In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cornell University sought opportunities to encourage students to occupy the outdoor spaces on the Ithaca campus in engaging and socially distant ways. I led and coordinated a team of architecture and art students at Cornell AAP that responded to this call.

With a limited budget, we coordinated with the grounds team to develop two patterns, embedded with the 6′ social distancing guidelines from the university, that could be mowed into the grass of two of the academic quads. These patterns formed an organizational grid for engaging elements in the form of purchased outdoor furniture, cut logs recycled as seats, and a custom designed rocking seat.

(above & right) The first site on the Agriculture Quad deployed a set of radial mowed paths converging on a point in front of the Mann Library. These paths each led to an ash tree log, recycled from trees that had been removed from the campus grounds in the course of campus maintenance.

The second site on the Cornell Arts Quad deployed a grid of 12 and 22′ circles in front of the School of Architecture and the Department of History that were later occupied by outdoor furniture and a student designed and built installation.