On the Deck is a collection of five participative installations organized along the spine of Water's Edge Promenade at East Bay Front, designed to enhance the public realm and animate the environment by providing visitors with playful and engaging spaces for the contemplation and enjoyment of the lakefront. The proposal features three artistic optical devices for viewing the landscape and two functional furniture spaces for dining and repose.
This project was approached with an interest in Ancaster’s unique geological location within the Niagara Escarpment and how the natural break in the formation has permitted the city's settlement. In other words, how could the idea of the city’s historical evolution, linked to its geographical circumstance, be physically expressed to reveal a new understanding of the Village of Ancaster within the context of the larger landscape by demonstrating this linked relationship.
Proposal: Fieldcote Walkway Public Walkway Call for Artists
Location: Ancaster, Ontario CAN
Year: 2015
Our inspiration for WCC lies in the original Lummi meaning of the word Whatcom: “noisy water.” For us, these words bring to mind images of Lake Whatcom and Whatcom Creek, and more importantly, the sound of Whatcom Falls. We proposed an original sculptural element that builds on this reference, without the literal sound or movement of noisy water, but which evokes the concept while also acting as a beautiful standalone sculpture. We used geographic data of the Creek itself as construct the form an abstracted suspended wave.
Designers: Michaela MacLeod + Nicholas Croft
Exhibition: Whatcom Community College Public Art Call for Proposals
Location: Whatcom Community College. Bellingham, Washington. USA
Year: 2014
BEE OUR GUEST is an inviting multi-storey bee hotel, inspired by high-rise buildings and the capsule hotels of Japan to create a new typology: the hive rise. The hive rise combines the tall and slender shape of a high-rise building with the smaller individual units of a capsule hotel.
There are 3 distinct rectangular residences in the hive rise. Each rectangular void represents a different residence in the hotel. Each residence has a number of capsules or rooms for our different bee guests. Practically, each rectangular void is tightly filled with hollow reeds or bamboo sticks (or capsules) of different diameters representing the rooms to attract different species. These hallow areas (open on both sides) provide nesting space for the bees.
The central spine of the hotel has rooms for bees preferring a closed-ended space. Holes (between 2mm and 10mm,) will be drilled into the woodblock, creating numerous rooms.
This project proposes an artwork for the courthouse’s public space entitled 64·14 that celebrates the building’s historic character while integrating the site’s existing conditions. The project uses two overlaid grids from 1964 and 2014 to provide the base geometry of the sculpture. The 1964’s geometry of the façade is superimposed on the 2014’s geometry of the site’s existing sight lines. From this foundation, the intersecting blocks are extruded to form a series of sculptural planters that provide seating and plantings for the public. The seating, a catalyst for spontaneous social exchange, provides a moment within the city to stop and rest (or smell the roses) and was designed to accommodate intimate or group activity.
Designers: Michaela MacLed + Nicholas Croft
Exhibition: City of Kitchener P2014-33 Call for Proposals
Location: Kitchener, Ontario. Canada
Year: 2014
