Appreciating Wild Space

The Riga Technical University in Latvia hosts a design-and-build workshop every summer to encourage students to look at community issues. This summer the program’s thirteen students focused on the loss of wild space happening in their community. They worked alongside the town’s mayor and proposed to leave a designated area untouched in order to allow it to naturally develop into a wild flower meadow. The students then built a tall structure that would provide a gorgeous panoramic view of the valley. All four sides are made out of rubber flaps from nearby train tracks that would have otherwise gone to the landfill and can be pushed up from the inside to allow uninterrupted views. This 14 foot structure was dubbed “The Wild Thing” as the students intentionally designed it with sloped walls and A and V- shaped legs to emphasize a creature-like presence. You can read more about the student’s project and design at: http://www.dezeen.com/2015/08/21/wild-thing-cabin-stilts-latvia-meadow-riga-technical-university-summer-school-students/