Project: B / IAS, or Burien Interim Art Space, is, by its nature, both an improvisation and an improvement. Space left empty, awaiting a future project, was underperforming for its neighbors. This site, once a vacant parking lot/demolished drug store, now plays host to a stimulating and interactive interim art space.

Context: B / IAS is located in Burien, a recently incorporated city adjacent to Sea-Tac Airport roughly 15 miles south of Seattle. The B /IAS site is located on the northwest block of the recently completed first phase of Burien Town Square.

Challenges: Economic changes in 2008-09 have halted development plans around the world, leaving vacant construction sites and challenging communities and property owners with what to do with these empty sites. Activating one such fallow urban infill development site and turning it into a catalyst community space has been the focus of B / IAS.

Ideas: B / IAS confronts the forces of the current economy and turns them inside-out, creating an organic, energetic gathering place for Burien’s citizens and their multi-cultural artistic expressions. B / IAS’s message to the community is that art can be experienced at a human scale and that every citizen can contribute to the identity of their neighborhood.

Resolution: B / IAS has become an inspiration to Burien and to other cities and regions on how to improvise upon languishing construction sites and showcase neighborhood identity. This year-long community experiment ends December 2009, but its impact is indelible.

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