EXQUISITE YOGA PLATFORM
GRACES CEMETERY POINT PARK
2024 November 22
GRACES CEMETERY POINT PARK
2024 November 22
On Friday, November 22, 2024, seventeen graduating University of Florida architecture seniors celebrated the culmination of three months’ work: the designing and building of a yoga platform.
Built entirely of cedar, the 20 by 16 foot platform sports an instructor’s upper platform, a large practice space, a bench, stairs upon which to climb or be seated and a graceful white and blue canopy that eases the sun’s rays. The structure is elegant, graceful, and consummately useful.
When asked what the intention of the piece was, students echoed Cedar Key. “We wanted it to reflect a combination of water, boats, waves, peace, and what is essentially Cedar Key,” one student remarked. The entire structure is made of warm cedar wood; the canopy reflects the blue and white of the sky and the clouds while it shades; and the base of the structure resembles the hull of a strong vessel. Indeed, the students achieved what they intended…quite magnificently.
In August, students began their semester-length Design/ Build architecture course with Professor Charlie Hailey, architect, writer, and School of Architecture, University of Florida, professor, Hailey received a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fulbright Scholarships, and has authored six books focusing upon multidisciplinary approaches to the built environment.
Hailey’s Design/Build course is designed to have students interact with a community, explore a need/project, design that project, and build it from the ground up, working with the community throughout the process. Students met the community representatives in August, initially returned every two weeks to further design and building concepts, and finally returned weekly to finalize the construction project.
Professor Charlie Hailey expressed pleasure and delight with his students and their product. “This was an amazing group of students; they are uniquely academic, creative, as well as practical, all very necessary qualities for successful architecture. We also really appreciate the chance to work with the Cedar Key community again. Additionally, this group was a complete pleasure with whom to work.”
Hailey has brought other Design/Build students to Cedar Key through the years, each class producing a project. A viewing bench and a sculpture bench once graced the Northwest shore of Cemetery Park, recently downed by hurricanes. The boat-like gathering bench behind the Welcome Center is another such structure. Perhaps one of the finest projects is the Muir gathering place located where the cemetery boardwalk meets Cemetery Park.
All of Hailey’s students seem to have internalized what is central to Cedar Key thinking: water, waves, peace, calm, and pensiveness.
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