Filling in the Spaces: The Riverside Arts Market, Jacksonville

Planners and architects love talking about urban infill as one of the many cures to suburban sprawl. RAM, Riverside Arts Market is a great response to that very issue. It's about the underside of this bridge, the west side of the Fuller Warren that makes this market so exciting. Yes, it's activated by the artists, vendors and visitors, it's planned by the city and the DOT, but the placing the market under this bridge in Riverside was the key. RAM was the brainchild of Riverside Avondale Preservation’s (RAP) founder Dr. Wayne Wood. He saw a similar idea in Portland, Oregon (the new urbanist ideal) and replicated the idea for Riverside.

Bridges are a gathering of the fourfold, where the earth and sky meet. Where mortals and the immortal congregate. What makes a market like this so special is that it's under the bridge. Bridges are like the earth folded over your to protect you from sun and rain. RAM Guarantee's that it will be ten degrees cooler than your backyard or the golf course. I would guarantee that it will be ten times more fun. One of the keys to designing in Florida is dealing with sun and water. Both it's greatest assets and its greatest challenges but being under the bridge and at the intersection of so many paths is a recipe for success.

RAM is also the gathering of so many trajectories, the flow of the St. Johns River, Riverside Avenue, the new Riverwalk, Interstate-95. And then there are the cultural intersection. It's like having a little international fair in Jacksonville every weekend. It requires a bit infrastructure: some electrical outlets, a restrooms, some administrative management, police officers, etc. It's a beautiful collision of so many great places: downtown Jacksonville to the north with office towers and The Florida Times Union; The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens right next door; and Historic Avondale contribute to the walkable nature of the Riverside Arts Market.


Highlights of 2009 - Riverside Arts Market from RAM on Vimeo.

The view from underneath the bridge is spectacular. Seeing the downtown skyline from across the St. John's River framed between the piers put the city in a whole new context. It's not seen from the highway at 60 miles per hour but through a slow reveal, that comes from walking through a crowd of people, the smell of fried food and the sound of entertainment.

The next step is to identify other great places that gather. I'm thinking it should be somewhere in Downtown Jacksonville.