Award
2024 Student Merit Awards
Site
Chicago, IL
Project Details
Botanical Parasites reimagines Chicago’s rooftop and surface parking systems at Wabash Avenue and Van Buren Street into dynamic landscapes that invite social and botanical experiences in four winter gardens, connected rooftop gardens, and connecting walkways. Currently this street lacks public spaces, and biomass since most of these spaces are allocated for cars and paved zones. Botanical Parasites rehabilitate this site, at the southeast corner of Chicago’s Loop, by providing year around microclimatic people spaces to reconnect with living things in a series of public gardens “parasite” onto existing buildings at Roosevelt University, Loyola University, Columbia University, and several commercial high rises. A forest and snow gardens enrich the ground level with native trees of different foliage color and habit, and the rooftops are planted to establish open prairie experiences that contrasts with the city. Botanical Parasites introduces a new garden sequence framework and “parasitic” structures for winter gardens that connect the rooftops of existing buildings to the ground level and host life during the winter months. Located in our winter gardens, mediterranean plants such as olive trees, rosemary, fig, and citrus trees will provide a diverse experience for people during the winter months, also offering food for local businesses around the site. Sub tropical plants such as palms, bromeliads, orchids, and ferns bring a burst of color and a lush environment. In this way Botanical Parasites transforms underutilized spaces into vibrant areas that promotes community engagement and reconnects people with nature within an urban setting.
Project Team
Student: Juliana Cardozo, Zhicong Fang
School: Illinois Institute of Technology
Class: LA 543 – Landscape Architecture Studio III: Comprehensive Landscape Architecture
Professor: Ron Henderson