Presenters Nina Berg and Matthew Boyes-Watson will highlight recent design projects, Safe Supply and Starlight Square, that successfully responded to COVID-19. Safe Supply turned a public courtyard into a COVID-conscious outdoor market to provide local farmers, food producers, and community members with a safe, shopping alternative during the height of the pandemic. Starlight Square transformed a parking lot for cars into a place for people by framing space for arts and cultural performance, economic development, and mutual aid. Both centered the same premise and responded the same question. We knew COVID-19 made it unsafe to be in the public since the beginning of the pandemic, especially indoor space, so we asked, how do we transition the essential parts of our communities and economies outdoors, so services and experiences can continue? For these projects, we used simple, reversible materials to frame space and provide opportunity.

This presentation will share more about our project planning and design process, on-going project evaluation, and plans for how temporary demonstrations like this can become permanent.

Flagg is a design practice that imagines and implements demonstration projects in cities. Principals Nina Berg and Matthew Boyes-Watson are proud Cambridge natives and graduates of Cambridge Rindge and Latin. As Flagg, they have designed and implemented public space and economic development projects, temporary and permanent, in Cambridge and Somerville. Recent projects include Starlight Square and Opportunity, both nationally-recognized projects located in Central Square, Cambridge’s Cultural District.

In addition to public space interventions, their project list reflects the things they like to do and the things they like to think about it, from urban design and architecture to music and Maradona. The company was started as a way to explore and invest in ideas with the potential to alter the course of their neighborhood for the better. Both Berg and Boyes-Watson believe everything comes back to the idea of place. They believe the city itself is the ultimate sandbox, offering endless opportunity to learn and play.