Foundations: Activating Public Space

EPFL, ALICE Year 1, Spring 2023

Project with all first year architecture students

As part of a collaborative project with all first year architecture students in our ALICE Y1 studio, our cohort developed a series of projects to activate the United Nations area in Geneva, spanning sites from the Red Cross Gardens to Parc Rigot and Parc Feuillantines. I worked on the project at Parc Feuillantines, a small park near the bus stop at Place des Nations, where we designed a playful, temporary installation. The project formalizes desire paths within the park through a grid-based layout, introducing wooden structures and rammed earth columns that serve as seating and play elements. Designed to harmonize with the environment, the installation is ephemeral, lasting only a few seasons before the rammed earth will naturally reintegrate with the soil.

Our team prefabricated wooden elements at our Lausanne campus and assembled them on-site in Geneva. The rammed earth columns were constructed directly in the park. I was responsible for coordinating timelines and managing collaboration between teams working across multiple sites, ensuring smooth project execution. I was also part of the team that constructed the rammed earth columns on site, and prefabricated wooden elements.

My primary contribution was the creation and editing of a video documenting the construction process at Parc Feuillantines and Parc Rigot. Captured from the perspective of the site, the video highlighted the assembly process and the transformation of these public spaces, serving as the final presentation of our work. This project demonstrates how thoughtful, temporary interventions can transform public spaces into vibrant, functional areas. Beyond providing hands-on experience in design, prefabrication, and collaborative construction, it has had a tangible impact on the community. Over the past 1.5 years, our structures have become a part of daily life, regularly used by people waiting for the bus or watching their children play on the rammed earth columns—though these have naturally begun to erode back into the soil as intended.