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| Bernd and Hilla Becher: Anonymous Sculpture |
Much of our research and design work this semester will be systemic and typological. Consider the following as you conduct preliminary research for tomorrow and beyond:
Systems
By focusing on systems,
we highlight the connectivity of a given site with the broader
ecological conditions, economic forces, and urban patterns that
contribute to the textures of a place. So, for example, when we stand at
the Lock and Dam tomorrow, you might ask yourself (and hopefully have
already somewhat looked into this):
•Where is this water coming from? Sounds obvious, but
really, where is it coming from? North Dakota? Chicago? What is the
watershed we are dealing with here at this one spot?
•We are at lock #26. Is there a lock 25? 24? 1? 0?
•If there is a barge passing through, what is in the
barge? Where is it coming from? What does it connect up with? Extractive
industries in Minnesota? Agriculture in Nebraska?
Type
By focusing on type, we highlight the tensions between
specificity and generality--between what makes a
landscape/infrastructural element both responsive to its immediate
context as well as part of a family of design decisions.
•What are the categories of elements? Weir? Dam? Bank? Levee? Parking lot? Wetlands?
•What are the recognizable forms? Shape? Elements?
•How
does it work? Why does it work in the way it does? And when does it
cease to work--i.e. when does it fail? Limit conditions.
•What are their orientation? To the immediate site and to fundamentals like north-slopes, south-slopes, river-side, land-side?
