© Heywood Chan
- Architects: Gensler
- Location: Occidental Square, 117 S Washington St, Seattle, WA 98104, United States
- Lead Architect: Andy Su
- Team Members: Amber Fulgham, Daichi Yamaguchi, Dustin Rowland, Erin Osberg, Hong Joon Yang, Kaikang Shen, Keli Dean, Kim Le, Nate Williams, Sebastian Hernandez, Troy Charlesworth
- Area: 100.0 ft2
- Project Year: 2018
- Photographs: Heywood Chan
- Partners: Mortenson Construction, CPL Engineering, Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Corona Steel Inc, Precision Iron Works, Inc.
- Budget: $4,750
© Heywood Chan
Text description provided by the architects. Gensler Seattle recently unveiled ‘Blind Trust’, an interactive exhibit created for the 2018 Seattle Design in Public Festival. Blind Trust challenges visitors to use touch, rather than sight, as their primary means of navigation and interaction with the installation.
Sketch 1
© Heywood Chan
Visitors move through three concentric, rectangular extrusions formed by a rope stretched vertically between frames. While these tightly knit rope ‘walls’ appear impenetrable and visually homogenous, many of the ropes are actually elastic, allowing a participant to create an opening.
© Heywood Chan
In order to pass through each successive layer, visitors use their sense of touch to find possible paths. In the center of the rope forest is a clearing, open to the sky. This is intended as a moment of reflection for the participant, still visible to the street, but obfuscated by the layers of ropes.
© Heywood Chan
Sketch 2
© Heywood Chan