7 minute read
DAGON SEIKKAN township
Doh Eain (“Our Home”) is multi-discipline restoration and placemaking social enterprise based in Yangon, Myanmar.
In a world of rapid urbanization, Doh Eain endeavor to ensure that cities are places with cultural identity, and that they are livable, inclusive and sustainable. To that end, we preserve heritage, improve public space and organise activities that connect people with places, employing our user-centred and participatory placemaking approach.
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There are over 150 alleyways in downtown Yangon for over 3 decades most of these have been made unusable because of the level of trash. The Alley Garden Project aims to demonstrate the possibility of utilizing wasteland for recreation and social cohesion. Yangon has many kilometers of back alleys, but at present these are solely used as rubbish dumps, breeding pests and diseases. The project aims to demonstrate how Yangon’s many alleyways could be used as clean, active and healthy recreational spaces featuring gardens, street art, and play areas. They also provide a platform to raise awareness about proper trash throwing practices like recycling or composting techniques.
The 5 Alley Garden Projects transformed a trash alleyways into a beautiful and functional community gardens.
before photo of alleyway
alley garden These 5 Alley Garden projects were a collaboration between local community residents, donors (Embassy of Switzerland, CoCa-Cola Myanmar/ Max+, KBZ Bank, Lux-Dev, iMC worldwide), the Yangon City Development Committee and Doh Eain.
alley garden alley garden + 27th street – 28th street (middle block) alley garden: completed + 30th street – Bosonpat street (upper block) alley garden: completed + 101st street – TheinPhyu road (upper block) alley garden: completed + Bosonpat street – 31st street (lower block) alley garden: completed + 31st street – 32nd street (lower block) alley garden: completed + 32nd street – SulePagoda road (lower block) alley garden: postponed
+ Singapore Festival 2018/ public space: completed + The first girl-led park in Myanmar/ public space: completed
artist painting mural wall
community design workshop
community design workshop
community build-day artist painting mural wall alley garden alley garden
alley garden
Singapore Festival 2018
Singapore Festival 2018: bringing Singapore’s street party of the year to the Yangon
Singapore Festival organized by the Singapore Tourism Board. The location was specially selected as the venue to showcase Singapore Festival due to its unique history, heritage and community engagements.
In collaboration with Doh Eain and the Bogalay Zay resident and business community, this annual Festival offers Yangonites a chance to experience the riches of Singapore’s culture through an exciting slate of never-before-seen food, urban design & art, music as well as film activities.
street light point map
trash collection point map
The first girl-led park in Myanmar
zoning plan of the park The first girl-led park in Myanmar
The first girl-led park in Myanmar
The First Girl-Led Park in Myanmar
This project was designed and created by the local community, in particular, girls, who focused on making a safe, beautiful and useful space.
With this project, Doh Eain, supported by SPRING Accelerator, has demonstrated creative design and urban planning techniques that are aimed at the empowerment of adolescent girls.
These girls were involved at every stage of the process, learning new skills along the way including communication, decision making, and creative thinking. They worked well as a team and the result is a beautiful, active, urban environment.
Project Title: Social Seating Project Type: Street Furniture Line Project Stage: Prototype
Responsibilities as the design officer:
+ facilitated community design workshop, interviewed and surveyed to collect data + participated in producing concept designs with Doh Eain’s principles and values + created drawing packages, physical models and prototype to test run
In Yangon, there are a few waiting/ resting/ gathering area in public space with a proper seating and table. Providing social seating can also promote the wellbeing where they can also socialize and encourage social interaction.
Street Furniture Line is inspired by the community’s output from the community workshops, interviews and ocular surveys from where they sit, gather and socialize on the street.
community design workshop
To collectively develop, fabricate and test prototype designs that are inspired by place specific qualities within live projects.
Local craft is a central theme in supporting the emergence of a new design vernacular.
By the marrying of contemporary and Burmese design, the prototypes should be appealing to the both communities for purchase (in project), build days (participatory build) and also buyers (outside of projects).
Project Title: LET’S RIDE Cycling Street Design Project Type: Public Space Design Project Stage: Postponed
Responsibilities as the design officer and community engagemnt officer:
+ developed and managed data collection including design workshop, ocular observation, mapping, stakeholder mapping & management, online/ offline survey and interview to support design processes, and recorded the outputs and analyzed the data + facilitated and lead engagement such as design workshops, exhibition and stakeholder meetings + facilitated volunteer orientation sessions to deliver efficient workshops + designed and developed the space with the cycling community
Doh Eain hosted an event to launch “Let’s Ride”, a platform to improve the mobility of Yangonites across the city and celebrate the many benefits of cycling.
This event included bike-related activities along with a display of the initial designs of a cycling path in Thinganyun township.
This design was co-created by Doh Eain,
Myanmar Cycling Federation, Dutch mobility
experts Goudappel Coffeng, through the support of the Dutch Embassy and the Goudapple Group’s Iganga Foundation, with local government, Y.C.D.C, residents and cyclists.
