Book Carving

The concept is focused on a family friendly park for children, youth, adults, and seniors. I wanted to create a space that was playful, yet considerably natural and organic. Then, the environment had to be created using the organic topography of the land. To begin with, there is a performance/get together space towards the higher section of the park (which can alternatively be used as “photosynthesis” space for the children to dry off, away from the water), and furthermore accommodating the top entrance. The round sitting is in itself the staircase for the people, and the natural blend of the stairs to the slope is the ramp. In the middle level, there is a small private sitting space behind the trees and a wide ground between the trees to the stairs going to the lower level. Moreover, the top level and the middle level are the only sections with trees; the trees at the entrance are meant as an organic gateway and shading, while the ones in the middle section are not only for shade but also for privacy. The lower section has seating under the cantilever of land (which is providing shade as well as natural land seating), and six inches deep pools of water, with a bridge (quite organically and smoothly blending into the bottom of the pool) connecting one side of the pool to towards the main lower level entrance. The bridge is in a form of a sine curve to accommodate the people coming in and then leading easily to the stairs.

The model is built inside a children’s fantasy book, starting on the chapter of “campfire”. This symbolizes the concept of the park, in a playful and imaginative way, while emphasizing the idea of the park bringing people together - like a campfire. The process of making the model was also in itself an adventure and exploration of different techniques of book carving, as well as attempting to foreshadow cuts for the upcoming layers of paper.