Bizarre, perplexing and curious describes the strange structure that went up Monday near Brotman Hall in a tight space informally described by students as “the gap.”
Students from three environmental communication design classes collaborated and successfully built the arching structure on campus as a part of a design and social experiment.
“What is it?” was junior Haben Fessehatsion’s first reaction when he walked through the structure.
The structure is several tetrahedrons, or four-sided pyramids, made out of plastic pipes, wood, and steel and held together with zip ties.
The structure arches over the gap between a planter and a pillar but still allows pedestrians to walk through the tight space.
Students not only had to create an interesting piece of art but also keep in mind that they are altering the environment in order to observe how people react to their structure, or intervention.
“Everybody tries to squeeze through this when you can go around, but highlighting it makes people want to go through it more,” senior Michelle Rahim said.
Some students changed their natural walking pattern due to the intervention.
“I usually walk through but I walked around because I felt like it was a smaller space,” said Ramsey Kom, mechanical engineering freshman.
People walking through or around the structure for the first time looked confused, curious as to why it was there.
Many students slowed their pace as they walked through to observe the structure or stopped completely to take a photo of it.
“It’s kind of fun going through it,” freshman Gonzalo Piedra said.
Design students were supposed to build the structure last week; however, rain delayed the project.
The installation was successfully completed by 25 design students on Monday around 5 p.m. and will stay in that location for about a week.
“It’s a very interesting process to analyze a space or path of travel that is heavily used on a regular basis and try to manipulate it in an attempt to draw awareness to its presence,” design student Jeffrey Long said.
The social observations are a very important aspect of the project and students will be observing how or if the design will impact the space.
The installation has been designed by students with the idea that the objects will intentionally “induce observable social change,” according to design professor Peter DeMaria.
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