SPARC-It-Place was designed with Oakland nonprofit EBALDC on a vacant lot recently purchase by the developer. The colorful plaza will activate the empty lot and serve as a temporary community amenity for approximately two years, until ground is broken on the site for EBALDC's planned affordable family housing development.

The project provides outdoor vendor stalls for local start-up businesses to share and sell products and also includes a performance stage, play zone, outdoor eating area, and several community art installations.

This active and engaging space is part of a long history of community development work that EBALDC has done to improve health and well-being along the San Pablo Avenue Corridor in Oakland, an area that suffers from limited public open space.

In order to be easily disassembled and reassembled elsewhere in the future, the project was designed using simple, modular components. Vendor stalls were built out of construction scaffolding, the seating/play elements were constructed out of shipping pallets, planters were built with salvaged redwood, and leftover “corn cribs” — sturdy wooden stacks used to store modular dwelling units on construction sites — serve as stage seating.

One of the primary goals of the design was to enliven the site through ample planting and color. We worked with Public Design to create vibrantly colored graphics on scrim panels affixed to the vendor stalls. Facing San Pablo Avenue, a 20-foot scrimmed scaffolding element features the SPARC-It-Place logo and is backlit during night events to create a glowing, “lantern” effect.

Brad Leibin led SPARC-It-Place during his tenure with David Baker Architects.