Tetsuo Kondo’s Elevated Forest Path

On his amazing City of Sound blog Dan Hill recently described a tour through a forest near Estonia’s capital Tallinn. What made this trip spectacular was Tetsuo Kondo’s suspended ramp that flows trough the 300-years old woods of Kadriorg. The ramp allows visitors to explore the forest from a totally different perspective as it adds a layer of experience to the landscape.

Kondo’s ramp reminds me of an article that we wrote two years ago about Telok Blangha’s flying infrastructure that leads visitors through the Telok Blangah Hill Park in Singapore. Here people can experience the landscape from a monkey’s perspective as the ramps are leveling the tree tops at some points. Both projects show an immense respect for nature. The infrastructure is nothing more than a light-weight layer added to the landscape that can be taken away without leaving deep marks in the old forest.

In his design Tetsuo Kondo uses the trees as main construction pillars of the ramp, that is attached to the trees with solid holders. This design not only implies that humans are nothing more but guests on this bridge that is elevated by the trees itself, but it also makes the bridge instantly flexible. One tree might grow quicker than another tree and the bridge changes form and position slowly.

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