“Paris has a problem, their parks are popular but overcrowding most days reduces the quality of experience expected by Parisians and tourists. The city would like to create additional parks, but without any available space in the city at the ground level simply creating additional parks becomes a more complex problem to be solved”
Perspective: Inside the capsule to find a place to gather above the rooftops of Paris.
Searching for open space, our project proposes the repurposing of the cities rooftops for an additional layer of public space. This project was a collaboration among an international team from Paris and Singapore, each with our own perspectives to find opportunities to create additional public space in Paris.
Thinking about how people gather in parks since arriving in Paris, I observed how people found their spot to spread out their blanket and mark as theirs. Without any observable signs or communication each group seemed to be located relative to others already established among the parks grassy surface. They choose locations in proximity to other groups that are already there and evenly distribute themselves.
Based on observing this latent system for organization among groups of people gathering in public, we designed a framework that reinforced this automatic behavior for gathering among the roofs of Paris. This allowed for gathering to take place without the expense of covering the entire rooftop with a solid surface. Instead of recreating an entire surface for people to gather above the rooftops, the park would generate its surface through the attaching of large disc shaped pods would begin to inhabit upon each group’s arrival. These group pods would find ad hoc connection points to “dock” with other existing pods and begin to arrange themselves in a way that mimicked the same intrinsic system found in the traditional park.