LEVITATING GARDENS

Public places does not have to be bland. Incorporating leisure areas into nature not only gives visual interest, but lets us feel the nature closer to us. And while creating new spaces, nature has to be considered. In this project, one of the goals was to find a way to expand nature into empty space, which, otherwise, would lack natural elements. When thinking of a pier, plants never come to mind. But by creating areas for them to expand, we merge nature and public space naturally.

This design project will provide ways, how to incorporate local elements into everyday areas. The project aims to educate people about pier’s surroundings, areas landmarks, animals and plants.

The idea behind pier’s design came from it’s surroundings. Low water structures, wide panoramic views of the bay, lush shoreline greenery, local animals and vertical wooden poles of neighboring piers dictated, that the structure should be low and straight lined, maximizing amazing views. Also, local flora, leaping over water suggested to incorporate this leaping, hanging design into pier’s structure too. This idea helped to enlarge the structure’s deck space, but not the building area. Both of these design decisions helped to create levitating effect- a sight, where all horizontal areas feel like floating in the air over the water.

Lastly, the biggest task was to include as much local plants into design as possible. Floating planters, attached to the poles, not only softens the look of the structure below the deck level, but also educates people about the plants in the bay area. It can be a great indicator of showing how pollution in the water effects plants in the bay. These planters soak water from the bay, so careful selection of flowers and ornamental grasses is necessary. By moving these planters further from the shore, we expand visual greenery and soften the sharp straight line of the shore.

After tens of possible arrangements for the pier design, the main structure was chosen. A straight raised wooden path, lined with pole tops, with hanging and floating terraces attached to the sides, takes visitors to a multi level deck in the end, provided with seating areas, sightseeing viewpoint terrace and boat boarding area.

Wood was an obvious choice for the structure. It is the most natural, safe for the environment material, blends with the surrounding looks. Also, it is a cost effective and maintainable choice, because of its accessibility. Structural elements are simple in shape, so it would be easy to change them in time when necessary.

Educational aspect was very important when organizing the structure. Floating planters provide information about local flora. Salt water plants are not for every area, so learning about them is important. Additional informational boards can be placed near these floating planters.

Second educational area is the upper deck. Surrounded by slanted banisters, it provides ability to place panoramic pictures of the area on them and to see a 360 view in person at the same time. 

Lower deck is for sound education. For mos of us sounds give just as much information as the things that we see. Creating ability to learn by listening is also an important factor. As a solution, eats and hanging hammocks can be connected to speakers, that can play educational information about the area for those, who cant see. Speakers can also play local music, animal sounds or tell facts.

Looking into future, pier can be easily converted of changed. Wood is a diverse material, that is easy to be changed or added on to create desirable structure. Lower end decks can be expanded further to the bay. More hanging terraces can be places on the sides of the path, they can be in different sizes and height, with or without hammocks. Floating planters can be modified too, by adding more of them or by changing grasses and flowers inside. Planters can be rearranged, moved closer to the shore, or to the southern side of the pier to accommodate sunny area plants.

Changes can be done to the shoreline area too. By adding similar architectural elements, planting native plants on the shore and in the water, visual strict division between pier and shoreline can be minimized.