The MIT FEMA Trailer Project* is converting a surplus FEMA Trailer into The Armadillo: A mobile composting center and vertical community garden, permaculture library, and multi-purpose community space. The Armadillo, once a symbol of government waste, environmental health issues, and disaster resource mismanagement, hopes to serve as a model of urban sustainability and transformation. Once completed (early June 2009), the Armadillo will serve as the site of temporary art projects in nearby Boston, MA. In mid-June 2009, the Armadillo will embark on a cross-country tour.

The MIT FEMA Trailer Project is working closely with two organizations to develop the temporary projects and the tour: 1) the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy in Boston, MA (site of former Big Dig) which shares a similar goal of transforming and renewing historically problematic and complex sites, and 2) Side Street Projects, a non-profit arts organization in Pasadena, CA which has a similar arts and public service mission.

From June 1-20, 2009, the Armadillo will reside at the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy and act as the site of temporary artistic projects involving artists in the MIT community. MIT students, faculty, and staff are invited to use the Armadillo as a site for projects which address sustainability, waste, and gardening.

On June 20, 2009, Side Street Projects will conduct gardening and composting workshops at the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, held in conjunction with their new farmer's market. This event will be the first of many public presentations and community workshops at major cultural institutions between Boston and California as part of the national tour.

At each major stop on the tour, Side Street will offer free, hands-on family workshops. Children and adults alike will learn about the intersection of art and sustainability, and will make their own vertical planters out of recycled materials, inspired by The Armadillo's vertical planting walls.

At the end of the tour the MIT FEMA Trailer Project will donate the Armadillo to Side Street Projects. The Armadillo will join Side Street's fleet of mobile art education vehicles, and will function as a mobile community garden and digital lab for the Pasadena community.

Armadillo National Tour

The tour route & tentative presentation venues are as follows:

Boston, MA
Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy

Baltimore, MD
Patterson Park Community Garden

Washington D.C.
TBA

Atlanta, GA
The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center

New Orleans, LA
Louisiana State Museum

Houston, TX
DiverseWorks Art Center & Discovery Green (Downtown Houston Park & Ecology Center)

Austin, TX
TBA

Las Cruces, NM
TBA

Phoenix, AZ
TBA

Las Vegas, NV
TBA

*The MIT FEMA Trailer Project is funded (in part) by the Council for the Arts at MIT and the MIT Visual Arts Program, Department of Architecture.