We’re just a few days away from launching a fundraising drive to build the Uni, a portable reading room for public space. We’d like to offer a preview of the Uni to those of you following the blog here at Boston Street Lab. Below are new links—feedback always appreciated. In a few days from now, we’ll be asking for help in spreading the word about a new Kickstarter campaign. Stay tuned.

www.theuniproject.org

Follow findtheuni on Twitter Twitter: @findtheuni

We think you’ll recognize the Uni as a child of the Storefront Library, although it certainly has a character of its own—likes to go outside, for example. Thank you to everyone who has supported us in reaching this point. Below is a copy of a blog post over at the new Uni site explaining the transition underway. See you in the Uni.

New ship, same course.

This post inaugurates a new web site and marks a transition for Boston Street Lab. Since 2006, we’ve worked on a range of small-scale projects to bring opportunities for culture, community, and learning to public space in downtown Boston. In 2009, we incorporated as a nonprofit and launched our most significant project to date called the Storefront Library.

In 2011, we’re launching the Uni, a portable, urban reading room and venue for learning. The Uni will be the sole focus of our work going forward, and it will take us to locations beyond our familiar laboratory, downtown Boston.

To look back at where we’ve been over the past five years, please visit www.bostonstreetlab.org. To see where we’re headed, stay right here at www.theuniproject.org.

When we began work in Boston, the Big Dig was just wrapping up and the area was dominated by a strip of vacant lots and vacant storefronts where the Central Artery once stood. Today, we see food trucks and farmers’ markets, new institutions and installations, and we have a sense that downtown Boston–where the city meets the water–is being renewed as a uniquely walkable, urban community that will anchor Boston’s future.

We’re pleased to have played a small role in encouraging community-oriented development in downtown Boston through our various projects as Boston Street Lab. As we dedicate ourselves to the Uni, we’ve got a new ship, but we’ll be steering the same course that brought us this far.