North Avenue MARTA Plaza

Fifteen thousand commuters pass through Midtown Atlanta’s North Ave MARTA station every day. Within a half mile of the same public transit station are 3,250 residential units, 1,500 hotel rooms, 7.7 million square-feet of office space, and 1.6 million square-feet of combined institutional, medical, and retail space. And yet, there are no public parks within this radius.

Midtown Alliance, a local non-profit and coalition of business and community leaders dedicated to enhancing urban amenities in Midtown Atlanta, recognized that the plaza outside of the station was perfectly situated for engaging and entertaining commuters. The biggest challenge of working with it was that the brutalist space had a lackluster, monochromatic color scheme that made it uninviting. In turn, it lacked foot traffic. The Alliance knew that the change would require a significant transformation that could attract, engage, and celebrate the community. 

“It’s incredibly accessible, yet very few people spend time there because there is nothing to do or see,” said Ansley Whipple, Midtown Alliance Project Manager for Programming and Activation, before the placemaking process. “By activating it, we hope to make it recognizable as a community asset and inspire people to use it in positive ways. We also hope to enhance the public transit experience and encourage more people to ride MARTA.”

The potential of the space and the determination of the Midtown Alliance team to turn the place around, helped win the organization a Community Placemaking Grant from Project for Public Spaces in 2022. The money would directly fund the design and improvement of the space. Project for Public Spaces’ placemaking team would provide technical assistance in gathering the valuable feedback from the space’s stakeholders.

The Placemaking Process

At Project for Public Spaces, we understand that transportation hubs have the ability to anchor their surrounding neighborhoods. Our joint mission with Midtown Alliance was clear: develop a public space concept that would make it welcoming to pass through and linger, as well as support a wide variety of events and programming, such as meetings and performances. 

In addition to visioning workshops, Project for Public Spaces set up pop-up boards to capture the voices of busy commuters at the MARTA station. On their way to wherever they were headed, many stopped by to share their thoughts, casting their votes with stickers and jotting down ideas on sticky notes. It quickly demonstrated how so many people pass through the space on a regular basis. The community feedback gathered helped guide the recommendations for creating a venue that could be easily utilized by local organizations, performing groups, and businesses for all kinds of events. 

As we considered the support and tools local groups would need in order to utilize the spaces and how to minimize barriers, we focused on the idea of a shipping container that would be customized to serve many purposes—as a focal point, a storage solution, and a stage. 

Additional Funding

Spurred by the $40k Niantic-funded Community Placemaking Grant that provided technical assistance from Project for Public Spaces for community engagement and concept development, Midtown Alliance sought more funding from others. They were able to seek and secure an additional $65k investment from neighboring Norfolk Southern, a freight railway company, who helped turn our concept of incorporating a shipping container, into reality. 

Working with shipping container company Atelier 7, we selected a structure that featured a wide door that would be ideal for engaging with sizable audiences. The interior would act as a stage and its contents could spill out onto the plaza. We also installed a retractable canopy to provide shade and ensured that props and furniture would be securely stored and hidden from public view when not in use. Norfolk Southern’s artist-in-residence Carla Contreras was commissioned to create a mural that stretched across the facade of the MARTA building and spread onto the shipping container, enhancing the space with a dynamic and cohesive look.

The Reveal

In June 2024, Midtown Alliance hosted a launch party for the community that featured food trucks, live music and dance, and a first-hand look at the stage that was once a plain shipping container. As a central gathering point, the container stood out, now wrapped with a vibrant mural that blends into the backdrop of the matching MARTA station building. Titled “Samaras” (meaning closed, one-seeded winged fruits in Spanish), the design shows off beautiful, large maple seeds blowing in the wind. The artist Carla Contreras says the artwork celebrates “the hope, renewal, and energy found in Midtown’s public spaces through artistic expression that elevates the urban experience for everyone.” 

Midtown Alliance is happy to share that their ongoing programming at the North Ave MARTA Plaza includes exercise classes, roundtables, readings, music, and educational gatherings, with goals to add more to celebrate the diverse communities in Midtown Atlanta! 

See the shipping container in action during a recent Pride event in the video linked below, which features an interview with Ansley Whipple on the placemaking process. And be sure to read more about this project in our article, “Placemaking in a Box!”, where we look at the unexpected catalyst of placemaking—the humble shipping container!

Support Project for Public Spaces’ Community Placemaking Grants

Project for Public Spaces’ Community Placemaking Grants enable US-based nonprofits and government agencies to address inequality of access to public places that serve community needs by working directly with local stakeholders to transform spaces or co-create new ones. We do this by providing direct funding, technical assistance, and capacity building facilitated by Project for Public Spaces. Learn more about becoming a Social Impact Partner today.