STORY: Oliners Help Design Teen Oasis in a Cambridge Shade Desert

What began as an external partner project pitch in Olin’s Designing Resources for Empowerment and Making (DREAM) course, taught by Amon Millner, professor of computing and innovation, became a broad, community-supported customizable structure for providing shade for local teens during the scorching heat of summer in the city.

A platform with covers above it held up by metal poles. The white ring lights up at night. There are people throughout the photo talking and playing ball.

The Shade platform at Sennott Park in Cambridge.

In 2024, a collection of organizations concerned with the inequitable access to shade invited any interested DREAM students to help prototype a vision they proposed to the Shade Is Social Justice call to action, funded by an Accelerating Climate Resiliency grant from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Eight students leapt at the unique opportunity to help one of the innovative ways the City of Cambridge is building climate resiliency and preparedness—and using the power of art and design to shape perception, strengthen communities, and find solutions.

The team of Olin students, faculty, alumni and Babson students joined Buildingways, Friday Night Hype, Citizens of the World, Cambridge Public Health Department and Pneuhaus to support local youth in creating a shaded respite from the summer sun in one of Cambridge’s shade deserts.

For the pilot year, Millner’s team prototyped seating, shading, and activity solutions for the flexible and scalable scaffolding structure erected in Cambridge’s Donnelly field that served the local community from July through mid-October 2024.

A headshot of Amon Millner

I was excited that the Shade project allowed for students from Olin and Babson to learn alongside professionals, city officials and high school students in an impactful fashion.

We balanced students prototyping during the spring with building and launching over the summer. In addition, a field trip to Rhode Island with high school students, professionals, and college students exploring materials and structures together was a highlight.”

Amon Millner

Professor of Computing and Innovation

Millner brought alum Jen Lee ’23 on board to help with the project. Lee, then a design and fabrication intern at Culture House, is now a graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design. As an Olin student, she worked closely with Millner on The MIRROR initiative, creating interactive elements for its first STEM Slam as part of the design studio run by Tim Ferguson Sauder, professor in the practice of design.

During the Shade project, she hosted design sessions for the Cambridge students to see what they liked and what they wanted to see more of.

“It’s really rewarding to see how urban design and spatial design impacts community-building,” said Lee. “It was powerful to see the impact of giving the teens—the intended users of the space—a voice in the process.”

“What stood out to me with this project was the teen group’s desire to take on ownership and leadership of the outcome. It’s a real balance between providing resources while also trying not to be overbearing,” said Lee. “When they felt like their voices were heard, you could see they felt like they were in control and felt passionate about the outcome."

The Shade structure lit up at night.

The Shade structure lit up at night by a "Halo" light.

Teens from the pilot year translated their learnings from community engagement into improvements for the second year of the project. The teen-led SHADE team created an installation in Sennott Park over summer 2025 that remains accessible through September. This time, the project was supported by a Public Art for Spatial Justice grant by the New England Foundation for the Arts and a Cambridge Community Foundation grant. Intended to foster social interactions and support mental health, the installation includes a large, cooling canopy and a “Halo” light that turns on at dusk to bolster safety.

“The Sennott Park location is a little different from last year because its layout, location, and amenities provide new engagement opportunities for community members of all ages,” said Millner. “This year’s installation is a great example of the iterative design Oliners learn all the time; the SHADE teens who are in charge took requests from the community into consideration with their designs. They did their own creative fundraising, and they pulled the right people in to bring those ideas to fruition to create a safe, fun hangout spot."

While the contract for Sennott Park is for one year, the project has the possibility to stay up more permanently.

“The best case scenario is that we earn additional support to keep evolving and deploying structures and programs in this park and beyond, because the teens have proven their capabilities,” said Millner. “The SHADE team shows incredible engagement, with some continuing to stay involved beyond their high school graduation, and to see people coming back to projects that are fulfilling to them speaks volumes."

The Shade structure from the side during the day.

The side of the Shade structure.

Special thanks to the 2024 Olin team:

  • Krish Bhatia (Babson student)
  • Vaani Bhatnagar ’25 
  • Isa de Luis ’25 
  • Rocelin Jimenez (Babson student)
  • Jennifer Lee ’23
  • Meagan Martin ’24 
  • Amon Millner, Professor of Computing and Innovation
  • Lucy Platt ’25 
  • Tim Ferguson Sauder, Professor of Practice in Design
  • Stella Stark ’24 
  • Antoniette Tan ’24 
  • Aditi Vinod ’25