Fort Wayne Observed and Mitch Harper invite you to design a bike rack

Fort Wayne Observed and City Council Member Mitch Harper announce an invitation for you to design a bike rack to suggest for replacement of the current rack on the north side of the City-County Building.

The aim is to replace the old 'comb' design that less than graciously occupies the space with something that is compatible and complementary with the architectural design of the City County Building.  The new bike rack should also do something that the current design does not - support the frame of any bike locked to it.

The FWOb/Harper design contest has a huge and tantalizing prize for the best design - $75.  If others wish to augment that award, we'll welcome it. (Update: 8:25 PM - Scott and Brian Spaulding of the weblog What's Going Down(town) have added an added an additional $25 to the award. Thanks.)

But here's the other part - the design selected will be fabricated with private funds.  That's my pledge.

Bike racks are an amenity for cities that are amenable for private funding.  Each one is small enough that individual donors can band together to support some cool design.  Taxpayers needn't be asked to foot bills for things that private folks can accomplish within reach.  This is one of those things.

I spoke with County Commissioner Linda Bloom; she looks forward to the types of ideas that artists, designers, architects, and bicycle enthusiasts can create.

Obviously, any decision will ultimately be in the hands of the Allen County Board of Commissioners who oversee the building and its grounds.  But something has to be better than the galvanized "old-school" rack that has been pressed into duty on the north plaza.

I'll have more details later. The design's submittal date is October 15th.  You may email the designs to mtchharper@aol.com or you can mail them to 5207 Hopkinton Drive, Fort Wayne IN 46814. 

Please refer to the design guidelines from the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals which can be downloaded here.

Comments

[Michael Kerney]

Are we allowed to steal any ideas like I posted about on my blog?

nycityracks.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/finally-the-finalists/

Ed. note: Michael, you may draw your inspiration from wheresoever you wish. Be mindful of intellectual property considerations, though. (e.g. Everett White's purloined photo)

http://everett-white.com/2008/07/16/copyrights-and-wrongs/

[Eric Fetcho]

Mitch,
I am under the impression that the rack has to be freestanding (or bolted into the ground?)

Or are you even welcoming ideas that would require holes being drilled or concrete being poured?

Thanks!

Ed. note: The answer is - freestanding. The rack would need to be secured by its own weight on the surface. No holes in the pad.

The surface on which the rack resides is actually a poured concrete pad with aggregate embedded in the surface. It rests on supports over the flat roof of the basement structure underneath it.

[fwbikecommuter]

Great Idea!
Yeah that rack is somewhat obsolete.
Mine is the blue one in the front.
We'll see what we can come up with.
A while back I remember hearing that they were going to put bike lockers somewhere down there on the plaza. Haven't heard anything lately though. I'll follow up with some folks and see what I can find out for you.

Ed. note: Fwbikecommuter - I would assume that you are a city or county employee given your IP address.

FWOb is posting your comment in order to comment on the "bike locker" question. My understanding is that the city administration has talked to the County Commissioners preliminarily about bike lockers but it is also my understanding that the request is centered on government employees and not the public.

While there is some discussion about these being outside structures I think the discussion is turning toward possibly utilizing city owned spaces within the parking garage of the City-County building.

I am not involved in those discussions and it doesn't impact this modest effort.

[Bob Gaul]

Heck, I kind of like the bike racks already in place.
All they need is some COLOR to them.
they're functional...can't ask more from a bike rack than THAT, can we?
(but please...none of those "slinky" coil spring fiascos I've seen)

B.G.

Ed. note: We are talking about one rack on the City County Building plaza. I am going to see to the private funding of it. The rack would be a gift to the county from those contributing to its design and fabrication.

The current rack at the City-County building does have a drawback in design - it doesn't support the frame of the bikes. That's why you see bikes locked to light poles, sign posts and other structures that can give a bike more than support than just at the wheel.

I think racks can add a design element to places where people are tethering bikes.

However, I think that they are of a size and cost that means public bike racks lend themselves to private funding. One of my points in this competition is to kickstart (although that is a motorcycle metaphor) other efforts to privately encourage and privately fund other public bike racks.

[Paul Spoelhof]

Thanks for kickstarting this Mitch. In the interest of full disclosure I will benefit personally benefit from a replacement rack (provided it's a design improvement) as I would park there several times a week.

The current rack has serious functional limitations; fenders don't fit into the slots, slots are notorious for bending rims, it can't accomodate more than 8 to 10 bikes without becoming overcrowded and that damages bikes and/or frustrates riders, it doesn't accomodate use of a U-style lock without a cable or some other inferior lock.

With these limitations and the increased use of the rack lately, I have taken to parking on the green spring; a functionally and aesthetically fantastic design.

[Mike Harvey]

... could find a spot for the old bike rack if it needs a place to go.

[Michael Kerney]

We'll have to see if any of them raced to the patent office, then... ;)

Though for something that utilitarian, I don't know if patent would even fly...

[Zachary Benedict]

The one thing I will comment on is the mission to design something that is “compatible and complementary with the architectural design of the City/County Building.” The interesting thing is I think that is EXACTLY what the existing rack does. It is brutal, utilitarian, and has put some sense of idealistic form over any rational function. In that regard, I think the building and the current rack are one in the same.

As a side note I would also like to challenge the ability to anchor to the concrete pad. This is a very common condition for several “off the shelf” bicycle racks and even a preferred method by some vendors. Not proposing anything invasive… just a couple concrete screws here and there that could always be filled upon its removal – just a thought. Thanks again for throwing this idea out for everyone to consider.