Areas
Ever have a problem finding a place to lock your bike? Annette Fierro, Associate Professor of Architecture at PennDesign found the existing bike racks on UPenn’s campus lacking and overall dysfunctional. She joined forces with the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia, PennPraxis and Jenny Sabin, then a lecturer in the Department of Architecture, and now Assistant Professor of Architecture at Cornell University, to search for a better solution. Fierro and Sabin conducted focus groups, hosted an online survey, and researched reported violations on campus as well as existing bike storage systems in use in the United States and abroad. They found that bike stations existed where bike storage wasn’t the only thing provided, but also repair services, coffee, and showers.
Their research inspired a three-step proposal for Penn’s campus that would include revamped spiral racks, lockers and stations. Lockers would be reimagined as mesh fabric systems large enough to house two bikes and woven with photovoltaic cells that would be waterproof. The station would include a conveyor belt for bike storage that would also provide access to a bike accessories store, lockers and showers, an area for repairs and coffee ultimately aiming to be more of a social square than just a transportation station.