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Green Corridor
Pocket Park
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
| Summer 2010
The Collective
Stephen Surlin, Kevin Kapusti, Gaelyn,
and Gustavo
>
What Happened
As part of its collaboration with Green Corridor, Tug
functioned as a sound incubator; a space where both noise (and what some would call our evolutionary pursuit of silence) facilitated our understanding of how sound affects human ecology. A recent study conducted by the Windsor Environmental Noise Mapping Initiative found that noise levels coming off of the Ambassador Bridge (± 80 dBA) are considerably higher than those at which ones ability to learn or concentrate is disturbed (40 dBA) and ones risk of heart circulation disease is increased at constant impact (65 dBA).
In an effort to attenuate these noise levels, Tug worked on the creation of a Pocket Park--a small patch of landscaped nature built on urban landscape. Like other Pocket Parks throughout the world, ours is designed both to mitigate noise by redirecting it, and to play with our cross-sensory perceptions of noise by creating what George Prochnik would call "an attractive barrier that enhances the sense of silence." The ability to re-use one of Windsors most plentiful objects (the pallet) has given rise to the opportunity to create an extremely low-impact structure. Anchoring the Green Corridor Pocket Park is a crescent-shaped wall constructed of stacked pallets; the pallets are staggered to create stability and strength. Pallet chambers on the interior side of the wall are filled with a low-impact, sound-absorbing insulation material. Exterior chambers are left open and exposed to the predominant noise source, effectively turning the wall into a passive sound cancellation device. A carpet of sedum sprouts from the wall's roof, beautifying the structure and connecting it to the patch of earth on which it stands.
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