Designer John Locke, the creative mind who brought New York City the phone booth libraries, announced his latest urban experiment: the Inflato Dumpster. The idea is to repurpose a New York City dumpster as an inflatable mobile laboratory that's free and open to the public. According to Locke, the bigger picture is meant to counter the way New York's public space is being "increasingly privatized and commodified" by creating a space that encourages public interaction and hosts community workshops. Locke recently launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to fund the project and make it a reality for five days this fall.
Aside from allowing the project to have the super cool name of Inflato Dumpster, the pieces were chosen for a reason: "The structure's faceted shape, materials and unexpected location will all combine to make for a fun, dynamic addition to the streetscape with the inflated structure evoking the blow-up castles of street festivals and the long history of big inflatable space from AntFarm to Spacebuster. We've been seeing a lot of construction dumpsters on the streets in the neighborhood, they symbolize change but also an opportunity for us to create something new."
The blow-up structure will be made from gold and silver mylar punched with small halls, so it will reflect light on the street while also letting sunlight inside. The interior will be lined with a clear, biodegradable plastic, and the highest point will rise 28 feet. The dumpster is 23' long by 8' wide, so the whole space will be about 2000 cubic feet. Locke isn't yet sure where it will be parked, but he's looking for sites that will have "the greatest impact."
&183; Inflato Dumpster [Kickstater]
· Inflato Dumpster [official]
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