEL

by Sarah Rich and Jill Fehrenbacher, 07/31/06
Photo credit: Andre Forget
grass wheel, dalhousie school of architecture

If you’ve gotta run the wheel, you might as well do it in bare feet. Many of us are so busy being good little hamsters that we never have face time with green space. A group of students from Dalhousie School of Architecture — David Gallaugher, Kevin James, and Jacob Jebailey — decided to remedy this problem with a street-ready grass-lined wheel.

The wheel is of simple construction–just plywood, mesh, fishing line, and sod–but it’s loaded with meaning. On one hand, it’s a playful protest to the lack of public green space in Halifax. On the other hand, using sod for their material offers a deeper critique on urban greenery.



Sure, the grass feels good on the feet (you wouldn’t want to landscape this thing with cacti), but only in North America would a lawn with the personality of a military haircut be considered a traveling “garden.” Does rolling out a grass carpet really make a place more “natural?”

This project reminds us of Rebar’s PARK(ing), which turned metered parking spaces into temporary parks. Both concepts point out not only on our lack of interesting green space, but also our lack of time to enjoy them. We’re huge fans of urban intervention as a means of shaking up normalcy and calling for a change.

via: Good; and previously posted at Treehugger

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36 Responses to “GRASS WHEEL”

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fantastic- i live in nyc and would love to have the wheel of grass for my dogs and i! bernadette

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carole Says:

i love bioneers, artists and canadians.

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[KwZ] Says:

That’s a very good sick idea… imo

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[...] If you’ve gotta run the wheel, you might as well do it in bare feet. Many of us are so busy being good little hamsters that we never have face time with green space. A group of students from Dalhousie School of Architecture decided to remedy this problem with a street-ready grass-lined wheel. » [...]

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Hi.
I shot that photo of the grass wheel in Halifax. After getting many legit emails aksing to either post it or buy the photo i decided to do a quick google on “grass wheel”. I was disappointed to see it in so many places without credit. Don’t get me wrong i think photos are meant to been seen but all i ask as do many other visual journailist is credit. A name to the photo. Not hard to do really when you put in context the fact that one has to “steal” the photo on the web which takes time so simply adding a credit would be nice. Of course going to correct path and asking permission might be too hard in the day and age of instant clicking.
Andre Forget
Halifax

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Nick Says:

Might be a little difficult to see where you’re going. ?? lol

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Kevin Says:

How does one turn? Or does one just roll over any obstructions such as buildings, cars, people, small animals . . . .

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Nathan Says:

If gas prices go up any higher… I’m getting one.

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As one of the students who worked on the project I am extremely indebted to Andre Forget for the brilliant photograph that he took. I have a great appreciation for his profession. however I am wondering where credit is given on this website and others to the four of us who created the installation without which there would be no photograph or discussion. In addition to myself there are David Gallaugher, Kevin James, and Jacob Jebailey. Cheers

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[...] looking for some green space? A group of students from Dalhousie School of Architecture — decided to fix this with a street-ready grass-lined wheel. god, if only i had this in my office! (via) Tag Me:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

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xxtashaxx Says:

dats funny lol if you gunna run in a big wheel lol you might as well use grass lol it
luv ya’s tasha xxxxxxx

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xxtashaxx Says:

ohh yer i want one CRY
WERE DO YOU GET THEM FROM LOL
LUV YA’S

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[...] First, there was the wheel, then there were cities, then there was concrete, then there was no grass, now there is the Green Grass Wheel. [...]

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Belz Says:

That is genius… I live in montreal but right now i´m visiting Colombia… And i tell you a wheel of grass here would be a boom! wow genius!
Cheers!
Dan.

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I think that the wheel is coo; bbut I personally would never use such a contraption
The parking space I love and wish that I could get more info on
This parking spot idea would seem to draw more attention to the need for green space
Daniel Stone
CATcoDsigns

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Kate Says:

omfg I saw this guy on my vacation! xD

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Kate Says:

Oh, and P.S. That wheel doesn’t work as well as you’d think. It’s not smooth running at all, it…. wiggles a bit, if thats what you’d call it, but it’s still pretty neat

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Andrew Says:

This is an excellent invention,though how owuld you see and also you could put it in your wrk if u just want to walk for a little by attaching some sort of hinges or something so it would still rotate but in place.

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i see that someone named asher listed the three other people that worked on the project WITH him and i see you went back and edited so that their names were in there, but i believe you forgot the person who mentioned the other three students. you should be crediting FOUR students plus one other person who took the photograph. Looks like their name is Asher DeGroot. Crediting people is important.

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tinny Says:

haha great stuff

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jeanne Says:

word! to your mother… earth!

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I’ll second that from Katie Oshea…. after you edited your blog to put OUR names in, you have left mine out and it never appears in connection with the project. Its been a good six months but I figure there is still time to get the credit for this project right… ASHER DEGROOT, David Gallaugher, Kevin James and Jacob Jebailey. Photo Andre Forget…. cheers

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livia Says:

Interesting project. I’d like to publish this on my website but I’ll give a link to your site to:p hope it’s ok. 10X

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Joanna Says:

hey this is cool .

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Joanna Says:

gabby i beat you to a second comment on this wonderful grassy page.

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Gabrielle Says:

hahahahahahaha the guys cools

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[...] just came across this via Inhabitat (so those of you who are all “up-to-the-minute” on the internet are rolling your eyes) [...]

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[...] inhabitat : If you’ve gotta run the wheel, you might as well do it in bare feet. Many of us are so busy [...]

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[...] Pictured: A lack of green urban spaces prompted a group from Dalhousie School of Architecture — Asher deGroot, David Gallaugher, Kevin James, and Jacob Jebailey — to create a whimsical artistic response: a grassed walking-wheel, which hints at sculptural possibilities for turf on every angle. This (and other marvellous photos) was taken by photojournalist André Forget. Pic sourced from Inhabitat. [...]

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Xstamper Says:

That’s cool. I need one..

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Might be a little difficult to see where you’re going. ??

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how do you turn the thing?

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Ella Bee Says:

This is cute. I love it. It put a smile on my face today.

http://www.newurbanismblog.com

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This gives new meaning to “turning the corner” for the green movement. I suppose, if this is what our best and brightest are working on, then turning that corner will take some time.

http://www.mygreenscene.com

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[...] Asher DeGroot, David Gallaugher, Kevin James, and Jacob Jebailey, Walking in the Park. Photo credit: Andre Forget (via) [...]

 

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