Dilan Bozer
The Urban Cocoon
Class of: 2022
Major: Architectural Design BFA
Medium: 3-D model, foam-core, yarn, basswood, wire
Faculty: Aviva Maya Shulem
Prompt: Over the entire semester, we have learned skills and methods to explore and make sense of the environment around us and to respond to it as designers. TheBridge 4 project gathers all of our research and brings it together, to inform a response to the potentials and challenges in the neighborhood that we dealt with, which in my case was Bushwick. Our task was is to put together our findings into a final research report and present the response as a 3D model.
I decided to focus on the area around Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick for my intervention. With the absence of any other public space and the sense of unsafety in the neighborhood created through the neglect of child-friendly public spaces, I started questioning the spaces we allow children to freely exist in urban environments. Playgrounds are one of the only spaces dedicated to children to explore create and fulfill curiosity in the intimidating world of adults.
I wanted to create a mentally and physically safe space for children through encouraging a sense of belonging, vulnerability, connection and exploration in a playground that imitates these ideas in all aspects of its design. In my playground, this idea is translated into the knitted inner structure that holds hanging cocoons in a web-like form, creating a dynamic environment that moves with each child’s impact. This place will not only serve as a psychological space but will encourage school, after-school programs or other organizations to use this space for activities and classes for young children to have access to nature and its wisdom in an urban environment.