Design Biennial Boston installation displays the life cycle of wood

The 2017 Design Biennial Boston is currently taking place, featuring a series of small-scale installations throughout the city. The program was established in 2008 to recognize emerging architects, landscape architects, and designers who have created inspiring and innovative practices in New England. Of the four teams that were selected to create installations this year, one has chosen to focus on the life cycle of wood.

Located on the Kennedy Rose Greenway, and appropriately named Ways of Wood: Expressing Material Flows, this installation aims to create a link with North American landscapes of industrial extraction. Nine logs gradually transform across their length into contemporary interpretations of these raw natural materials.

Wood is one of many materials necessary to sustain urban life. While the project creates a public space for sitting or socializing, it also attempts create a connection between the origin of the material – including the landscapes, processes, and people fundamental to its sourcing – and its ultimate use in the city.