DETAIL: KIRSTENBOSCH CENTENARY TREE CANOPY WALKWAY

摘要

To celebrate last year's centennial anniversary of the Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden in Cape Town, South Africa, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) commissioned a 426-foot-long aerial walkway through the garden's arboretum. The Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway takes visitors 40 feet up, through, and above a forest of approximately 450 indigenous species. The structure was designed by Mark Thomas, of local firm Mark Thomas Architects, in collaboration with local structural and civil engineering firm Henry Fagan & Partners and SANBI horticulturist Adam Harrower. "For this project, Mark and I worked together to integrate everything so that many of the components serve both a structural and architectural purpose," says Henry Fagan, principal partner at his namesake firm. None of the 400-plus trees in the walkway's path was affected by the 19.6-ton steel-and-wood structure. "At one point, where a tree could not be avoided, a branch of a tree extends vertically through the walkway," he says.