Saumon Oboudiyat
M.Arch ‘17
Thesis: An Institute for Third Landscapes
“The Third Landscape designates the sum of the space left over by man to landscape evolution - to nature alone. It is up to the political body to organize ground division in such a manner as to assume responsibility for these undetermined areas…” | -Translated from Manifeste du Tiers Paysage by Gilles Clément. An Institute for the Third Landscape (I.TL) is a thesis rooted in the tradition of allegorical architecture, to remain un-built and unfinished but is not incomplete. In its deep structure, it pursues constructing a framework which expands architectural thinking into ruralism as a territory with rich cultural handles, albeit less frequented in academic architectural discourse today. Latent with generative potential, we situate the work within The Enchanted Highway (E.H.): a 32-mile road between Gladstone and Regent, ND. Renamed by local maverick and metal-sculpturalist Gary Greff, the E.H. carries itself as an open air theatre punctuated by seven metal sculptures of surrealist scale relative to its surrounding landscape. Greff’s work ambitiously utilizes optical regiments of the highway through the rural landscape to augment the presence of his work, and remediate Regent’s presence through a new social constructionism. As a companion, the I.TL. imaginatively reconsiders what means can be achieved from framing other quiet realities produced by the routines and effects of ruralism along the E.H. One such reality lies in what is left after agricultural practices have cut their form from the fabric of the terrain: the Third Landscape. The I.TL is thus a prototype, an assembly of active agents who deploy over the landscape to document, negotiate, and bring attention to the residual landscapes in rural practice. Its potential is in the making: a receptacle for chased varieties, annex for rural flotsam, an institution for archiving undetermined areas which remain...
