Asmita Prasad:
Created specifically for the waterways of London's East End, the floating Bowered Glade and the traveling Root Lounge are a part of the quirky botanical water vessels called Floating Forest. The imaginative design is the collaborative effort of designers Pablo Milara, Friedrich Vitzthum and Alex Haw, the grass and wood vessels provide visitors with a sensual experience of traveling through water on floating mounds covered with vegetation.
The two versions of the Floating Forest were created to promote the local tourism industry during the 2012 Olympics and were commissioned as a future leisure travel mode by the Kindest Group's Thomas Lindner. Focusing specifically for use on East London's waterways, the low budget prototype was launched at the Hackney Wicked Festival in 2011 after having briefly been seen at the Shoreditch Festival.
Developed by Floating House Productions with funding from OpenVizor, the entire project was conceptualized by London based sensory interactive artist or love coach Katiushka Borges. The practicing Tibetan Buddhist artist aimed at incorporating a mystical experience within the floating gardens to allow visitors to immerse themselves in the beauty of the local culture and surroundings. London based Art and Design Studio Vahakn provided Oracle symbols that are chosen and interpreted by visitors to make the vessels more interactive.
The first of the two vessels is the Root Lounge that features a sculptural floating landscape with a catamaran below fashioned from two aluminum Grumman canoes. A central storage stump houses plywood ribs carved from CNC that provide the perfect offset to the floating grass landscape above it. With seating for 10 visitors, the Root Lounge allows visitors to sit, stand or recline over the grassy banks as they float over the water.
The Bowered Glade, the second vessel in the project, is basically a furnished isle run by an electric motor located in its hull. A pair of sturdy plastic pontoons holds the vessel afloat with an outstretched tree fashioned from CNC-carved plywood providing a stunning contrast to the forested floor and the splashing water. The backers of the project have not yet revealed whether a ride on these vessels will be charged or if it will simply be a part of the summer Olympic experience for visitors and tourists.
The leisure lounging experience provided by the two vessels of the Floating Garden project are sure to attract a lot of visitors during the summer when Olympic frenzy envelops the city and serve as the perfect platform for London to showcase its less-frequented urban waters as well as the dynamic natural beauty of its countryside.
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