American firm Glavovic Studio has created a red aluminium walkway with a large-scale periscope in Florida to connect the local population with the nearby Everglades.
Located in Tamarac, a city northwest of Fort Lauderdale, the walkway was placed at the edge of dense suburban development including sprawling single-family neighbourhoods and an Amazon fulfilment centre.
It was designed by Glavovic Studio to better connect the human-constructed environment with a section of the Everglades – the massive marshland ecosystem that covers much of south Florida, which is located across a six-lane highway.
Called Sunset Hammock, the structure consists of a long aluminium walkway painted red with a massive periscope at one end.
The 200-foot-long (60 metre) walkway extends out from the suburbs towards the Everglades. Tall aluminium slats of the same red aluminium frame the view as one walks down the path, which terminates in a look out point.
According to the studio, the structure is meant to be a contrast with the local nature and to frame it. Its "rhythmic" design and colour were meant to change with the movement of the sun as the sky and hues of the marshland do.
"[Sunset Hammock] raises awareness about the critical role of the Everglades within the ecological balance of South Florida," said the studio.
"The art project renders saturated moments in time as the day reveals itself, increasing its intensity in color, view, and connectivity to the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States."
The periscope is to the right of the main walkway, on a platform that cantilevers off a small embankment. A set of stairs allows the platform to be accessed directly from the grassy grounds surrounding the structure.
Made from the same red-painted aluminium of the rest of the structure, the 20-foot-tall (six metre) periscope projects at a 45-degree angle off the platform.
It has two mirrored surfaces, with gaps to conform to the slats – one at eye level, and one closer to the top, that bring expansive views of the landscape to a visitor standing on the platform.
A series of ground lights illuminate the structure at night time.
The overall effect of the project is meant to "juxtaposes the expansiveness of the Everglades" with the manmade infrastructure of the walkway.
Other large walkways around the world include an elevated wooden pathway that allows access to a lagoon in Mexico by architecture studio C733 and a bright-orange walkway that connects the rooftops of two buildings in the Netherlands by MVRDV.
The photography is by Robin Hill Photography.
Project credits:
Artist: Margi Glavovic Nothard
Architect: Glavovic Studio Inc.
Landscape architect: City of Tamarac
Structural engineer: Louis Berger
Civil engineer: Louis Berger
Design build contractor: TechGroup One; RSP Engineers, Inc.
Structure & finish: Espinosa Powder Coating