Interlock Bike Rack: Collaborating with community partners to bring a functional sculpture to life
When we say, “design in everything,” we mean we are looking for opportunities to take form and function to new levels through creative visualization and exploration. Take the simple bike rack, which needs to provide an easy, accessible, and clean space for people to secure and store their bikes. But the simple bike rack is also one of the first things people see when they arrive at a building or space.
Enter the 2023 Center for the Arts’ bike rack competition. We entered the competition to create a bike rack design that was also a functional sculpture, an artistic and well-designed piece that invited interaction and play. Our final bike rack was something everyone in the community could engage with, from toddlers to grandparents. A piece that made the looker pause and wonder.
After the competition, we needed to find a home for the bike rack. Luckily the Jackson Hole Land Trust’s R Park was a perfect opportunity. R Park is a 40-acre nonprofit public park along the Snake River. The park is a year-round community space that celebrates outdoor recreation and interaction with the natural world.
GYDE had worked with the Land Trust on the design of the welcome structure and caretaker’s unit in R Park. For this project, we worked with Quality Steel Inc. and JH Builders to bring the bike rack design to life.
We named the finished project Interlock because of its use to ‘lock’ or hold bike racks, but also as a reminder that this was a collaborative project where architects, steel fabricators, and builders worked together to create something new. Every project requires collaboration because design is just the beginning. Beautiful projects are created when all of the partners understand the visions and goals and work together to bring a solid form out of an idea. We loved working with local partners on something for our whole community. These projects foster a greater sense of place. Today, Interlock greets R Park visitors, providing a place to store bikes while they explore, or even just rest. It is more than just a bike rack or an art piece - it creates a way for people to interact with each other and explore their connection to nature.
There is always a place for design, always room for innovation, and always time to work together to improve our communities. GYDE is honored to work with our community partners on projects large and small.