BIOMORPHIC STRUCTURES: CANOPY BENCH

This two-part project uses the structure of the Splitgill mushroom (schizophyllum commune) to inform an urban furniture structure that is sited in a city park.

In the first part of the project, the mushroom was analyzed for underlying geometry, and a method was formed for building an abstracted structure based on the mushroom. To accomplish this, I overlaid different types of grids on a photograph of the mushroom and extrapolated various geometric relationships. A 3-dimensional analogue was then formed by mobilizing these geometric relationships and rules.

The second part of the project further extends the use of this geometric algorithm by constraining the structure to a specific site: in this case, a public city square. I used my previous geometries to create a curved canopy-bench structure that provides both shade and seating. The form wraps sensitively around an existing bench on the site, encouraging interaction between two (or more!) people who might sit across from each other.

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Click and scroll through the next two galleries to see all drawings and renderings for this project.