Rope Wall

In this project we were assigned the site First Street Park, the goal- to create a wall that acts not only as an enclosure for the park but also interacts with the public, attracting people to come inside. I reminded myself of the ropes course I spent a lot of time at during my summer camp experience. We had a course called the Spider Web where a rope was linked between two trees, built to resemble spider webs. There would be two teams lined up on one side of this so called wall and would be timed to see which team could get all of its members through the openings of the wall. One member goes in at a time and chooses the space that best fits their proportions. If any member touches the rope causing it to sway that team has to start again with its first member. The design of my wall is based off this game. I have developed the idea more thoroughly to suite architectural purposes. The spider web encloses the entire park on the southern side. On the west and east side however the web shapes are smaller due to more overlaying. This is because there are three features to my wall that develop from the basic spider web wall design: WALL, CANOPY/PROTECTION, and SEATING. These added features developed because of the park’s enclosing corners on the east and west direction of the site. I saw that there was an area that asked to be a habitat for people and not just a place to explore. For a habitat canopy or protection coupled with seating can be instrumental in creating a space that is comfortable and sheltered. The need for these two areas to be secluded told me that the weave of the wall must grow in thickness the closer one gets to those spaces in order to gradually block off the public from entering. The canopy is made in the shape of a triangle because it slowly forms from its corners and becomes, just like the web shapes of the wall. The canopy is made out of the same weave of the wall, which becomes thicker with more overlay at the same places that the wall does, creating a similar language. The canopy becoming thicker with more overlay the closer it gets to its enclosure points serves a similar purpose as the wall, blocking out sun and creating more enclosure close to the hammock seating. The hammock seats are placed on the north/south section against the border of the wall in order to create the most interesting lookout point for its sitters. The building system of the seating also shares the language of the wall and the canopy because it is made out of a weave. The language shared by the wall, canopy and seating is exemplified by the same choice of material for all three, the rope. String is the best material for this installment because string by its own nature gets tangled and consistently wants to loop on to other things. Besides for experiencing the spider web though wall and canopy, people will also find themselves stepping over or into their shadowed reflection on the floor depending on the direction the sun rays hit.