Merge Conceptual Design, an artist collaborative based in Santa Monica, designed and executed a color and graphics scheme for Allen J. Martin Park to unify the park and incorporated a new modular community building and concession stand into the other park facilities. To inform their design process, the artists met with the community to gather input on their color scheme and to collect ideas for artwork imagery. A culminating Community Paint Day attracted over thirty children, teens and adults to spray paint stenciled images onto the park buildings’ circles. To drive the point home, Claudia and Franka made healthy food representing the paint scheme colors. This example of artist-initiated community engagement successfully reinforced the neighborhood’s sense of pride and ownership of the park and serves as a model for future projects.

Merge Conceptual Design’s paint scheme also functions as a creative graffiti abatement strategy. If the buildings were to be tagged, the park manager has the circle stencils and instructions to paint over the tag with a specific color. In this way, the park is empowered to address vandalism with an artistic, proactive approach.

About the Artists: Merge Conceptual Design, founded in 2003, has completed temporary and permanent public art projects for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority and the cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Berlin (Germany) and Vienna (Austria). The Merge team includes Claudia Reisenberger and Franka Diehnelt who are both architecture graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, and currently teach at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Their concept for Allen Martin Park includes a community involvement component and a creative approach to managing graffiti.