Summers in Phoenix are notoriously scorching … and now, they’re stretching into the fall. Last summer, we went nearly four months straight without seeing high temperatures even dip into the double digits.
So, this summer, we’re taking a deeper look at something that can help us mitigate that torturous heat: Shade. From planting trees to building structures, we’re trying to figure out how we can live more comfortably in these intense conditions. We’re calling the series Throwing Shade.
Today, let’s talk about shade structures. But, not just any shade structures. Let’s talk about public art — and turning it into functioning shade. In another hot city not too far from here, they’re calling it “beautiful shade.”
The Palm Springs City Council approved its first public art/shade structure and the path to approve it was revealing. How do you create shade and art? Phoenix has tried to do it. So have lots of other cities around the country.
Palm Springs Post reporter Kendall Balchan talked with The Show about how it went down in her city.
Full conversation
KENDALL BALCHAN: Palm Springs had 83 days last year where the temperature hit at least 110 degrees, and six days were over 120 degrees.
LAUREN GILGER: Wow.
BALCHAN: So, yeah, a very urgent need for more shade, really, in whatever form it takes. And this idea of beautiful shade came forward, I think, about two years ago. That's when the Public Arts Commission for Palm Springs started pursuing the idea.
And the goal was to create attractive public art that is also functional and provides some much needed shade. And the Commission's thinking is that public art and what a city chooses to display is really a statement of values. And making these these designs both attractive and functional makes a statement that the city is invested in protecting folks from the sun and also keeping the city attractive.
GILGER: So, I mean, obviously we are familiar here in Phoenix with incredibly hot temperatures, but Palm Springs is a little different. It's smaller and it's such a tourism town, right. Like does the increasing heat there, is it affecting tourism?
BALCHAN: Yeah, absolutely. I was born and raised here, and I remember summers decades ago where you, so you could roll a bowling ball down Main Street. There were no cars. Absolutely. It's a resort town. So the town would shut up during the summer. Restaurants would close and it was really vacant. But come COVID, people even started to visit during the summer.
But again, that's kind of dwindling down as people remember how hot it gets in Palm Springs. So definitely part of the motivation for the city is not just the residents, but also keeping the temperature comfortable for our poor visitors, especially from Canada, who definitely are not used to this heat.
GILGER: Yes, absolutely. OK, so trying to create this idea of public art and shade, we've seen this happen in other cities around the country. There have been attempts at it here in Phoenix as well as some temporary projects that are in the works now, but there's a lot to consider.
Tell us a little bit about the discussions in Palm Springs, as this kind of idea came about a few years ago, as you mentioned. I mean, Palm Springs is an artsy town, right?
BALCHAN: Totally. Yeah, and aesthetics are extremely important to the city and architecture and art and all things. So that's why it took so many years to get this project kind of going. So part of the consideration was, of course, aesthetics. And that's why one of the projects that was selected, it's called Parkside Gossip, which evokes Slim Aarons’ iconic Palm Springs photograph Poolside Gossip, with these yellow and white umbrellas that also kind of look like flowers.
So that was a huge consideration. And also it being effective and not, you know, being taken down by the wind or being able to be graffitied really easily or kids clambering on it. So all of those usual considerations as well as scalability, they were discussing once we get these built come October of this year, once they're built, can we scale them up? Can we scale them down to, you know, a little version of Parkside Gossip, maybe over a water fountain and a park versus a big 13 foot tall sculpture?
GILGER:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So what else has Palm Springs considered along these lines? Like art is a really interesting way to look at it. But I mean, have they tried trees, sails, things like that? I mean, as it's getting hotter, we're all thinking about these things, right?
BALCHAN: Yeah. So those shade canopies and sails have been installed mostly over the city's playground equipment, of course, so our kids don't get third degree burns from metal playground equipment. And then the question of trees comes up a lot when folks hear about these alternative shade structures.
People wonder why you spend so much money and time fabricating something, when nature has provided us with the perfect shade structure in the form of a tree, and it has the benefit of reducing CO2. So why bother with all of this?
And it sounds great. And honestly, it's kind of what I thought before I learned more. But as soon as you dig a little deeper, you learn how tree roots interact with underground infrastructure like power and water and sewer, in addition to the water that's used to keep all those trees alive.
So this engineered shade is definitely in the toolkit of the city and other cities, of course, like Phoenix to to keep things cool.
GILGER: Interesting. So talk a little bit about the selection process and this project that was chosen. Describe it for us.
BALCHAN: Yeah it was really rigorous. It was, you know, enjoyable to watch. As much as commission meetings can be enjoyable, I think there were something like definitely over 20 submissions, and a lot of them were nature-based.
And the commission was deciding both on aesthetics and how effective is this shade. They really liked this one. It was, I think, a couple condors kind of in a circle. So it looked like they were circling above you and they really liked it, but they thought that it didn't really offer enough shade. So that was struck from the list. Yeah. So there was a robust discussion of aesthetics and give and take of what's attractive versus what's not attractive.
But they were almost unanimous on this one from the very, very beginning with the yellow and white umbrellas and the nod to Poolside Gossip. So that was an easy pick for them.
And then the second decision, it's called Dragonfly Bench. So that is basically going to have three little seats. And dragonfly wings will provide the shade. And it's just very whimsical. And you can just see kids being drawn towards it, hopefully not climbing it, but being drawn towards it in an attractive, colorful way.
GILGER: Yeah, so broadly there, Kendall, you said you're born and raised in Palm Springs. How has the increasing heat changed life there?
BALCHAN: I think people just become more insular and the world just starts to shrink to your house, your apartment, that little bit of time that you walk to your car and your skin feels like it's frying, and then the walk to your workplace or grocery store. And the town just kind of comes alive once the sun sets. It's still hot. It's well over 100 degrees. You can still feel the heat radiating from the ground, but at least you can go outside without your skin frying.
So I think that it's just kind of shrunk people's lives, and they feel like they have to lock everything down just to be safe.
GILGER: Yeah, we can definitely relate to that here.
BALCHAN: Yeah.
GILGER: So this is the inaugural shade public art project there in Palm Springs. And it's not up yet. But as I mentioned, we're seeing kind of similar ideas of combining shade and functionality with public art and with aesthetics in other parts of the country and of the world.
What are you hearing from the public in response to this? Like, is this something that seems like it will be scaled up as you said it? It may be able to be.
BALCHAN: Yeah, the commission and the City Council are both super excited by these designs and the idea of scalability. And like I said, when something like these alternative shade structures gets introduced, the first comment on Facebook is always, why not trees?
So that's kind of the initial gut reaction that people have. But Palm Springs is such an artistic city, and we have so much public art already that having new pieces that are colorful, that nod to the city's midcentury modern aesthetics and are also functional, I think people are going to be really excited.
