Interspecies
Role: Designer
Date: Sep - Dec 2018
The city is home to many dogs and their owners, but every space places one as dominant over the other. Comparing and contrasting each species’ abilities and how they perceive space through their senses, size, and movement provides a framework on how to connect and breed an interspecies public space in the form of a vertical park. The site activates an alleyway on 106th and Broadway in New York City. It builds off of the existing structure layers and acts as a connecting space between humans and dogs, the two buildings and its residents, as well as Broadway to West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.
The model acts as a conceptual prototype to test the postential movements and pathways of humans and dogs accross, up, and through the space. Each material layer represents a component in the alleway such as pipes, fire escapes, ramps, stairs, and so on. The voids cut into the layers are where the space can begin to open up and allow for higher levels of activity. These areas are shown in the section graphics as the white platforms with dogs and their owners playing. The yellow rings on the section series mark the areas on the design that pets and their owners can move through to get to each platform. The physical model has a back panel that allows for different movement patterns to be tested and then compared with the model layers and voids.
