A Day in Excuberance

               Driving one day on my way to work, I was stroke by a ficus tree located in the street median I was driving in. I don’t know if it was the developing architectural mind in me or the tree’s visual appearance, but before I knew it I was out of my car and climbing the tree. The tree’s placement in the median and what it could become to a city can be beneficial to our lifestyles. I imagined “playgrounds” scattered around the city in uncommon location like that of the ficus tree with the power to stop the public from overlooking our cities.  

                A collage of many thoughts and ideas rushed through my head which sparked motivation to further explore a ficus tree as well as other trees, animals and their habitats. With this in mind it was easy for me as student of architecture to study how architecture values could be exposed from these phenomena. Looking at ficuses qualities closer, its roots posses the ground the way we use our hands to firmly grip objects: like roots as fingers. Within these roots there is a notion of growth’s beauty and maturity over the course of time. Its roots are dug into the ground to firmly stabilize hundreds of pounds. It’s not just the way its roots are dug into the ground but how they were exposed to tell a story of its presence, history, motion and structure. A ficus tree is continuous from its roots up its bark and through its branches with multiple widths along its form. The tree’s arrangement starts at its roots and continues through its core and follows through to its fingertips. It carries its visual form throughout its entire anatomy.

                This amazing species of trees has the remarkable ability to create playful spaces within its structure. The tree itself is porous in a way which creates walk able and not-walk able spaces. Its porosity is created in multiple layers of natural form. The tree offers many qualities like; open, closed, and sheltered spaces. From its braches hang stings of plant life down like certain walls of beads, only grouped into sections like dreadlocks with flaring leaves and particles. I imagine our cities as a playground for the public to play in. A place were nature meets construction and design; sidewalks meet skate parks; adventure, curiosity and exploration exists on walks to work, school or just the mall.