Form of Wander_ 폼 오브 원더

맹그로브 뿌리를 형상화한 이색적인 녹색 파빌리온…

7개의 기둥을 토대로 허리케인에도 견딜 수 있는 견고한 구조물을 만들어내

미국 플로리다주 서부의 탬파 힐스버러강 상류에 폼 오브 원더라는 이색적인 파빌리온이 들어섰다. 녹색의 파빌리온은 열대식물 맹그로브나무(mangrove)를 형상화한 초박형 경량구조물로 리버프론트 공원의 수변 산책 코스이자 훌륭한 레크리에이션을 제공한다. 설계는 세계 각지의 공공장소에 유기적인 파빌리온을 설치한 MARC FORNES/ THEVERYMANY이 힐스버러 카운티 퍼블릭 아트가 의뢰를 통해 컴퓨터 프로토콜 및 디지털 제작을 통해 구현한 것이다.

7개의 견고한 트렁크 칼럼을 기반으로 상부로 올라간 구불구불한 알루미늄 구조는 플로리다 해안선을 따라 뿌리를 내리고 있는 맹그로브나무 뿌리를 그대로 닮아있다. 흡사 나무 같은 구조물은 물 위를 걸어 다닐 수 있게 확장된 수로를 따라 마치 물과 땅 사이에 떠있는 것처럼 보인다. 기둥에서 출발한 구조 프레임은 서로 절묘하게 이어져 하나의 연속된 파빌리온을 형성한다. 기둥은 보행자를 위해 적절히 간격을 맞춘 프레임과 외팔보 구조를 통해 해안 바람을 적절히 걸러준다. 구조물을 짜 맞추고 있는 3,123 개의 부품은 이중층 구조를 이루며, 고밀도로 접합된 면을 통해 견고하게 맞물려 있다.

얇고 탄력 있는 구조이지만 허리케인을 견딜 수 있도록 설계되었으며 실제로 허리케인을 견디어 내었다. 구조물은 선형 줄무늬를 따라 연한 녹색에서 화려한 흰색으로 바뀌며 구조물을 더욱 음영감 있게 만들어준다. 이러한 녹색 연출은 주변 공원 산책로의 흐름과 연속되며 사람들에게 사뭇 여유로운 산책의 경험을 제공한다. 채티 크리켓(Chatty Cricket)에서 그린 휘스퍼(Green Whisper)까지 6개의 그린은 로컬 및 포톨로지의 방향에 따라 선형 그레이디언트를 만들어준다. 특히 구조물의 색상은 탬파의 맑은 날씨에 반응하여 점진적인 변화를 꾀하고 있다. 이러한 낮은 채도의 녹색은 아르누보 시대의 전통적인 건축물에서 차용한 것으로 해안가의 초록빛 야자수와 조화를 이룬다.

맹그로브는 작은 나무를 떨어뜨리는 방식으로 해안가에 번성하며 생물 다양성을 유지하게 만들어주는 해안 생태계에서는 없어서는 안 될 고마운 존재이다. 맹그로브 숲은 물고기의 산란 장소이자 은신처, 먹이 제공은 물론 태풍의 방풍림 역할을 한다. 이렇듯 폼 오브 원더 파빌리온은 플로리다의 맹그로브의 생태적 관계성을 바탕으로 구현한 것이다. 폼 오브 원더는 올랜도의 언더 매그니튜드(Under Magnitude)에 이어 MARC FORNES/ THEVERYMANY의 플로리다 스튜디오가 두 번째로 선보인 프로젝트이다.

손세진·장현아 기자

Architects_ MARC FORNES/ THEVERYMANY

Photos by NAARO

Where the Riverfront Park recreational space extends onto the waterway, Form of Wander is situated to host new outdoor activities and new memories of the Tampa’s active waterfront. As an inverted mangrove, the green-hued aluminum canopy announces itself among palms as a signal on the Hills borough River. The tree-like structure appears to float between water and land.

Seven trunk-like columns straddle this path onto the water, inviting visitors to walk around and through on a winding path. They thrust up into a tangle of branches, not unlike the root structures of mangroves which take root along Florida shorelines part of the resilient ecology, evolved to withstand hurricane force winds.

An atmosphere of filtered light and reflected currents is to be found there, under faceted members that split, arch, and recombine to produce an open network. Gradients follow linear stripes pale green to brilliant white, which alternately highlight cantilevered edges and shadow the interior portions. Somewhere between the natural and the iconic, the piece is identifiable on the riverfront, regardless of the direction of approach, but emphasizes the greenery to be found on the newly opened Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park.

A destination for your Sunday stroll, a meeting point for your morning runs, an obstacle course for games of tag Form of Wander is an experience as much as it is a signal on the horizon. From within its boughs, the structure performs as a framing device for the surrounding landscape, both heightening the scenery and providing new visual access to it.

In the tradition of 17th century french gardening, this form of movement directly translates to landscape design. The allée is a feature of the formal garden, where a promenade of manicured trees would frame views and allow for leisurely strolls of French courtesans. Seemingly carved through a wooded grove, the perspectival quality of the allée emphasized the extension of the path, as stretched on toward a point on the horizon. Aspects of this landscape live on in public parks in Paris, but the changing fashions in French garden design eventually veered from the straight allée to meandering pathways through old growth trees.

These qualities and the experience of the leisurely walk can be found across other architectural references. We see it echoed on the boardwalk, the pier, the streetside promenade all places that provide for a pace of walking that gives way to pause, reflection, and wavering affections.

Six greens from “Chatty Cricket” to “Green Whisper” make up a linear gradient applied locally and according to the direction of the topology. Chosen specifically to react to the changing sun, the palette livens to a bright green in response to Tampa’s usually sunny weather, without tipping into the yellow spectrum, and appears more pastel on the rarer grey days. The muted green borrows from a tradition of Art Nouveau-era riveted structures, and stands up against the verdant palms of the shoreline surrounds.

Distinct from our other projects that use a structural network, like another project in Florida, Under Magnitude , the branches and intersections of this network are not distributed and held in tension, but highly curated and directional. Legs splay out strategically to make spaces between them and frame views. The form is pulled to project out toward the water, in swooping cantilevered. The columns aid in that directionality, giving a sense that the form has been picked up by the wind.

Shortly after the last pieces were riveted in place, Tampa withstood extreme wind loads from Category 4 Hurricane Michael. But the structure was devised to stand up to such weather: its 3,123 parts make up a double-layer structure, with rings forming the interior layer of the columns and stripes cross-laminating as an exterior skin to compose the branching elements.

The structure borrows directly from the mangrove and its root forms which can thrive in salt water and sustain the biodiversity of the shoreline. Form of Wander is an inversion of the mangrove, allowing you to walk under the tangle of roots which often hidden under water. Floating above the river on the pier, its branches are reflected below, producing a familiar image of coastal greenery. Form of Wander is the second permanent project by the studio in Florida, after Under Magnitude in Orlando. It was commissioned by Hillsborough County Public Art and is located at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park in Tampa.

Design & Build: MARC FORNES/ THEVERYMANY

Location : Tampa, Florida, United States

Client: Hillsborough County

Dimensions: 21’H x 21’W x 52’D

Number of Parts: 3,123

Number of Rivets: 10,3184

Linear Gradient: 6 greens from “Chatty Cricket” to “Green Whisper”

Photography by NAARO