The idea of PopUP presents a number of challenges especially for a project that thrives for creativity but still remain grounded within feasible limits. After completing a preliminary project where we were assigned the task of mapping the movement of an ink droplet into water, a fascination grew out of a system that would be able to start off small but expand into an extremely complex form. With that the idea of creating an expandable, highly customizable and interactive system was born.

Biking in North American cities has become a highly viable method of transportation especially within very urban settings. Cities such as Paris or Amsterdam have had this culture for many years and possesses a level of public awareness of bikers that our cities aren't nearly as sensitive to. A study done by the Toronto Star back in 2008 mapped a total of 1,068 bike related accidents in the GTA within a given week, nearly 110 intersections reported having more than one accident.

The hope was to create an event that would raise awareness, stir curiosity and encourage users to take part in this Bike Hub Revolution in a city where biking culture is on the rise. The PopUP would be installed at key intersections that are the most prone to accidents to promote awareness for bikes.

Within the bike hub the decision was made to focus on 3 key programs to service the community which were bike storage, bike repair and bike cafe.

As the design of the bike hub started there were a number of factors that were decided to keep the project rooted within a relatively feasible but still creative position. Because of the temporary nature of the pop up the bike hub must be

(a) Lightweight and Modular and can be assembled and disassembled in a very sort amount of time with as little people as possible

(b) The system would have to fit within the width of a typical car parking space but occupy as much length as the system would require at the given time

The initial intention was to derive the shape of the project and the units through parametrics using the range or parameters of bike shapes and types and the 3 programs that was decided upon. Later, upon doing various studies of bike dimensions and elements as well as sections that analyze the dimensions required for bike circulation and storage, a nominal dimension was found which became the basis of the design for a major part of the project. However, the use of parametrics was used in the design of the canopy which would be able to expand and contract relative to the size of the bike hub at a given time.

The Unit was designed to be the main interactive element that was responsible mainly for the bike repair configuration as well as the individual cafe configuration. All the elements that would be required to service or deply any of the programs would be found in a container which was linked to the unit and can be used at any time.

The Expander in the element that is in charge of deployment dimensions where users can approach and expand the system to create any of the programs he or she may will to use.

The Canopy simply acts as an overhang which sheilds the system from the elements. Segments of the canopy can be pre-assembled and can be attached and added to the system at any time.

A range of deployment sizes were also considered with different programs dictated by the site and location of where the bike hub would be deployed. The largest and most interesting deployment was able to house bike parking and bike repair, but also a small cafe and seating area where bikers would be able to remain on their bikes while enjoying a coffee and talking with other fellow commuters or bikers. If one were to imagine this system in a matrix we imagined our POP up can also begin to be the highly adaptive and flexible framework of an outdoor market or festival stalls.