Project: The Forest Observation Platform
Author: Madeleine Beltrandi and Mathilde Magada Cahill
A modular structure to connect people with the forest — inviting them to slow down, explore nature, play, and engage their senses.
An interactive pathway through the forest to explore the relationship we have with nature in urban spaces.
What happens when a place that has been neglected by people is
quietly thriving without them?
This was the question we explored during the YouRban residency. Spending time in the undergrowth of La Goccia Forest, we realised how little we knew about the ecosystem growing alongside us. The residency became an opportunity to develop tangible ways of rethinking the relationship between people and nature in urban spaces, including non-human species within the design process.
The forest observation platform is a modular structure which invites humans to slow down and observe their surroundings, to learn about the flora and fauna, to take a pause and change their point of view, to play and climb, to touch and listen.
The platforms that compose the structure are conceived to bring attention to different elements of the forest, creating interactions between nature and humans. The platforms created are: a platform with concave parts reminiscent of the erosion of water, plastic moulded from the barks of different trees from La Goccia to create textured platforms, and a platform with tunnels to allow ants to walk through it.
The FOP is designed around three modes of engagement: exploration, observation, and interaction. The platforms allow to create pathways through the forest, as well as, observation point for human visitors to explore the natural surroundings with care and respect of the flora and fauna that inhabit it.
