FRESHMOBILE
A sanitation truck is re-imagined into a mobile visitor center.
ORGANIZATION
Freshkills Park Alliance
SERVICES
Experience Strategy
Content Development
Content Writing
YEAR
2014
—
Once the largest landfill in the world, Freshkills has become a poster child of conservation and revitalization in New York City. As it is redeveloped into Freshkills Park, a 30-year effort, Freshkills Park Alliance offers visitors sneak peeks through educational programming. To further their mission, they issued an RFP for a teaching tool that could be taken to classrooms around the 5 boroughs, highlighting key features of the site and its transformation. But how could we make this an unforgettable experience for New York City kids?
Authentic large-scale artifact meets immersive storytelling.
With architect Dan Meredith, I came up with Freshmobile, a garbage truck-turned-visitor center powered by methane gases, and a living example of reinvention, innovative technology and smart design. Mobile, kid-friendly and flexible, it quickly morphs into a theater experience, presentation tool and object-driven exhibition, communicating the environmental, scientific and social impacts of Freshkills Park to a contemporary audience.
A pop-up educational experience.
New York City has the largest sanitation department in the world, with a fleet of more than two thousand collection trucks. An instant placemaker, Freshmobile offers the public the opportunity to explore the bowels of this urban icon in three experience zones: theater, gallery and lab.
Theater: 180 degree projection.
A wrap-around media system creates an immersive delivery platform for linear and/or interactive content. Projection blending software ensures a seamless, unified image. The theater can also be used as a presentation tool for teachers and experts, and an instant classroom.
Gallery: A multi-sensory approach to urban archaeology.
In the gallery section of the Freshmobile, visitors unearth Freshkill’s social and environmental stories. Physical and digital displays developed in partnership with the Education program cater to different learning styles and audience groups. Smell raw and treated leachate, touch materials and different soils, see discarded historic artifacts, hear interviews with experts and discover what your trash says about you!
Lab: Engineering in plain sight.
Freshmobile is powered by landfill gas produced by Freshkills Park. A microcosm of the Park, it makes underlying science and technology principles visible and easy to understand. A sound-dampened window reveals an active natural gas generator and sensory exhibits engage all visitors.
Easy to set up and ADA-compliant.
A compact Freshmobile parks on the right side of a New York City street. Next, Freshmobile’s right side folds out and into bleacher-style seating. Finally, a tensile, lightweight semispherical structure is attached to the truck, increasing the experience footprint and capacity. Visitors maintain a safe distance from moving traffic at all times.