San Francisco Design Week 2020 Honorable Mention
Parque O2, a sprawling public installation of colourful bamboo totems, recently opened in San José, Costa Rica’s disused Polideportivo de Aranjuez Park. The project is the latest installment of the FUNdaMENTAL Design Build Initiative, an annual design-build project founded by New York and Costa Rica-based architecture and design firm Taller KEN in 2016.
氧气公园
该项目位于哥斯达黎加圣何塞的公共公园内，为城市尺度的装置景观。项目由纽约/哥斯达黎加实践的建筑公司Taller KEN主持，由来自十个不同国家的国际建筑学生/设计师团队进行设计到施工总流程。装置由具有空气净化表面（Tio2)的可持续材料建成，包括竹子和回收轮胎。设计希望打通场地分割的高差，联系上次场地（社区住宅）与下层公园一起，同时采取颜色分布对应和提醒当地环境污染状况。
This year’s project, Parque O2 was created through a collaboration by ten international architecture and design students from India, Haiti, Tunisia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, China, Canada, the United States, with support from local students from TEC Tecnológico de Costa Rica.
All aspects of Parque O2 — both aesthetic and functional — were designed with the intent to engage the local community, many of whom were involved throughout the entire design-build process and worked closely with the FUNdaMENTAL team. Initial site research was done with building on the work of local urban/ environmental initiatives and non-profits. The design process was developed in communication with local architecture students and reviewed by University faculty and experts. The resulting proposal was constructed with materials and resources donated from both private companies and the regional municipality. Onsite labor was a combination of participants, volunteers and local residents including several members of the transient community that sleep in the park at night. Each phase built on the next, expanding participants understanding of the design-build process- executing a built work by incorporating more voices into the process.
The result is a field of bamboo sticks painted in a vibrant gradient of yellows, golden oranges, hot pinks, and purples. Together, they create a meandering path linking the main nodes of Polideportivo Park and the railway near the upper informal settlement. The terrain is further shaped by grass-covered mounds of different shapes and sizes, which serve as seating pedestals for the groupings of bamboo totems. Covering a total surface area of approximately 2,000 square meters, the installation is comprised of 600 reclaimed tires filled with gravel and crushed stone (used as a base for the mounds and for soil retention and manage to flood) and approximately 1,200 linear meters of bamboo.
In addition to being colorful and playful, the installation also serves a sophisticated environmental purpose. In order to raise community awareness around air pollution in the area, the color palette of the bamboo poles works as an indicator of pollution levels, varying from yellow (very low) to purple (very high). The hues employed in each area are informed by accurate air pollution measurements taken by the team during the early phases of the project. Parque O2’s environmental engagement is active as well as educational. By mixing the paint coating the bamboo with Titanium Dioxide (TiO2), a highly photo-catalytic and reactive chemical, the installation actually mitigates the polluted air itself.
Project Information
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
Organizers: Taller KEN
Design Team: Anhong Li (China), Sheryl Wadehra (India), Benjamin Hakimian (USA), Carmen Chee (USA), Laurence Von Lignau (Haiti), Waddah Dridi (Tunisia), Serkan Ates (Turkey), Riccardo Zocche (Italy), Hrabrina Nikolova (Bulgaria), Florence Méthot (Canada)
Local Student Participants: Andrei Seredin (Costa Rica), Diego Blanco (Costa Rica), Johana Vargas (Costa Rica), Valeria Murillo (Costa Rica), Kéndary Rojas (Costa Rica)
Time: 2019.05-2019.09
