Students utilize common areas of grass among campus for leisure and for study activities; many tend to congregate near large trees on the main campus. One tree goes without much notice. The tree’s unengaging and lost identity demonstrated a need of revitalization and recognition to the function of the site. This massive holly tree is located adjacent to the library and the path along Search Hall. The pathway intersects another originating from the library. An axis is created from the center of the tree, through the junction of pathways, out to main campus. Yet this dramatic invisible pathway goes unnoticed; pulling no focus from the students passing by. As a team, it was our mission to take notice and highlight the function of congregation to this massive tree’s site.

As the site is approached with a sense of design, one immediately notices how large the tree is. In order for our instillation to bring focus to the tree, we realized that the design must involve a height element. It was also noted that many students are absorbed in thought or technology while passing by the site, and merely look at the ground. Because of this, we wished to create an element low to the ground that would catch the students’ eye. In order to fabricate both the height element and ground element, we constructed a form mimicking the trees decent and then abstractly melding into the ground. The team also noted that the tree does command prominence over the grass because of the monotone color. Everything in the view from main campus is a shade of dark green. Our team took note of this and the light color of the pathways. It was then decided to create a gradation effect from the light color to the dark green in order to mimic the transition from stepping off the pathway, into the site, and up to the tree (following the axis). In order to address the students walking around Search Hall, the installation wraps around the light post (pointing towards Search Hall) and therefore grabs the attention of those who pass by. We chose iridescent fabric to catch the eye of those looking at the ground. Our material inspired us to create a wave as our installation. The curvature draws focus from main campus as well as Search Hall. The wave pulls people into the site as if a wave pulling you into itself. This curvature also creates shady and secluded nooks for students to lounge in, therefore encapsulating our idea of students lounging as the function of the site.