Sounding Boards Garden: Our Process
Preliminary Rendering by Eastlake Studio
Over the course of the summer of 2021, we worked hand in hand with Redmond and Harmony Community Church to construct a memorial garden and permanent site for the Sounding Boards murals created in 2020.
Sounding Boards Garden, part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, opened September 18th in North Lawndale. Now that the gates are open, we are excited to share more about our design process, and how we made this project happen in just a few months.
The process began with a team of Eastlakers from various design and nonprofit backgrounds. We constructed a plan to treat the project like any other — complete with space plans, renderings, a project schedule, a budget, marketing, etc.
From the start it was a collective effort embraced by our entire studio as both an architectural/design project and community-focused endeavor.
In mid July, we began cleaning up the site with many volunteers helping to clear the area for next steps. We went through gallons and gallons of natural weed killer!
In early August, we took the boards out of storage and transported them to Harmony in order to prep them for their new home. We used 23 murals in the final design, and left spots for new murals to be added in the future.
Later that month, construction began in a fury as we geared up for the mid-September deadline. This meant hours of labor from our studio members, Redmond, and InterOcean Cabinet Company.
Check out the timelapse video above of the stage being constructed!
The progress continued during the first weekend of September when 800 lbs of mulch was delivered. It took a large group of volunteers to scoop up the mulch in wheelbarrows and bucks, and spread it across the site. And of course, we celebrated with pizza and beer!
The final volunteer weekend consisted of finishing touches, and the addition of plants donated by Chicago Botanic Garden.
In addition to seeing the design and construction of Sounding Boards Garden through by the opening of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, we also raised more than $55,000 to fund the process in two months!
