A Study in Coexistence and Material Circularity

The Interspecies Pavilion is a temporary architectural installation sited in The Ramble, Central Park — a threshold where four distinct presences converge: the Sassafras tree, the Eastern gray squirrel, the urban dog walker, and the thermal breeze off the Lake. Rather than privileging the human visitor, the pavilion treats each of these actors — botanical, animal, atmospheric, and human — with equal agency, mediating the sensory dialogue between them.

The structure embodies Cradle-to-Cradle principles: built from reclaimed white oak, set on a dry-stone foundation, and assembled entirely through traditional Japanese joinery with no nails, steel, or concrete. It is designed not as a monument but as a temporary carbon sink — one that can be cleanly disassembled or allowed to decay back into the forest floor without leaving toxins behind.

The formal language draws from the geometry of the Sassafras leaf, applying modular distribution and Deconstructivist logic to produce a porous, skeletal form. As visitors move through the path, the structure constantly reframes the scenery — filtering light, channeling breeze, and creating a fragmented visual field that mirrors the layered complexity of the Ramble's canopy. The result is an architecture that shelters the human while remaining scaffolding for the wild.