02 ASSESSING PARADISE

BIOPHILIA IN UNTERMYER GARDEN

UNTERMYER

As humans we crave a connection to our natural world. However, poorly conceived design in urban areas divides us from our wildernesses and has contributed to seeing nature as something isolated from us.

How can we eliminate the separation we have crafted through our isolating designs and create a more direct connection with our natural environment?

In this project, I intended to design series of spaces in Untermeyer Garden that will

• Foster a new bond with nature by enhancing the way we experience natural elements such as -sunlight, wind, water, and earth

• Heighten the sense of appreciation of nature by incorporating sensory experience (touch, smell, sight, hearing) as a tool.

• Organize human experience of the landscape, frame opportunities for interacting with nature, mediates and carefully superimpose smallness against the vastness.

Water – Rain Amplifier

A space that acts as a system that collects rainwater and reserve it in a reservoir for later harvest around the garden. The collected water on the roof streams through small opening of the bamboo to amplify the sound of rain fall inside. The rain effect is intended to encourage the visitor to reflect on their relationship with rain. This space not only reserve rainwater for harvesting but also create a meditative space for the visitors and allows them to closely interact with water.

Senses – Sound: Rainfall on the roof

Touch: Rainwater, Bamboo, Plants

Sight: Rainfall, Greeneries

Smell: Plants, Bamboo

Wind – Wind Tower

A space that acts as a nature’s air conditioner which catches the wind and directs it downwards to bring a cool breeze into the space. It allows visitors to take refuge from the sun inside the tower when needed. This proposal aims to offer a standpoint where architecture can be considered neither as mere utility nor pure ornament, but as a synthesis that has the potential to instrumentalize both.

Senses – Sound: The wind chimes, foliage

Touch: wood

Sight: Observatory deck, wind animated panels

Smell: Plants

Earth – A Place of Transition between Inside and Outside

A space that extrudes outward from the terrain creating a transitional space from underground to outside of the ground. This architectural intervention aims to blend seamlessly into the landscape, offering visitors an opportunity to experience the staggering panoramas of the palisades

Senses – Sound: Wind, Plants

Touch: Material of the earth

Sight: The palisades from a vista

Smell: Trees, Ground, wind

Sunlight – Sundial

A space that directly connects the visitors with sunlight and lets people observe the fleeting of time as the shadow of the sundial moves

Senses – Sound: The streaming of underground water and rainwater.

Touch: Texture of the retaining wall

Sight: Shadow of the sundial, waterfall, retaining wall

Smell: Water Lilly.