I know, it's sounds like one of those cool fantasy adventure books with gnomes and elves who glow in the dark, right?
Well, it's ACTUALLY about a part of the project you haven't seen... Because we didn't make it yet!
You see, we originally designed a beautiful gateway for the Tree of Light plaza at Motus Square. But you don't see it in this image:
We hadn't designed it for the original pitch! Also, it'd be off-screen to the left in this image anyway.
It was decided that we'd need a gateway to control access so you have to COME IN to experience the Tree of Light.
Otherwise, tourists will just treat it as a "drive-by" experience, where they hop out of a vehicle, pose for some pics, and move along. We have plans for events and workshops, classes and special things that partner with local B n B's etc so locals can get some benefit as well. So we needed an entry essentially.
Also, we REALLY wanted it to be like WOW! Here it is! THIS is it! 😀 Make entering a big deal and an experience all it's own.
I also wanted to tie it in with the heart sculpture I designed, which lives a few blocks down the road.
Here's my original sketch of the heart:
So we took some elements of the heart and built on them- like the scrolls, the heart shape, and the big "open your heart" keyhole. Here's my digital design:
See how that works? We moved the heart up, opened the center a bit, added a door-sized keyhole entry, and some fun scrolls and hearts to support it all! This design is about 15 feet wide and over 12 feet tall. Here's my visualization in place:
It's very similar in feel to how the heart is coming together (still working on that now, more details soon! Here's a pic of that:
They're like art cousins, right?
But then, of course, we ran into a few snags 😊
First, it turns out that were NOT leasing the entire space I designed it to fit into! That driveway in the photo...
The neighbor's property line cuts into it by about 3 feet! Laiji is owned by 4 or 5 families who control different strips of land- a cousin here, a brother there, maybe inlaw's. I could shrink the whole design, but that would make the door too skinny to walk through.
Also, the Tree of Light budget went a bit over so we don't have the means to build it right now.
But it's on the table still, as we're planning some more elements to the space that require a gateway to get in, some fencing, etc.
So stay tuned! I bet you'll see it in the next few months 😉