Housed within an insulated shipping container, ICAN 2 LABS is a pilot program to promote racial equity by offering state-of-the-art technologies and learning opportunities to underserved youth of Harambee and Riverwest in a digital lab offering free wireless internet access and tablets. It is a learning environment designed to supplement youth educational resources after school and on the weekends, and a hub for community liaisons to discuss public space interventions through methods and means of “all pulling together” to reclaim the neighborhood’s namesake.
ICAN 2 LABS is constructed out of an upcycled shipping container and features a number of salvaged materials including discarded railroad ties and pallets as well as passive design strategies as a model of its own initiation. The container’s design was derived from a series of “inside-the-box” workshops that included 20 individuals ranging in age, color, and expertise. It is sited on the artery at the Beerline Trail, adjacent to where Vienna Ave intersects the corridor.
This summer, ICAN 2 LABS is available for group field trips and open lab time. Beintween has also designated it as the hub for feedback and design of the artery itself, offering instruction in design techniques and prompting creative inquiry into residents’ desired features in the area’s newest city park.
