A SUMMER OF DESIGN: WORLDBUILDING AT THE SCALE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD

In the summer of 2023, DS4SI's first season of Design Gym turned Mary Hannon Park in Dorchester into an open air studio. Neighbors gathered to answer one big question: what would it be like to redesign the place you live?

For five weeks, the corner of Dudley Street, in Boston, across from the Kroc Center became a hub of making, dancing, and dreaming. Guided by DS4SI's belief that everyone is a designer, the season offered free workshops and activations that invited residents to learn new skills, connect with each other, and reimagine the stretch of Dudley Street leading to Uphams Corner. The season drew hundreds of participants.

The program unfolded on two tracks. On Friday evenings, Friday Night Life asked what a nightlife built on joy, belonging, and fun could look like in Boston. Co-produced with the community, each night became a small experiment in answering that question, from a Design Gym pop-up and an anime watch party with Boston Anime Friday Crew to an Afrofuturist premiere hosted by the Afrofuturist Book Club. The series closed with Capezios & Overalls, a night of house dancing and games.

Saturday afternoons belonged to Worldbuilding Saturdays, where local makers led hands on workshops that paired practical skills with a larger goal: using design to reimagine the neighborhood. Participants restored sneakers, built puppets, made cyanotype prints with sunlight, learned to sew, screenprinted their own designs, crafted kites that took flight over the park, and tried their hand at woodworking. Along the way, DS4SI also joined the DSNI Multicultural Festival, celebrating alongside DSNI and Stiggity Stacks.

That first summer laid the groundwork for what Design Gym would become.

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