many natures

Human and non-human species have given shape to the island park over the centuries, and many natures continue to inhabit it today. As we journey through the island, we discover four different types of natures and many species inside each one. Can you tell?

Playing fields, playgrounds, picnic sites…. invite for a meaningful discussion on temporary and long term interventions that have adapted certain park areas over time. By breeding wilderness with the everyday demands of a public park, how can we restore the equilibrium between the demands of humans and non-humans alike?

Canals, lakes, wetlands, riverbanks, spawning grounds…. open up a deliberate space for the hybridization and imagination of the physical boundaries of wahnabezee (water and land). Reimagining our engagement with water is a creative act that represents not just an ecology of resources but the signification that regardless of what we intend, reality blurs meanings. How can water boundaries constitute a place where new rules bring forth alternate realities?

wonder

habitats

domesticated

ground

The former Children Zoo, the Conservatory, the Aquarium… present an architecture palette of built interventions that fence off miniature portions of highly curated natures. Walls, fences, lattices, railings merge into a subtle gradation of confined neutrality, which accentuates an oversaturated man-made landscape of our own invention. How can the histories of creativity and spatial negotiation stimulate different ways to look at the commons?

enclosed

garden

Trails, woodlands, flatwoods and other fragmented ecosystems call us to determine which parts of their history have value, what role might they have in concising alternative ways to protect rare and endangered species? And how, in environmental terms, can they set the limits between willfulness, nature and climate uncertainty?

wonder

habitats

Canals, lakes, wetlands, riverbanks, spawning grounds…. open up a deliberate space for the hybridization and imagination of the physical boundaries of wahnabezee (water and land). Reimagining our engagement with water is a creative act that represents not just an ecology of resources but the signification that regardless of what we intend, reality blurs meanings. How can water boundaries constitute a place where new rules bring forth alternate realities?

water

terrains

nature icons

canadian geese

promenade

playgrounds

nesting heaven

fence in the

garden

kite +cloud

romnace

wise weeping

willows

fishing heaven

butterflies oasis

detroit's frame

of frame

bald eagle

kingdom

tennis row

diamonds' field

golf course

iron belle isle

bikeway

turtle's springs

bath house

archeology

picnic paradise

meadow trees

waterfowl flyway

project nike

d-26

a basket in

the field

wet-wonder-lands

like fish in

the lake

blue heron

place

frog sanctuary

detroit river

beach

aquatic

species

wet mesic

forest

reefs habitats

pollinators feast

canadian geese promenade	playgrounds	nesting heaven
fence in the garden	kite+cloud romance	wise weeping willows
fishing heaven	butterflies oasis	deroits frame of fame
bald eagle kingdom	tennis row	diamonds field
golf course	iron belle isle bikeway	turtle's springs
bath house archeology	picnic paradise	meadow trees
waterflowl flyway	project nike d-26	a basket in the field
wet wonder lands	like fish in the lake	blue heron place
frog sanctuary	detroit river beach	aquatic species
wet mesic forest	reefs habitats	bridging promenades
safariland childrens zoo	pollinators feast	swan island