Cloud Parks
The current global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus has reshaped the ways in which we inhabit our cities.As cities decide to reactivate their public spaces, urban parks are experiencing an increase in usage. Citizens around the global crave natural spaces after undergoing strict quarantines in their homes for a prolonged period of time.This generates a problem, because its difficult to regulate the social distancing measures of users in spaces like public parks. When a city reactivates its public spaces, how do we assure that social distancing in urban parks is sustainably managed with quick implementation?
The coronavirus pandemic is a moment in history that has no precedents. Therefore, the proposal leaps out of the traditional architectural discipline and into the landscape art realm to find innovative solutions that could be applied. These sculptures have little to none intervention in the existing landscapes because they reorganize elements present in them, rendering art pieces that are highly sustainable and quick to implement.
Unlike landscape sculptures, the proposal reorganizes a process common in all urban parks: the process of mowing the grass. The proposal draws "clouds" of social distancing into the grass using the mundane and quotidian act of mowing. And because the design is based on the idea of re-adapting a process that already occurs, Implementing the design has practically no additional costs!
"Cloud Parks" is more of a method than a site-specific design. As such, it can be applied anywhere in the world simultaneously.
