Birds Eye View is located in a high point amongst a wooden area; with visitors at first encountering giant leaf shapes made from wood whose profile form the shape of a bird. Bar’s source of inspiration for the work came from the chance finding of 2 leafs on the floor, their position reminding him of the shape of a bird in profile. A moment of visual chance, the work takes this concept into architecture, revealing the bird shape only from one point of view, adding depth to the visual playfulness, allowing the reveal only as the public explores the location.
From another approach you only see the leaf shapes gradually transform into stairs entering an interior space. Once inside the platform itself you discover a beautiful Birds Eye View of Mount Asama, an active volcano in central Japan seen across the landscape.
Standing 9 metres in height the bird structure is discovered amongst the trees, harmoniously using a single tree trunk as support for the view house, reminding you of how Bar usually constructs illustration with simple geometric shapes, using an economy of form to allow the audience a sense of discovery and storytelling.
Birds Eye View, Komoro, Japan
Program: belvedere
Design: Noma Bar
Client: Momofuku Ando Center
Completion: 2015