How can we rebuild lost connections between the city and the river?

W.O.R.M.

Overview


Fall 2018

The Problem

Cleveland's Cuyahoga River is underutilized as a public amenity and underserves the river's fish species. Several barren sites along the riverfront fail to connect the water back to the city and its residents.

The Goal

W.O.R.M. (Wriggling Objects of Riparian Movement) investigates and improves upon the existing fish habitat along the river, taking care to rebuild lost connections between the city and the waterfront.

Timeline

12 weeks

Tools

Rhino
Illustrator
Photoshop

Role

Landscape Architect
w/ Sophie Pawlak

Early Ideation


Our initial site visit informed the color palette and vision for W.O.R.M.

We were interested in the contrast between the industrial decay, the overgrown vegetation, and the pastel shards we found scattered throughout the site (pictured at top).

site visit image
site visit image
site visit image

We loved the way the overgrown grasses looked against the imposing, graffiti-coated, concrete wall. We also saw all kinds of long, blue sand bags running parallel to the river.

We wanted to incorporate a lot of these elements that we saw around the site, but in a more playful and visually appealing way.

Final Project


First, we softened the bulkhead by installing a grid of pegs and weaving porous, aggregate-filled "worms" around it.

The worms accumulate sediment and grow vegetation, creating a more suitable habitat for fish:

tubes along the bulkhead

Our worms inspired the direction of the project, which took shape as a seam between the site elements: to the south (right), a gridded hardscape of urban development and to the north (left), a serpentine river.

Worms breach the surface of the river to become a path, interacting with and dissipating into the grid while forming pockets of program.

Visitors can enjoy pop-up markets along the river at the entrance of the site.

The concrete grid functions as a gameboard when flat and as seating when extruded.

The extruded grid provides seating for stage performances or as a (dangerous?) playground for kids.

A ramp connects the adjacent context to our site. The concrete wall now mirrors the fish habitat with its grid and draped worms. Much like the fish, visitors to the site can congregrate at the worms!

So many of the plants we found around the site, like Lamb's-ear and Crabapple trees, deserve some time in the spotlight! So, we created a sensory garden on the southern tip of the site.

Pocket 1 has colorful pots filled with bright and cheerful flowers to draw visitors in from the south.

Pocket 2 contains a swirl of soft Witchgrass, interspersed with fluffy Lamb's-ear. A petting zoo for plants!

Pocket 3 focuses on smell, with flowering Crabapple trees and Jasmine.

Reflection


I had SO much fun on this project - how could you not with a name like W.O.R.M.?

If I were to revisit it, I would do something a little more cohesive than the sensory garden. It is a fun idea, but a little disjointed from the rest of W.O.R.M.

I would also be interested in figuring out what types of events the space could hold. Concerts? Antique markets? The list goes on!

My favorite part of W.O.R.M. has to be the simplicity of mirroring the grid and "worms" underwater and on the surface. I think there is a lot of interesting potential with this idea down the road - how cool is it to see different species interact with the same installation?

project model
project model
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