Our nation’s urban areas contain miles of chainlink fencing, guarding our property lines and defining a perceptual edge between public and private lands. Chainlink fencing, although very resistant to vertical forces, often falls victim to horizontal forces, resulting in bulges, creases and other deviations. Although unsightly, these deformations hold hidden potential: they blur the perceptual edge offered by the fence and thicken the assumed line between public and private lands. fencePOCKET is designed to create new public space within these fence-scape deviations.

To work well in these locations, fencePOCKET is designed to be:

SUSTAINABLE: fencePOCKET is constructed entirely of reclaimed tarp, becoming a consumer of waste, not a generator of it. The resiliency of this tarp, a deficit if placed within a landfill, becomes a huge asset when used to create fencePOCKET, adding durability and longevity to the construction.

LEGAL: fencePOCKET can be tailored to any deformation, eliminating any legal issues associated with trespassing into either public or private lands.

ELASTIC: fencePOCKET can be built anywhere a fence-scape deviation exists: any city, any country, any place. 

EFFICIENT: fencePOCKET uses a simple weave construction – a process that allows even the smallest sections of reclaimed tarp to tap into the strength of existing fences.  

USEFUL: fencePOCKET can accommodate a wide range of uses, including fencePOCKET PARK \[public lands are vanishing], fencePOCKET GARDEN \[the average American meal travels about 1500 miles], fencePOCKET FREE STORE \[Americans deposit 56 tons of trash into landfills every year, around one-third of which is related to new purchases], fencePOCKET BENCH \[US cities are quickly removing benches to combat public sleeping], fencePOCKET COT \[there are currently over 650,000 people in the US without shelter]

OPEN-SOURCE: fencePOCKET is completely open source, created wherever a fence-scape deviation exists (open-site) by anyone who would like to take possession of wasted space (open-architect/contractor), programmed by whoever has the desire to realize its utility (open-developer) and occupied by whoever desires to do so (open-user).    

EXHIBITIONS include: “RIMMEA: Materials and Manufacturing for Extreme Affordability,” The Design Gallery at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. (2011); “Kickin’ Back,” Philadelphia Art Alliance Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2011); and “Small Architectures, Big Landscapes,” The Sheldon Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana, The Design Gallery at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, The Goldstein Museum Of Design, St. Paul, Minnesota, The Design  Gallery, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, The Design Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2010-2011).

PUBLICATIONS include works by: The Design Altruism Blog (May 5, 2011) and The Architectural Research Centers Consortium (2011).

FUNDING SUPPORT: The International Design Clinic and smallBIG.