It seems natural that a trio of Sarasota-based architects from Venezuela, Kenya and Germany would design a project that would allow for simultaneous communication around the globe. This team proposes a series of free wireless zones or "islands" around the world so that a rally in Tampa might connect simultaneously with people in, say, a zocalo in Mexico, The Mall in Washington, D.C., and Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
The group took their inspiration from the agora, a public gathering place and heart of the Greek form of participatory democracy, and from the Greek theater, which the architects describe as "the most successful conceptual space for public expression." The Greek theater was generally built along an existing curve of land, which was further sculpted and then augmented with seating and a stage. Like Elena Vee, the group also chose Curtis Hixon Park as the local site for their project.
Their idea is to create a series of artificial topographies at varied elevations in order to reflect various points of view and offer different areas for separate groups to congregate at the same time without interfering with each other. Each area offers different seating and performance structures and configurations.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2004.