FLAGG IS A CREATIVE PRACTICE
Started by two friends
Matt Boyes-Watson and Nina Berg grew up blocks away from each other in Central Square, Cambridge. They went to the same elementary school and high school, the legendary Cambridge Rindge and Latin. After college, during late night soccer games, they started thinking about ways to participate in the evolution of their beloved city, always learning by doing. Community charrettes turned into campaigns for local office turned into their first demonstration projects.
Ten years later, that dream-and-scheme energy has yet to wane. Flagg was founded in August 2019.STEP 1: DREAM
STEP 2: SCHEME
Our project list reflects the things we like to do and THE THINGS WE like to think about it, from urban design and architecture to music and Maradona. We started this company because we wanted the freedom to explore, invest in, and contribute ideas to our neighborhood. For us, everything comes back to the idea of place. We believe the city itself is the ultimate sandbox, offering endless opportunity to learn and play.
WHILE MANY OF OUR PROJECTS ARE SELF-INITIATED AND FUNDED, WE ALSO WORK WITH PARTNERS WHO WANT TO USE A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT TO CREATE SOMETHING SPECIAL. WHAT IS A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT?
A demonstration project is a temporary and reversible intervention that changes the way people feel and think about something. the term is often used to describe the pilot phase before a permanent infrastructure project. our use is similar, but different.
For us, a demonstration project is not just about learning and testing, it's also about feeling. to be successful, a demonstration project must be transformative. It must elicit a powerful emotional response in the people who experience it.
For example, the design intention for Starlight wasn’t to build an outdoor performance space. It was for everyone who experienced Starlight to look at every surface level parking lot in the City and think, “what else could this be?”
There is dynamism in temporary and reversible—in the beginning and the end. In the beginning, it lowers the stakes tO yes. it’s the free sample of urban planning. just try it. if you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it. OFTEN, by THE END, you have SOMETHING DELICIOUSLY undeniable.