Yuke Zheng | spring 2017 HAA 96A Transformations studio
A small neighborhood park in Cambridge is discovered to have a secret life. What appears as a small patch of green for local residents to use for picnics and play is actually occupied most by dogs. All objects and zones used in the design of the park were intended to accommodate the human scale. But really, it’s man’s best friend that should have motivated the design. This project accepts this dominant patronage and imagines the redesign of the park around animal scale and senses. A new garden wall blends in with the size, material and rhythms of the existing park borders but actually creates a cloistered canine space. The wall’s dog-friendly portals for smelling, seeing, hearing and crawling alternatively reframe the park as a whole – transmitting and celebrating surprise encounters between man and his best friend.
