LA PORTFOLIO

Cornell University | Ithaca, NY | BA Landscape Architecture '14

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Multi-Layered, Wooden Maps Reveals Hidden Underwater Landscapes

Washington-based husband-and-wife team Robbie and Kara Johnson have opened up an online store—“Below The Boat”—that offers beautifully-made, multi-layered wooden maps that shows what lies beneath lakes, rivers and oceans.

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The Necessity for Ruins, Terrain Vague - Jackson, Sola-Morales

John Brinckerhoff Jackson, author of "The Necessity for Ruins," defines the term 'monument' in several ways, one being "an object that is supposed to remind us of something important." He further develops this definition, saying that "it exists to put people in mind of some obligation that they have incurred." (Jackson 91) tbc

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Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" - Representation of Environment in Animation

Hayao Miyazaki's animated films are well noted by long-time fans and newcomers alike. His films are visually stunning, with beautifully crafted stories that highlight important topics with a simple approach. The messages portrayed in his films could be described as "subtly clear;" Miyzaki keeps the meaning behind his films constant, yet appeals to the imaginative audience with fluid animations, inventive worlds and, my personal favorite, the occasional panning of a vastly endless landscape in which the story takes place, coupled with gentle notes of a memorable piano piece. Many of Miyazaki's films focus on the importance of landscape, nature and the environment. One example of his films that touch upon the quiet, yet dangerous, beauty of nature is "Princess Mononoke" (1997).

Princess Mononoke's message as an environmental film is very apparent, but the film conveys its meaning in the creative manner of an old legend. In this film, the good or evil side is not clear, which is an aspect of many of Miyazaki's films. Instead, both sides (the humans vs. the animals of the forest) are misunderstood and blinded by hatred and rage. Both sides feel that the solution is violence instead of finding compromise. The forest is a home for the animals while an obstacle for the humans for harvesting iron for their industry. Ashitaka, a young prince who finds himself amidst the chaos, is the only one who initially understands the uselessness of taking sides. The Forest Spirit, a graceful deer-like god of the forest, represents the gentle mediator of nature, neither fighting nor participating in the battle for the forest. It simply does its job of giving and taking life, a characteristic that defines the cycle of the environment. The Forest Spirit's presence conveys the balance that we must maintain between humans and the environment, that neither side should fully take over and that we must live in harmony with each other. This idea of the balance of nature and industrial is one that my group is applying to the Gowanus Canal in NYC.

Another important theme of Princess Mononoke is self-sacrifice. The forest eventually becomes desecrated from the battle between the animals and humans. The Forest Spirit sacrifices itself to cleanse the land, animals, and humans, and is a moving final scene to the film. The rebirth of the land is shown, with vegetation growing over fallen ruins of human structures. The forest is not fully revived, but is showing signs of a future. This scene, I believe, conveys the fact that destruction is a quick process with a slow, yet promising, solution. This theme can be applied to the Gowanus; the solution for its many issues is not one solved overnight, but is a process that takes time with an absolute future.

This film deviates from the conventional "good defeats evil" notion that many of today's movies and animations use as a main message. Instead, Princess Mononoke focuses on establishing a balance in the world between two opposing forces. The Gowanus landscape represents a battle lost by nature, and an industry that eventually fell out of use. If nature were to be restored to the Gowanus in the form of a forest, it could be used by the city as a "working forest industry," which establishes a kind of harmony between the environment and man, the way that Miyazaki intended in his films.

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Representation of natural corridors occurring in the urban environment of the Gowanus Canal area in Brooklyn, NYC. The sky functions as a natural corridor for native birds such as the House Finch and House Sparrow. Eastern Gray Squirrels use roads as corridors to cross into the fragmented habitats of an urban setting. The squirrel's use of roads as corridors is not ideal due to high traffic impeding their path.

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AD Round Up: Urban Projects Part I

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Infrastructure, Urbanism and Landscape - Kazys Varnelis, Pierre Belanger, and Charles Waldheim

The articles "Networked Ecologies" by Kazys Varnelis, "Landscape as Infrastructure" by Pierre Belanger, and "Landscape as Urbanism" by Charles Waldheim discuss the roles of infrastructure and urbanity in the natural landscape.

In Varnelis's article, the author's focus is on the power of infrastructure in supporting a functioning city, using Los Angeles as a heavy example. Varnelis sites that it was infrastructure that allowed Los Angeles to flourish in an otherwise uninhabitable site; "Los Angeles is sited on inhospitable terrain, located where the continent runs out of land. No city should be here. Its ecological footprint greater than the expansive state it resides in, Los Angeles exits by grace of infrastructure." (Varnelis, 9) Infrastructure can be defined as follows: "[the] basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function." (Wikipedia) Without the backbone that is infrastructure, great cities such as Los Angeles would not thrive as they do now.

Belanger's article begins with citing important events around the late 1960s, ultimately leading to his topic of choice; the quality of bodies of water in America, which is an important subject to the very-polluted Gowanus Canal in NYC. He believes that, in reference to the pollution of the Great Lakes, "1967 represents a turning point in the history of North America as a period that left a legacy of industrial pollution, infrastructural decay, and pollutants on the contemporary landscape." (Belanger, 80) With a different understanding of the system of infrastructure, Belanger believes that this idea could "jumpstart a new era of remediation and redevelopment across North America." (Belanger, 80) tbc

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Unseen and Disbelieved: A Political Economist among Cultural Geographers - Richard Walker

In Unseen and Disbelieved: A Political Economist among Cultural Geographers, Richard Walker refers to Denis Cosgrove's essay on "the spectacle" and its relationship to the landscape (Spectacle and Society: Landscape as Theater in Premodern and Postmodern Cities) and his argument with David Harvey's ideas on the illusion presented in pictures. Walker analyzes the ideas presented by Cosgrove and Harvey, providing his own views on the subject whilst linking them to cultural geography and even political economy.

Although Walker praises Cosgrove's essay on spectacle in the landscape, he also criticizes some of his views and points out contradictions in his writing. Walker notes that;

"The sort of intellectual history practiced by Denis Cosgrove is perched precariously on the top of the social pyramid. Within the new cultural geography lies an unresolved contradiction between Cosgrove's perorations on grand piazzas and Palladian villas and declarations on the importance of popular culture by Peter Jackson on vernacular cityscapes by Paul Groth. What is the intersection of landscape as high culture with the world constructed by ordinary people?" (Walker, 163)

What Walker may be implying with this question is that these landscapes in the premodern era were created by those that were below what was considered high society (the ordinary people vs. the rich and royal). tbc

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Regenerative Design: Julie Bargmann

Julie Bargmann, a landscape designer whose interests lie in the idea of "regenerative design," does not view degraded, post-industrial landscapes as simply "problems to be fixed. They're much richer than that." (Small, 74). Bargmann sees the potential for creation in broken landscapes; not only does she bring something new to the area, she also highlights what was once present on the landscape. Bargmann's primary focus is landscapes that were once productive, such as "abandoned railroads, former manufacturing and mining sites, landfills and other brownfields. The resulting innovative and sustainable places she creates pay homage to what came before while offering a community something distinctively new." (Small, 74).

Bargmann and her team, D.I.R.T. Studio, aim to create areas of new growth over ruin which, in turn, help regenerate the landscape with methods such as "phytoremediation," which "detoxify the site using the plants that biodegrade contaminants." (Small, 75). For example, Bargmann and her team worked on a site of a former coal mine which was badly poisoned by acid mine drainage. The team implemented "a series of filtering systems that function like a 'giant ecological washing machine' to gradually, and visibly, transform the site." (Small, 75). Many of Bargmann's interventions deal with the natural properties of plant life, such as shade for energy conservation and storm water filtration. She also recycles material found on site to become part of the design, like concrete remains for a pathway system or chunks of brick and asphalt for mulch.

Julie Bargmann's approach to post-industrial sites is similar to the approach that should be taken in our project site, the Gowanus Canal. The canal is a reflection of a booming industry that has become obsolete, and the impact of such has left the Gowanus poisoned and uninhabitable by most life. There manages to be some life present in and around the canal, but the presence of the canal is a visual and ecological stress.

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The Forecourt, designed by Julie Bargmann's D.I.R.T. Studio.

"The screen provides a defense against solar gain (the architects are targeting the project for LEED Platinum certification), but the laser-cut perforation pattern, derived from an abstracted 1936 photograph of the U.S.S. Brooklyn, also offers a contemporary response to the original building’s historic ornamentation. “We wanted the new building to act in deference to the historic one,” Berman says. “The metal screen is almost like a theater curtain, pulling back to reveal the old Commandant’s house.” (Source)

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Spectacle, Theater and Landscape - Denis Cosgrove

The term spectacle can be defined on a variety of levels of understanding, it “could mean simple display or it could mean something to wonder at, something mysterious and magical. It could also take on the sense of a mirror through which truths that could not be stated directly could be seen reflected and perhaps distorted…it could mean an aid to more accurate vision, as in corrective eye lenses.” (101) Denis Cosgrove in Spectacle and Society: Landscape as Theater in Premodern and Postmodern Cities analyzes the roles of spectacle in theater represented in the landscape.

Cosgrove points out the intimate relationship between theater and landscape in early Europe; “Sixteenth-century Europe witnessed both the emergence of landscape as a new way of representing human relations with the physical environment and, in the humanist search for truth through analogy and correspondence…” (101) From Cosgrove’s definition of spectacle as stated above, it is quite clear that spectacle and theater are closely intertwined. Theater is something considered as entertainment and often times “something mysterious and magical.” It is an interpretation of an idea, so it may not entirely be the truth, which is where spectacle comes into play. With this in mind, the landscape was often the foreground for theater, as further proven by Shakespeare’s notable quote “All the world’s a stage.”

Cosgrove then notes an interesting point about the connection between knowledge and theater using Giulio Camillo’s “memory theater” in Venice, which was constructed “as a mnemonic for all human knowledge.” (101) If spectacle is described as “truths that could not be stated directly could be seen reflected and perhaps distorted,” in the sense of it acting as a mirror, how can spectacle in theater be represented as something that holds “all human knowledge?” This brings up the suggestion of whether spectacle is something taken seriously or lightly. Because theater is considered entertainment, is it something that can be taken seriously? Cosgrove brings a different light to the role of theater and human knowledge; “Theater itself…meant a conspectus: a place, region, or text in which phenomena are unified for public understanding.” (101) Theater can be seen as a source of knowledge of spectators because, often times, it is an interpretation of an idea or historical event in the form of a story. This can be linked with the Native American culture, where stories were the main method of relaying information and knowledge to younger generations.

The Gowanus is truly a spectacle. There are many mysteries surrounding the condition of it and the space it occupies. With the Gowanus’s many spectacles, such as its discolored water and concrete, decrepit surroundings, one cannot miss the story the canal tells in these forms. The argument presented in the essay concerning the visual truths in landscapes can be linked to the Gowanus in which it is quite obvious that there is no “deceptive mask that hides deeper, less attractive realties.” (99) All of this can be directly linked to Camillo’s “memory theater,” as mentioned before. Do landscapes have the capacity to hold memories and, in this way, convey knowledge of its history? This idea reminds me of Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried (in which the author reflects his experiences in the Vietnam War through a semi-fictional series of characters and stories) where, at one point, the protagonist views a simple field in Vietnam as a deadly battle zone from his past. Depending on one’s interpretation of a landscape, one can understand the truths in which it holds. In this way, spectacle, theater, and landscape are all connected in various ways, both directly and indirectly.

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Technology Matters - David E. Nye

Technology can be interpreted in many ways. Could technology be applied to something as simple as a child's toy truck? Or does it have to be mechanical, with gears and springs and buttons and glowing lights? Could it even appear in nature? David E. Nye explores the definition, opportunities, effects, and origins of technology and its relationship with humanity.

Nye begins with evolution, not the first thing one would think of with technology in mind, but he makes several unique connections between the two. Nye uses the example of a chimpanzee utilizing a twig to fish out termites as a means of technology appearing in nature. Because the chimp used the tool with forethought, it is an exceptional case. While other animals use natural materials for building nests, constructing damns, etc., rarely do they appear to use tools to satisfy their survival needs. Crows in dense urban areas have actually adapted to dropping hard-shell nuts into the streets, where they would be cracked open under traffic. Would this be considered a tool, or even technology, appearing in nature?

Technology has had an important factor in the evolution of humanity. Nye states that "one might argue that humanity fashioned itself with tools" (4). Humans, although just a tiny speck on the timeline of the Earth, have advanced in technology at an incredible speed. In this sense, the simplest of tools crafted by humans paved the way to what the world is today.

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Map of a transect exercise observing abandoned trash found in an area of downtown Ithaca, NY. The purple line indicates the proposed transect, while the black dotted line represents our route along the transect.

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Defining Urban Sites - Andrea Kahn

Urbanity is a fairly straight-forward term to the general public. It is the city, intricately gridded, mapped with the utmost accuracy, and completely closed off and away from the rural countryside. But what defines the boundaries of a city? And must there always be a boundary when it comes to an urban site? Andrea Kahn addresses these questions and challenges other theories concerning city planning in her essay "Defining Urban Sites."

Kahn provides an interesting point on the definition of urban; "In design discourse, the qualifier "urban" attaches to the concept of site to no significant effect. This should not be the case. When representing urban sites...designers draw on concepts, terminologies, and graphic conventions that pertain to all kinds of sites, in general" (281). Simply attaching the word "urban" to an idea or design is not enough to qualify it as such. Kahn stresses the importance of understanding all types of sites, and how each kind interconnects and relates to each other. Urbanity should not be seen only as a bordered city district, and Khan further shows this through examples in history.

Leonardo da Vinci's sketches of Milan, circa 16th century, and the ideal Renaissance plan of Palmanuova by an anonymous designer in 1713, are compared relative to the term "urban" and what defines a border. The Palmanuova plan is seen floating alone in an empty space, enclosed in its own world. There seems to be no connections to anything outside of its walls, and exists as an intricate, flower-like shape of carefully mapped streets and buildings. Da Vinci's sketches of Milan, on the other hand, define his observant and messy style while deviating from the Palmanuova plan's style. The Milan plan seems to exist in a visual language meant only for da Vinci, while a perspective of the city is drawn below the Milan city plan, almost breaching its walls. Kahn describes da Vinci's sketches as is follows; "Its boundaries remain porous, its figure incomplete" (284).

Unlike the Palmanuova design, which appears solidified and set, da Vinci's Milan sketches are open, allowing the opportunity for growth/change if need be. It is a known fact that cities are constantly growing, and it is essential to address possible additions and changes to a city and its components. Kahn continues to describe da Vinci's planning methods; "In Leonardo's image no border divides site from situation. Rather than equating boundary with a line of separation, this sketch encourages viewers to ask how and urban site is linked to its outside" (284). The point here is that the urban site can, in fact, be linked to the outside. It is essential in all cases of urban sites, and that there is no need for such harsh borders to be defined.

Urbanity certainly does not live up to the stereotypes that are often applied to its definition. It functions as a complex system, as Andrea Kahn explains, but is also fluid and open to change. Urban sites are not defined by borders or lines of separation, but thrive on connections to other sites, whether they are urban or rural.

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“Return To The Batcave” by Jake Dobkin

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Object-Oriented Philosophy - Graham Harman

"Object-Oriented Philosophy," by Graham Harman, is introduced in an unexpected manner, first lightly touching upon the philosophy of speech and consciousness in the human. From just the first few paragraphs, it is apparent that Harman expresses his ideas in a complicated, yet enigmatic manner, although uniquely interesting. One quote that stood out concerning the subject of linguistic philosophy is as follows, "The ostensibly revolutionary transition from consciousness to language still leaves humans in absolute command at the center of philosophy" (94). He may be alluding to the fact that humans believe that philosophy can only exist in the realm of the human conscience. Harman continues to describe the parallel of the human environment with that of the inanimate environment, and that it is "...treated as little better than dust or rubble" (94). Harman appears to be focusing on the philosophy of the human versus that of an inanimate world. He further describes the actions of nature in comparison to that of humans. His description concerning this theory, as well as the connection between humanity and the inanimate world, is beautifully poetic;

"Red billiard billiard ball smacks green billiard ball. Snowflakes glitter in the light that cruelly annihilates them, while damaged submarines rust along the ocean floor. As flour emerges from mills and blocks of limestone are compressed by earthquakes, gigantic mushrooms spread in the Michigan forest. While human philosophers bludgeon each other over the very possibility of "access" to the world, sharks bludgeon tuna fish and icebergs smash into coastlines." (94)

Harman creates a stunning, yet terribly destructive, parallel with the human environment and that of nature, or the inanimate environment. The "inanimate" environment coexists with that of the human environment, seen on the same basic levels as our perceived world. As Harman chillingly compares the "bludgeoning" of human philosophers to that of sharks and their prey, there is a sort of specialized philosophy present in nature.

Another quote gives rise to a very different perspective of the many forms an object can assume and how it affects its identity, "The wood in a primitive sword and that in a modern windmill occupy utterly different niches of reality, unleash completely different forces in the world" (96). This creates the following questions; Does philosophy in objects develop with time as it has developed with humans? Or is it directly influenced with how humans interact with said objects? Does philosophy in objects only exist in the mind of the human?

Harman introduces yet another interesting perspective to how an object's identity is directly affected by the human, "[the bridge] too has a vastly different reality depending on whether I cross it on the way to a romantic liaison or as a prisoner underway to execution" (96). The idea presented in this quote can be connected to how one traverses a landscape, depending on their mission or mindset, and how it can literally carve out an identity for the landscape. In this way, objects are highly dependable on how humans perceive them, which may be a suitable description for "object-oriented philosophy."

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Gowanus Canal, NYC

(Photo: A. Jesse Jiryu Davis)

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Brooklyn in 1766, including Gowanus Creek (from Wikipedia)