Wayne County Children’s STEAM Playlab

Dalton, Ohio, USA: In-Process

The well-worn trope of the ancient tree is pushed into new territory with this 30 ft. tall indoor climbing structure. Treated as a spatial thing rather than an object, its habitable branches and trunk hold diverse climbing opportunities - everything from perilous nets looking down on the space below to a muscle-clenching cargo net climb. Encrusted in deeply textured wood planks which make its bark, the Ancient Tree blurs the line between the mechanical and the organic, between architecture and living thing. It provides a centerpiece and meeting place in a large atrium, anchoring the space and filling it with the glow of its projection-mapped canopy.

Fabricator: Boss Display