This is a piece crafted during the final moments of the first year where the world was completely altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During quaranteeing and studying-at-home, I have increasingly realized the importance of 'going out into nature" and into the woods. The design of this piece of architecture, residing by the riverside of the Central Park in New York, is to provide busy city-dwellers a place for calming mindfulness and valuable reflections.
Moreover, it is simultaneously a place for connecting with people, meeting someone in person, and enjoy a good view together in peacefulness.
After many design iterations, this ultimate design is modeled after the endangered Manta Rays, which I learned about during my PADI scuba-diving training in middle school (yes, I have a scuba-diving license :) It was a perfect opportunity to model an endangered species, looking up to the sky for a brighter future, where their species is no longer hunted by humans. I hope to deliver the same hope for people in troubling times of their lives, and provide some encourage to those people who are trying hard to stay alive. I believe in a world of common well-being, and this design is an effort to address the public mental-health issue in an increasingly stressful society.
