TYLER, Texas — Fitzpatrick Architects and the City of Tyler are using a pop-up installation to raise awareness about bus stop design, public transit, and downtown Tyler.
"I think there is a lot that can be done for our public transit system," Mary Alice Guidry said. " And a lot of it is just changing the perception for riding the bus."
They are asking the community to stop and take a selfie in the pop-up structure and post on social media using the hashtag #busstopselfie and follow @fitzpatrickarchitects.
"With this project, it's kind of a lets create some hype about riding the bus," Guidry said. "And let's have some fun while doing it."
The build began Monday morning and will be up for the next two weeks. It took about four to five hours to build the project.
"Our team actually started designing back at the beginning of March and we had a really quick turnaround to produce our design," Guidry said. "We spent a lot of hours you know, hashing through the concepts and the designs and making sure that we were actually being able to, you know, give the user a good experience."
This project, designed by a team at Fitzpatrick Architects was in response to “Build a Better Bus Stop Competition, FD:19” in Dallas and won first place against designers in the metroplex. The design was judged by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and a panel of judges.
The project rules stated that it had to be completely digitally fabricated. The team designed the project using four sheets of plywood cut on a C&C router, some at the innovation pipeline.
The project pieces are integrated and cut so that no fasteners, screws or nails are needed.
"I think it's going to get a lot of people talking about it." Director of Transit Leroy Sparrow said. "I think social media is going to give it a big boost."