Built for Students
SceneMaker was invited to tender for building a set for Limerick City Community Safety Partnership.
The set is for a project called Safety Street.
An Interactive Safety Centre for Transition Year Students; "Safety Street" is an expo of realistic
safety situations which students are invited to navigate, followed up by discussions and Q&A with
representatives from Limerick City Council, the Health Services Executive and An Garda Síochána.
Scenarios:
Short Dark Alley V Long Bright Way Home - Personal Safety.
Life after drugs - Tales from recovering addict.
That's not ASB? - Impact of Anti-Social behaviour.
Clean up that street! - Effects of graffiti & litter on a neighbourhood.
Benefits for The Young Person
- Highlights various personal and community safety issues through interactive scenarios.
- Encourages the young person to consider that they have choices.
- Encourages the young person to be aware of the consequences of their choices.
- Promotes the benefits of taking a positive, active role within communities.
Set construction
The set comprised of 8ft x 4ft flats painted to represent the various scenarios depicted above. There
were 68 flats in total. Building the flats was quite straightforward and painting became the main part
of the project. Two of the scenarios were composed of twenty flats arranged in a box shape with two
entrances. The pictures were in effect a 360° view of a housing estate and a public park. To simplify
the painting of these pieces, flats were assembled in groups of six which were painted as a single
picture.
A similar technique was used in the third scenario which was composed of two elements; a dark alley and
a bright but longer high street. Working in our limited space, we assembled two batches of six flats back
to back. One side would be prepared and have undercoat applied while the artist worked on the other side.
Assembling the whole set was only possible when we arrived on site. Walls were assembled on the floor
and then raised to the vertical.
The following images give an idea of the build and scale of the project:
This is the housing estate and park scene assembled.
Finishing the dark alleyway.
The finished set from the outside.
The project was very successbul and there are plans to run it again in 2011. To that end, the set
has been kept in storage awaiting its next outing.
