Slopewalk/ing with Nonhumans
Flora and fauna have long been kept at bay by the borderlines created by human constructed environments. More often than not we have tended to either ignore or suppress an awareness of the enormous number of nonhumans around and inside our living spaces. Except for pets cohabitating in our artificial structures, insects, birds, and animals have long been considered an imaginary domain outside of our zone of deep care. Only now, as we approach the prospect of a cataclysmic deterioration of all biomes in our planetary ecosystems, are some substantial signs of awakening beginning to emerge that call into question traditional boundaries created by human architecture and infrastructure.
Evidence of a shift in consciousness concerning the relationship between living things and the built environment may be found in a bridge designed in South Korea in 2019. Here, we are offered a different perspective, one that enunciates with subtlety and grace an alternative solution wherein design enables the coexistence of humans and animals. Moreover, it is a conception that accommodates a fundamental shift in thinking about prospective options that will serve us better in incoming times.
Concerning animals, complex concepts are surfacing in a belated attempt to redress our damage to their natural existence. A few examples include wilding — a "leave-alone" type of ecological restoration — rewilding — an engineering of mostly animal restoration of an area of land — and cohabitation — a more equitable and integrative view of the relations between humans and nonhumans. In different parts of the world, one relevant approach has been to construct tunnels, viaducts, and bridges for an array of animals, in order to avoid or alleviate the fragmentation of their habitats by allowing them to continue to traverse their natural necessary paths of migration.
Cohabitation with nonhumans is a notion that is essential to be seriously considered in design and architecture for our future. A remarkably instructive model for considering humans and animals as equal users is the Yangjaegogae Eco Bridge. The concept of biological equity through design defines the uniqueness of its conception. The Yangjaegogae Eco Bridge was designed by the Vilnius-based team KILD Architects — Ivane Ksnelashvili, Petras Išora, Ona Lozuraitytė and Dominykas Daunys — winners of a competition run by the South Korean government in 2019. The Eco-Bridge, or Slopewalk as denominated by the designers, is adjacent to the city of Seoul, and its orientation over a busy highway reunites the natural link between the peaks of Mount Umyeon and Mount Maljukgeori.
What is most striking about this overpass is the way in which it includes pathways for both animals and humans. The one for animal traffic is intended to help wildlife safely cross the gap now made perilous by the interstate. This thoroughfare functions as well as an area where animals may forage and meander freely. Additionally, the wider entry points of the bridge allow easy accessibility for animals. Alongside this landscaped lane, but separate from it, runs a straight and flat footpath for human hikers to experience and enjoy the landscape. Walkers, strollers and hikers can appreciate the surrounding mountain views, enjoy the gardens and observe animal behavior with minimal disturbance to the co-users of this bridge.
Slopewalk, constructed principally of steel and wood, is a proportionally narrow structure, approximately 400-feet long, that is anchored to the ground only at both extremities. It is a flexible-looking suspended platform, slightly twisted like a ribbon, giving both protection from the wind and sunlight in some areas, while enabling a view of Seoul from a platform located at the bridge’s centerpoint. The structure's internal slopes and the irregular configuration of the animal area provide organic reliefs to the traditional Korean-inspired gardens covered with local vegetation. The landscaping of the bridge merges seamlessly with the natural green surroundings of both summits. Additionally, the walkway contains an integrated water collection and irrigation system for the maintenance of the gardens, including an artificial stream. As a whole, the floating structure attracts animals with a new source of water and food, serving as a microsphere that encourages local biodiversity.
The hierarchical way with which humans have constructed our artificial environment, in addition to the hazardous manner we have interplayed with the natural domain, has put our existence in danger. And that is where the problem lies. Our interaction with the physical world needs to urgently pivot towards a more equitable relationship with all forms of living beings. The conception of the Eco-Bridge is a case of a respectful integration of human and animal life, an exemplary and inspirational template to reflect upon for future ecologically-informed design and architecture. Slopewalk bridges our human needs with those of non-humans in a paradigm shift, presaging the dismantling of old ways of thinking and the vanishing of the walls that separate us.
