A Measured Landscape

a measured landscape a series of intervening acts

Kristin SaundersArch 500

Shannon Chriss StudioDepartment of Architecture and Urban Design

University of Kansas

a measured landscapeKristin Saunders

Arch 500Shannon Chriss Studio

Department of Architecture and Urban DesignUniversity of Kansas cover image from Alex McClean, aerial photographer

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measuring

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dwellingVillo woodsChisholm DriveOwens Lane

re-defining

a series of interventionswaste watersolar claimgarage infillthresholdnatural corridorintersection repairtea gardenseasonal room

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suburb:low density residential

development surrounded by other areas of single-use zoning,

characterized by:

car dependency larger-scale developments homogeneity in design

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How does design isolate

‘where we live’ from ‘how we live’ ?

defining

Humans are, as a species, powerful enough to control and alter nature, but should this be our goal? Levels of resource consumption have risen parallel with the rise of environmental problems in America. Our methods of controlling nature rather than living in a dynamically balanced relationship with the natural environment have created larger environmental problems than those we were trying to control. Architecture exists, in its purest form, to resist and protect us from nature. Architecture, however, also has the potential to facilitate a dynamic and sustainable relationship; one responsive to the natural environment.

Human beings seek shelter: in all parts of the world, in all levels of society, we seek shelter. Shelter provides protection for our bodies, from nature’s elements and from each other, keeping us safe and comfortable in an impressively diverse variety of ways. Shelter also provides a haven for our minds and spirits. It is a place for self-expression and interaction with the natural environment. These less tangible aspects of shelter fall into acts of sheltering, or our dynamic relationship with the built environment. Although architects design the physical shelter, they also have the capacity to shape the possibilities for more creative and expressive acts of sheltering. Since humans are dynamic and mobile beings, and the

environment around us is also dynamic and mobile, why do our places of shelter tend to be static and unresponsive?

Shelter vs. ShelteringActs of shelter and sheltering are codependent entities. The commodified house, the static object incorporating materials and structural relationships are relevant to shelter which embodies the physical substance of the house.

Sheltering, on the other hand, addresses the ways in which our bodies and emotions respond to measures of time, the connection between our lives and the powerful rhythms of nature, issues of seasonal changes, and connections to the landscape. Architectural items of shelter have the capacity to exemplify and reveal the intangible characteristics of nature. Where are the gaps in modern housing design which isolate the suburban inhabitants from their natural, poetic, and rhythmic surroundings?

defining �

“Actions taken upon the land either precipitate or

preclude the possibilities for

more wholesome and harmonious modes of

dwelling.’ me

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-James Corner

images: Photo by Alex McLean accessed at http://www.alexmaclean.com/index.

12 13measuring measuring

The topic of measurement embodies a large array of possibilities. Measuring is a human’s way of assigning a logical and systematic amount to intangible aspects of our world, assigning numbers to a phenomena according to a rule. Some modes of measurement are used for specific amounts (size, pressure, weight) and use specific tools (scales, barometers, gauges), while other forms of measurement are less clearly definite (beauty, love, the nature), and these are measured with more ambiguous tools (paintings, poetry, time). In this study, I will look at historical methods of measurement to understand how humans have accommodated the intangible aspects of a space with the immediate need to measure and divide.

Measurement and ownership in America are seemingly inseparable. Early settlers introduced fences and property lines into a previously unmeasured and (by our standards) ‘wild’ landscape, these became an invasive species settlers could not divine the consequences of. Many Native Americans practiced social rights rather than a natural right to the land, usufruct rights.1 European settlers viewed the land, legally, as waste believing that Native Americans had no legal claim to the land since they did not ‘improve’2 it. This transition from a communal to a private ownership is fundamental in understanding the current state of land ownership. Land is not owned because it

is useful, it is owned because it is fenced in and paid for, “once transferred into private hands, however, such lands became abstract parcels whose legal definition bore no inherent relation to their use: a person owned everything on them, not just specific activities which could be conducted within their boundaries.”3

During the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, America was a blank space for Genoese, Spanish and Portuguese navigators. The land’s incomprehensible vastness resulted in a strikingly different treatment of the landscape. Geometrical measurements, latitude and longitude, rendered this landscape comprehensible and measurement became a way of making sense out of the contingencies of nature. Mapping offered a way of controlling nature as well as human rivalries, balancing both social and safety constraints.

Ultimately, the Land Ordinance of 17�5, along with Jeffersonian ideals, finalized this abstract form of measurement, reinforcing the cartographic foundation of American spaces. Land was parceled off in six-mile square packages, and further divided to provide a seemingly equal portion of land for all Americans in the form of a grid extending from Ohio to Colorado. The endless rectilinearly was imposed, “as if from above, with little or no regard for local variations in topography or ecology.”� The static,

geometrical lines ran regardless of nature’s curving, intricate, and most importantly, fluctuating patterns. This attempt to control nature was successful on an organizational level, and somewhat successful on all levels. Nature, however, has its instances, subverting the grid with sweeping rivers through the plains and irregular mountain ranges. It is remarkable that “these features of nature that seem out of place in a paper landscape rather than human measure seeming inappropriate in the context of such huge and ancient natural forces.“5

The yearning for control over nature, of a measurement which would render this natural American landscape inhabitable, and immediately profitable led to the complete commodification of the land and its resources. The nation became a place where land, previously unquantifiable, could be parceled off and sold, producing an apparently equal, democratic landscape. In the European making of the American landscape, invisible cartographic measurement predates the meeting with nature.� The relatively short life of this nation was built on principles of controlling nature, ‘improving’ it by abstracting its identity to the extent that, “what was on the land became largely irrelevant to their legal identity.”7

Theodore Roosevelt, in his address to the Conference of Governors

1 Usufruct rights-the right to use something as long as it is useful to you. Indians would ‘own’ a piece of land

as long as they were using it, cultivating it, living on it, grazing their animals on it, etc. They had no contact with

the colonist’s theories of ownership. This caused much conflict and confusion in early America.

2 ‘improve’-if land was uncultivated (by European standards) it was looked at as being ‘unimproved’, giving a

negative connotation to that land which was natural and pushed gave settlers an excuse for taking and cultivating

land which was left in its natural state or used (but not plowed or fenced in) by Native Americans.

3 Cronon, William. Changes in the Land. Hill and Wang: New York, 1��3 (p.7�)

� Corner, James and Alex McClean. Taking Measures Across the American Landscape. New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1��. (p. 1�)

in 1�0� praised the forefathers of this country for their attention to economic growth and management of the great North American windfall. He also acknowledges that “our position in the world has been attained by the extent and thoroughness of the control we have achieved over nature; but we are more, and not less dependent on what she furnished than at any previous time of history since the days of primitive man.”�

Because land was treated as a blank canvas, something we could control and manipulate, architecture’s main purpose became that of resisting nature’s dynamic rhythms rather than harnessing them. In Roosevelt’s address, following in the footsteps of a multitude of American leaders and visionaries, he calls for individual ownership, driven by many factors including prospects of economic growth. Although Roosevelt calls for individual ownership to instill responsibility, he knows the importance of a communal environmental action.

Deep Need for OwnershipEqual and commodified divisions of the land are reflections of America’s deep need for ownership in a measured, controlled community. Owning a home, a lot of one’s own, is a patriotic act�, fulfilling the coveted American Dream. This quest for ownership is not in itself the problem, but has led to a disconnection

5 Corner, James and Alex McClean. Taking Measures Across the American Landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1��. (p. �)

� Corner, James and Alex McClean. Taking Measures Across the American Landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1��. (p. 5)

7 Cronon, William. Changes in the Land. Hill and Wang: New York, 1��3 (p. 75)

� Roosevelt, Theodore. “Opening Session and Address by the President” Proceedings of a Conference of Governors, 1908. Washington: Government Printing Office, (p, �)

� a patriotic act- although this was evident before WWII during the implementation of Thomas Jefferson’s Homestead Act and the ideal Yeoman farmer, after the war, home-building was the basis for America’s consumer society, it was “the production for peace” . The failure of America to satisfy its citizens’ wants was a defence against socialism and a victory for free enterprise. Rome, Adam The Bulldozer in the Countryside. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2001 (p. 35)

1� 15measuring measuring

between landscape engagement and community-making. The problem lies in the belief that suburban tract houses, and their land lots, are independent entities. This treatment results in an unrelated series of lots, much like the Jeffersonian parcels. Adjacent lots are, however, contiguous to one another; relations are possible, present, and desirable. Interrelationships between properties need to be designed. One’s responsibilities cannot end at their lot line, an invisible line, where clear space divisions are made. This independent and static relationship rebels against a powerful and interdependent nature. Land should be “treated as part of one coherent plan and not in haphazard and piecemeal fashion.”10

As a result of this disconnection created by an invisible separation of lots, suburban dwelling became largely ‘volumetric’11 in design. Through volumetric delineation between private and public, between ‘mine’ and ‘yours,’ is very clearly expressed at the envelope of the home, a harsh threshold. The natural landscape is cut off from the interior and largely ignored. Ian McHarg, in his book Design With Nature, calls for designers to conform to nature rather than attempt to control it. If we are going to ‘own’ nature as we profess, we should consider its natural rhythms and fluctuations. Because nature is complex and interdependent, our actions in this landscape must also be interdependent.

Ownership needs to be a truly communal concept, as Theodore Roosevelt suggests.

10 Roosevelt, Theodore “Opening Session and Address by the President” Preceedings of a Conference of Governors,

1�0�. Washington: Government Printing Office, (p. 10)

11 Volumetric is the term used in suburban space—the fabric of dwelling to describe housing developments which were discontinuous, where ‘dwelling’ ends at the exterior of the home (refer to page 27 in this document) Chow, Renee. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002 p. (�)

“When we flatten and simplify

nature, we lessen the need for

many customarily repeated

acts that open choices for self

expression”-Ralph Knowles

1� 17measuring measuring

Natural MeasurementWhat contemporary forms of human measurement might produce creative and dynamic possibilities for human dwelling?

Historically, many communities practiced a natural form of measurement. Examples include terraced rice farming which measures the contours of the land in order to sculpt rice fields. Natural forms of measurement also include solar homes and practices, methods of natural ventilation, heating and cooling. Many ‘natural measurements’ have been abandoned in modern design. This disregard for the importance of natural systems has caused major environmental degradation such as dust storms, draught, and the environmental consumption of the suburban landscape. Measurement and attention of natural systems facilitates design which responds and integrates these systems. This is a design which allows for fluctuations in the natural environment rather than attempting to create a rigid system to control a dynamic force such as nature.

image: terraced rice farms in China, photo by Frank

Krahmer,

www.gettyimages.com

1� 1�measuring measuring

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Village Homes, an ‘eco-burb’,1 built in 1�75, displays how measurement can be used to respond to natural systems. From the conception of the design to its implementation, Village Homes responds to the natural and social environment. The ideology, which is also evidenced in its physical attributes, is a belief in the principle of the commons. This ideology says that the world’s natural resources are in finite supply and therefore, must be carefully managed by all. Physically, this is implemented in three levels of ownership: 1 private property-single family

2 group-owned property -�-� families

3 common ground-public

A family’s private home includes the fence-enclosed (therefore privatized) yard facing a narrow street, their home, and their back yard which abuts group-owned property which runs along the back of a row of houses.

Group owned property is managed by �-� families who communally decide how this area is used. Besides acting as natural, above ground storm water drainage (illustrated in the section). Common grounds include many types of recreation, formal and edible gardens.

The third level of ownership includes the common grounds dispersed throughout the development. The common grounds include play grounds, bike paths, orchards and gardens. Residents are allowed to pick fruits and vegetables from the common garden as they wish, taking care to leave some for neighbors. There are group harvests throughout the year for residents to participate in. The almond harvest is sold to neighboring communities, as well as kept within Village Homes. Profits from the almond sale pay for maintenance of the common grounds.

The entire design depends on a separation of infrastructures, and less emphasis is put on the automobile. Through many walking paths, residents can easily reach the common grounds. As well as taking advantage of the earth’s ability to grow and filter water, the neighborhood also uses the sun’s embodied energy to its advantage by orienting all of the homes on a north-south axis. Consequently, natural seasons at Village Homes do not go unnoticed.

images: Villiage Homes diagrams from Girling, Cynthia and Kenneth Helphand. YARD STREET PARK. New

York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1��

1 eco-burb- a sustainable, or ecologically conscience suburb, usually utilizing solar design, food production,

and natural storm water treatment.

20 21measuring measuring

The

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In the design of The Woodlands in Houston, Texas, water became the integrating process. By understanding water’s flow over ground, underground, and its effects on the soil, designers of The Woodlands were able to mimic the natural hydrological cycle. With this as their goal, they preserved soils of high permeability, floodplains and areas of dense and diverse habitat.

The Woodlands also gave priority to a separation of infrastructures. Within the development, bike and pedestrian paths wind through the homes, retail, and park areas as well as vehicular access roads.

images: The Woodlands plan from Girling, Cynthia and Kenneth Helphand. YARD STREET PARK. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1��

photo from The Woodlands’ website:http://www.thewoodlands.com/

exploring the

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-Renee Chow

2� 25reading reading

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In Suburban Space: The Fabric of Dwelling, Renee Chow analyzes residential neighborhoods based on the attributes of: dimension, access, claim, assemblage, and containment. Chow analyzes suburbs based on their ‘fabric’ or ‘volumetric’ qualities. As a result of this analysis the focus is shifted from the volumetric object and its inherent discontinuity to a fabric and its forced consistency.

For this analysis, drawings in the book represent the suburbs as a fabric, a continuous plan between interior and exterior, one house and its neighbors. The drawings represent what is actually presented in the homes; what is inhabited. In a series of overlays Chow looks at a range of attributes geared towards both architectural design and planning:

Dimension in this context refers to the sizes of activity spaces and the organization of these spaces within the dwelling fabric. Typically, sized spaces in a house are derived from the furniture configurations for specific activities. Chow looks at where these dimensions are derived from: front/side yard setbacks, functionality of the space or structural members.

Access refers to the act of moving within a house -- between, into, and through other spaces. These paths through a setting are a journey as well as an opportunity for view, light, and an occasional conversation. In volumetric settings, access is seen as purely a link between two points which need to be joined, a design focused on minimizing the space dedicated to movement. In more fabric settings access is more than an economical movement, “it is light and dark, narrow and wide, as well as gardens, courtyards, thresholds, and dining rooms.”1

Claim is the established control over an area by an individual or a group. This analysis maps the varying degrees of claim: public, neighborhood, household, and individual. Renee Chow explores example developments such as Levittown. Chow looks at how the spaces were

1 Chow, Renee. suburban space—the fabric of dwelling. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002 p. (5�)

2 Chow, Renee. suburban space—the fabric of dwelling. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002 p. (�)

designed to be claimed and how this claim has changed throughout their existence.

Assemblage represents all of the material elements which combine to form residential settings. This exploration examines the relationships between methods and patterns of construction and the actual spaces created.

Containment overlays examine the organization of privacy within a dwelling. It highlights the forms and organization of the material elements that define, limit, or bound activity spaces.

Through this series of overlays, the “contrast between the discontinuity of volumetric settings and the continuity of fabrics is immediately apparent.”2 A ‘volumetric’ setting is one where the neighborhood is characterized by boundaries and discrete object-like houses. A ‘fabric’ setting is one where the form of the house is not immediately apparent; by inhabitation the dwelling becomes a fabric of connections.


Dimensionthe sizes of spaces for inhabitation

Accesshow people move through a setting

Claimthe organization of privacy

Assemblagehow the form of the house is built

Containmenthow they establish control over a space

“The subject of suburban space is not the house or yard, neighborhood or region, each discrete and independent of the others.”

-Renee Chow

images: from book, Chow, Renee. Suburban Space--the Fabric of Dwelling. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.

2� 2�reading reading

Yard

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Yard Street Park, by Cynthia Girling and Kenneth Helphand, analyzes the entire suburban outdoor continuum, spanning the private domestic spaces of the yard to the public spaces of the street and park. For this analysis, Girling and Helphard redefine current notions of these open spaces.

YardThe suburban yard is made up of several pieces, the front, side, back and driveway. Conceptions and uses of these spaces are varied. The front yard serves as a showpiece, a ceremonial entryway. It also functions as a separation between the public realm of the street and the soft privacy of a home. The side yard accommodates many functions, mostly involving supportive infrastructures for the home: storage, utilities, and circulation. The closest and most fragile territorial boundary is also in the side yard, directly abutting a neighboring home. The back yard is more private and enclosed, providing space for family activities, pets, and vegetable gardens.

The driveway is the most ambiguous and anonymous space in the yard. It serves as a link between the technical domain (traditionally the man’s world) and the soft domain (traditionally the woman’s space). The driveway is a hybrid space. Encompassing identities such as the front yard, the

personal plaza and the courtyard, as well as being a gateway to an international transportation network. The driveway is social, commercial and recreational, supporting informal meetings, lemonade stands, and basketball games. It is where our fixation with technology and movement meets our desire for stability.

This analysis looks at the yard as a larger community landscape rather than an autonomous piece of private property. This continual landscape is really an alternating landscape of hard and soft surfaces, a dynamic rhythm in the residential neighborhood landscape.

30 31reading reading

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StreetThe street provides a connection to an interconnected network, always offering a chance to leave. It is also the spot of informal interactions and chance encounters. Streets also offer a backdrop for a variety of temporary cultures, street closures, parades, and children’s games.

ParkThe suburbs were conceived as ‘houses within a park’, today parks consist of ‘leftover’ spaces, land ill-suited for development. They are sometimes just an advertising hype reflecting a cultural desire for a shared space in an era of weak community interaction. Parks offer what yards cannot: chance encounters, strangers in a public space, places for large community events. This book’s analyzes views public parks as any residual space, in the heart of clover leafs, shadowed spaces beneath off ramps, immense unused paved parking, unused railway corridors, derelict industrial sites, small cracks between developments.

32 33reading reading

Research for this project exists in two parts: through literature reviews, and through a series of interviews conducted in Lawrence, Kansas. I interviewed residents in three neighborhoods, analyzing them using a set of terms which relay how the home and its inhabitants respond to rhythms found in nature. The three neighborhoods represent different design, economic and geographical conditions. I was not interested in a scientific comparison as much as building an intuition towards understanding the differences in the way these neighborhoods exist and that impact on its residents. Through this, I have also identified gaps in design which contribute to the living conditions of a neighborhoods inhabitants.

The terms used in Renee Chow’s Suburban Space analysis are too static for this analysis, I am interested in how buildings and human interactions respond to the natural environment. Renee Chow’s analysis was helpful in that she looked at dwelling as a continuous condition. This is very important in combating America’s historical treatment of land as an independent commodity. The Yard Street Park analysis only analyzes exterior environment, stopping at the envelope of the house. This analysis is interesting because it looks at a more dynamic environment, yet does not treat ‘dwelling’ as a continuous existence.

For this purpose, I defined new terms and re-defined existing terms. I am interested in how people migrate, or how our

acts of sheltering follow (or oppose) the natural environment; claim, or how an individual or group organizes privacy in relation to the built environment; contain, or how material elements hold and indicate spaces; access, or how people move through a space (visually and physically and inhabit, or how people occupy and fill their spaces.

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Migrate refers to how our acts of sheltering follow (or oppose) rhythms of nature.

In the animal kingdom, many species (the most well known being birds) migrate depending on the season and the time of day. They respond to natural rhythms of seasons, reproduction, and the earth’s rotation. Some of these species carry their dwellings with them, while others build new dwellings along the way. In addition to the animal species, vegetation is in constant migration: river paths change, wind patterns vary consistent with the seasons, and forests are in constant states of fluctuation. The world we occupy is seasonal; actions such as sun, rain, and snow create highly differentiated ecosystems. Species migrate through careful measurement of these ecosystems.

Historically, humans have followed natural rhythms of migration. Space was conceived of with unusual freedom; rooms were not assigned a permanent purpose. In traditional Arabian Dwellings, rooms were unnamed and flexible. Families would migrate daily and seasonally, dependent on warmth and sunlight.

The Roman architect, Vitruvius, in The Ten Books on Architecture, wrote a chapter on proper room placement. In a section on dining rooms, he wrote, “winter dining rooms should have a

mig

rate

southwestern exposure; dining room for spring and autumn should face to the east; summer dining rooms to the north.”1 He recognized the need to articulate the design to capture the pleasures of being connected to natural rhythms through daily and seasonal migrations.

Modern ways of survival are no longer reliant on migration. Retirees drive RV campers south each winter to a warmer climate, and suburban dwellers close off sections of their homes in order to save money. The plans (figure 1) illustrate acts of migration and a current dwelling in Lawrence, Kansas. The residents, Terri and George, describe their seasonal migration. In the summer, they use most of the house very frequently, including the outdoor patio on the east side of the house. The structure consists of a great room with a tall vaulted ceiling. Because of the expanse of space within this room, it is uneconomical to heat during the winter months. During this time, this section of their house is virtually closed off and the residents dwell in smaller rooms which are easier to heat.

Although this is an example of seasonal migration, it is not the result of measuring natural conditions. It is a response to the conditioned housing trend. Natural heating and cooling are overlooked in the design.

1 Qtd. in Knowles, Ralph L. Ritual House. Washington: Island Press, 200�. (p. 23)

summer space: Areas in orange are occupied during the summer

winter space: Areas in blue are closed off during the winter to save on heating cost and environmental impact.


Claim refers to how an individual or group organizes privacy in relation to the built environment.

The plan at the left shows an example of this, the dark gray spaces are the most private, areas usually claimed by an individual; the medium gray illustrates those semi-public spaces, areas usually claimed by the household; the light gray represents public spaces, those spaces claimed by the entire neighborhood.

In this particular residence, most of the house, including the back yard is rendered ‘semi-private’. This home, as told by the resident, must have been designed for privacy. All the windows and social spaces are organized overlooking the back yard. This is part of the suburban condition, and is present in many modern suburban homes.

In an earlier section, I addressed the American Indian conception of property: the idea that nothing was owned by an individual unless it is used. In modern suburban homes, this concept would classify most front and back yards as ‘unused’, as well as many interior spaces. Many suburban back yards are ill-suited for planting, water collection, or physical activity because of their size, orientation to the sun, or steep slopes. One major contributing factor to this is measurement, or lack of. The land

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was measured with a complete disregard to natural systems, therefore, outdoor space occupies the leftover spaces, after development is complete.

Outdoor spaces are also left unclaimed due to their ambiguous nature. The front yard is private land because it is owned, yet there are few private activities on it. The front yard is exposed, it is a display space for the home. In my experience, approaching a home from the front is intimidating. You feel as if you are trespassing on private property and yet you are exposed to the street and public sphere. The front yard is not claimed as a fully private or fully public space, creating this ambiguity. Although the suburbs were conceived as a ‘house within a park’, the result was a diluted version of both. The disconnected suburban lot is not adequate as a park, and ownership takes precedence over community.

individual claim

household claim

neighborhood claim

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3� 3�reading reading

Contain addresses how material elements hold and indicate spaces.

This concept addresses the inhabitant’s material establishment of ownership over a space. This is typically accomplished using physical elements such as fences, doors, walls, solids and voids. Fences can be places of growth, containment of animals, or purely the physical evidence of a measured landscape. Many fences do not contain or keep out anything, they are merely a statement of property. These material elements which separate one property from another can be either intimidating or inviting. In comparison with city dwellers, suburban developments are surrounded by ‘moats of protection’. For example, homes are surrounded by expansive yards, retail establishments surrounded by half full parking lots. These spaces are contained through these voids. They appear inapproachable and defensive. In an urban environment, homes and apartments are contained in a diverse array of ways, usually involving a transition, or threshold from the street. Property blocks are stacked and molded instead of lying next to each other.

Forms of containment are also present in the natural environment, such as river banks, forest edges, and fields. The difference is, these forms of containment are in constant fluctuation and

con

tain

movement. They act in response to the natural world. images: left-the fence is a photo of a home in Lawrence, KS

right-a typical retail store at night, surrounded by a moat of parking

�0 �1reading reading

Access is the way that material moves through a space, both physically and visually.

Physical and visual connection through a neighborhood is important to a neighborhood’s behavior. In a volumetric development, major privacy thresholds are at the envelope of the home. Visual and physical access points are also at the perimeter. Windows are sparse and look into the house, not through it to the landscape, making homes more inwardly focused, more oblivious to the natural surroundings. Also, physical connections play a major role in the neighborhood’s behavior. Conversely, in neighborhoods which are more continuous and exhibit more of a fabric, access is continuous, everything is on the way to something else, leaving room for chance encounters. The front door is not a dead end, but a stopping point. Everything is connected. It is also important to examine access to other elements: sun, water, utilities. Are inhabitant’s access to nature controlled or encouraged? Access to water, for example, is planned by an engineer on a leveled site, devoid of its natural characteristics. In a natural setting, water’s paths are constantly fluctuating.

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�2 �3reading reading

Inhabit is how people occupy or fill (material or motion) their spaces.

Is a space owned if it is not inhabited? This form of ownership looks at the ways a space functions, the way it is used. Although the front yard is viewed as an ‘owned’ and therefore private piece of property, it is often ambiguous and unused. Why are front yards so prevalent in suburban landscapes? Their current functions are to frame or display the home and to separate the domestic realm from the public realm. As a result of their ambiguity, they are not performing this function. Are they outdated symbols of a protected approach, or a watered-down version of a park-like setting.

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“Sheltering...is

not simply about a

building but about a

course of repeated

actions in relation

to the building.”-Ralph Knowles

�� 7dwelling dwelling

To further understand how people interact with their environment in a suburban landscape, I conducted interviews in three neighborhoods of detached homes in Lawrence, Kansas. The interviews took place at three scales: a one-mile diameter, a neighborhood map, and an individual lot map.

Interviews, along with observation, will help to identify gaps in design which prevent the suburban inhabitant from a dynamic relationship with nature. They also identify the possibilities for more creative connections with the land. Interviews help me understand the ways in which inhabitants currently interact with their landscape, and then identify possible areas of intervention which would bring pleasure through an active engagement in their natural surroundings.

At the scale of the one mile map, I asked participants where they visit in a given week and what paths they take. The one mile diameter is considered by LEED1 to be a walkable distance. Here I can understand what needs are being met within a home’s walkable area

The neighborhood map is to understand how an inhabitant interacts with their immediate surroundings. I asked which neighbors they interacted with, spaces for gathering, gardens, and assess of water and waste.

one-mile map neighborhood map lot mapOn their individual lot map, I ask interviewees how they use spaces, claim their front and back yards, and arrange privacy. I also inquired about daily rituals: what spaces are inhabited at morning, night, winter, summer. These questions address issues of privacy and ownership.

1 LEED is an acronym for Leaders in Energy and Environmental Design. Their Green Building Rating System is a nationally recognized benchmark for rating the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. (www.usgbc.org/LEED/)

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The three neighborhoods in this survey display a range of suburban types as well as represent different areas and demographics of Lawrence, KS.

Villo Woods 1�th and Delaware Streets 3-� years old

Chisholm Drive 23rd and Lawrence Streets 35-�0 years old

Owens Lane 21st and Alabama Streets 50-�0 years old

The three neighborhoods represent different design, economic and geographical conditions. I realize multiple variables make it an non-scientific comparison. I was not interested in a scientific comparison as much as in identifying the differences in the way these neighborhoods exist and that impact on its residents. Through this i have also identified gaps in design which contribute to the living conditions of a neighborhoods inhabitants.

50 51 dwellingdwelling

Villo Woods is a �-year old neighborhood of 3� homes. The homes have small, 2-3 bedrooms and are on small lots. The neighborhood is bordered by an abandoned railroad track to the east and a creek to the west. These conditions are quite special and contain potential for creative and interesting spaces for recreation in support of its residents..

MigrateVillo Woods is a small, quiet neighborhood. Like many neighborhoods, the general daily migration has nothing to do with the position of the sun, instead people migrate to work and back. The neighborhood is primarily accessed by car, so even this migration, from the private to the public realm, is largely a private and individual affair: movement from a private home, to a private car, to a private office space. There is no enticement to enter any sort of public arena

ClaimHomes in this neighborhood are built with private spaces, such as bedrooms on the upper floor and the more public spaces on the lower floor, radiating off a central kitchen. Because this neighborhood is fairly new, there were not many alterations in room function. One resident mentioned using an upstairs bedroom as an office space because of its southern orientation. Unfortunately, this is the case in only six homes, since only six

homes are oriented north-south to take advantage of natural sunlight.

ContainVillo Woods is bordered by a creek to the west and north, which currently prevent foot travel travel from Villo Woods to bordering neighborhoods. It is also bordered on the east by an abandoned railroad track. This ‘dead space’ is planned to be used as a bike trail eventually. Currently, however, it is largely unused except by one resident who has planted a vegetable garden on the north side. Most residents bordering the railroad track have built high wooden privacy fences preventing views and also access to this area. Access to the creek is better, residents have built some fences, but they are largely metal and visual access is permitted. There are plans to turn the north edge of the neighborhood into a playground bordering the creek.

‘Containment’ on an individual lot scale is also important, and in this case obvious. All homes have small front yards which border the wide road. These looming voids end abruptly at a largely private home-envelope: private, because of the lack of visual and physical access. Entering a resident’s yard, and home, is a deliberate choice, not a chance encounter. Although residents own the land from the home to the street, front yards are largely, unclaimed spaces. In addition, resident’s front yards are half-paved-in concrete: the driveway.

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AccessAs mentioned, Villo Woods is primarily accessed with the automobile. Although the neighborhood is within a walkable distance to Massachusetts Street and other downtown amenities, most residents use their vehicles to get around. This means of transportation is emphasized by the wide streets provided for vehicles, the lack of sidewalks, and the even wider driveways and garages entering the home.

Non-human access is also visible in Villo Woods. Storm water runoff drains to the creek through a drainage ditch at the north side of the neighborhood and also through multiple underground drainage pipes emptying into the creek bed on the western side of the neighborhood.

InhabitVillo Woods appears minimally inhabited. Maybe because of its age, residents have not yet had the opportunity to utilize their land or physically stake a claim on it. When I have visited, the neighborhood has been largely empty of people and the same can be said for the yards. Due to standard construction practice of obliterating the site before building, the trees and shrubs are young and don’t yet provide shade or visual pleasure. Few residents have planted gardens in their back yards, and from the street, the yards look anonymous and unchanged.

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Chisholm Drive is part of a larger neighborhood association called Prairie Meadows. The homes are about thirty years old and the entire street presents a homogeneity in design. Chisholm Drive is a through street with 1� homes and one empty lot on the south side.

MigrateThe homes in this neighborhood are all oriented on an east-west axis, maximizing optimal sun exposure. In spite of this, residents showed very little directional knowledge in regard to solar exposure, leading to the assumption that most people don’t occupy spaces due to this environmental factor.

Most homes are equipped with fireplaces and residents mentioned a wintertime migration around them, mostly due to the nostalgia of the family hearth since modern fireplace design adds little physical warmth to the home.

One resident added a screen porch onto their home’s walkout basement. This is an area which becomes an outdoor room in the summer and during nice weather in the fall and spring. It is located on the northwestern side of the house.

ClaimPrivacy in these homes is not separated in the upper and lower floors, like in Villo Woods. The public spaces are located at the

center of the house and the private spaces radiate off of that in the west and east directions. This is true on all floors of the home. This is an older neighborhood than Villo Woods and many of the residents have made changes to ‘inhabit’ their basements by adding offices, living rooms, and bedrooms. They tend to maintain the private-public patterns located on the upper floors.

ContainOn a neighborhood scale, Chilsholm Drive is bordered by a monoculture of residential homes developed in winding, unrelated patterns. The schools, parks, and retail located in this area are sporadic and seemingly unplanned. Because of the age of the neighborhood, trees are more mature and the homes are hidden in this landscape, rather than appearing as objects in an empty plane. The trees create a modulating form of containment and less of a strong separation between one resident’s yard and another.

On an individual scale, containment is very similar to Villo Woods. That is to say, privacy is reinforced at the envelope of the home rather than the perimeter of the owner’s front yard. This ambiguity makes the front yard an unused public landscape, an eyepiece. Borders are defined by the physical street and driveway, not by visual boundaries.

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the back yard, with only small porches and driveways facing the street. The street, with the ceremonial front entrance facing, represents more of an alley. It does not really support habitation, only transport and services.

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AccessChisholm Drive presents a varied mode of access. The primary access to the neighborhood is the automobile. Because of the large suburban developments surrounding the residence, many inhabitants are able to walk to friends’ homes, or their children are able to walk to friends’ homes. This is also fed by the school population in the area, providing more children to interact with. Residents drive most of the time, but they mentioned the one or two times they ventured out on foot for dinner or shopping at the nearby Iowa Street commercial area. This is almost always followed by a complaint of the traffic or lack of adequate pedestrian walkways leading there. Although there are a surprising amount of amenities located within a walkable distance, they are not accessible because of areas of high vehicular traffic and the lack of pedestrian connections.

InhabitChisholm Drive provides glimpses of habitation, vegetable gardens, basketball goals on anonymous driveways, swing sets, and ladders. It is strange how the home presents such a barrier for habitation. Behind the homes, you can see evidence of dwelling but the front yard is left bare. Back yards are full of fences, gardens and pools; in contrast, the front yards are mainly mowed carpets of grass dispersed with ornamental gardens. The design of the homes puts outdoor gathering spaces within

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ClaimFor the most part, public spaces border the street while private spaces are hidden in the back or to the sides. One couple on Owens Lane moved to Lawrence intending to live in co-housing, when that didn’t work, they moved into a home here. Their home exhibits a feeling of transparency. When you walk into the front entrance bordering the street, you can see all the way through to the back yard. These residents like this factor. Like in co-housing, their community spaces look out onto the public spaces of the neighborhood, the street. From here, they are able to watch all the coming and going of the neighbors. In contrast to that, another resident mentioned how her house (the illustration to the right) was designed for privacy. All of the windows in the home face the back yard, she has no idea what is happening in the neighborhood until she leaves her home. ContainContainment in Owens Lane is also very different from the other neighborhoods. When first entering the neighborhood, a visitor would have a difficult time distinguishing one person’s property from another’s. Lot lines are not clearly distinguished, neither are home envelopes. The exterior of homes have large amounts of openings, providing visual access through the homes. Much like there are little territorial physical boundaries, there are also little territorial visual boundaries. There is more evidence of residents using trees or decorative shrubs as a division between

properties rather than fences. Sometimes properties are divided by a wild overgrowth, the result of neglected trimming, creating a fluctuating boundary.

AccessOwens Lane has only one access road and is a dead end. Although the automobile is the most prominent mode of transportation, residents also mentioned using bikes or walking some of the time. There are many amenities within their walkable area. 23rd Street is a short distance away, offers many usable retail spaces and restaurants, and is accessible by foot. The University of Kansas and all it has to offer is also a short walk away. Lawrence High School, a block way offers, a track and tennis courts.

Owens Lane is not a through street; it dead-ends at the end of the lane. As a result, there is little to no traffic on the Lane. There is no reason to enter unless visiting a home on the lane or living there yourself.

InhabitThe age of a neighborhood contributes to its level of habitation. Owens Lane has grown and evolved over time, resulting in a layered assortment of habitation. Many residents have lived there for 30 to 50 years and have established their ritual forms of living with gardens, patios, and swing sets that have evolved into

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The homes on Owens Lane were built in the 1�50s, shortly after the land was no longer used primarily for farming. This neighborhood is different from the others in that it was not built by a single developer. The eleven homes on the lane were individually built on large lots. The cul-de-sac nature of the street creates a closed community.

MigrateOne resident of Owens Lane displayed a modern version of migration. Historically, inhabitants migrate to make use of the sun’s rotation or seasonal weather rotations. One resident told of closing off most of her home, and only heating a portion. This was to cut down on heating costs and also alleviate their environmental impact during winter months. Since these homes are designed individually, much more care was given to orientation to the sun, each house is oriented specifically for its site, making migration throughout the house profitable rather than in vain. In many suburban homes sun orientation makes little difference on the inhabitant’s interior comfort.

Evidence of migration is visible in many yards in this neighborhood. Homes exhibit exterior decks, screen porches, and exterior shade structures, making them into winter and summer outdoor rooms.

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clothes lines. Even newer residents (only eleven months) have already established their exterior butterfly gardens and dwelling rituals.

Yard space in Owens Lane is equally ambiguous. Front yards are still mowed public-spaces while back yards are more private with gardens that are sometimes fenced in.

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consistency in all climates. Consequently, inhabitants have grown accustomed to a controlled, steady environment. Can design intervene to reintroduce daily or seasonal migrations through new connections to the natural environment?

(re)-claimThe least defined space of the suburban landscape is the front yard. It is generally ambiguous in purpose. It is both private and public: private because it is owned, public because of its visual and physical exposure to the street. Changes within the suburban front yard could soften the transition from the public to the private realm by providing a series of thresholds to move the pedestrian comfortably from the street to the home and provide a diverse and pleasing sidewalk-scape which encourages slow movement. Instead, front lawns are little more than a wasted environment providing no transition between these two realms.

Currently ill-used areas provide an opportunity to create new, continuously productive outdoor landscapes. This involves, at its core, defining the front yard by creating spaces and transitions between the street and the entrance to the home. Yard Street Park defines the front yard as a continuous community

(re)-defining

The objective of this project is to (re)-define the suburban landscape to discover acts of ‘sheltering’ which integrate the built environment with nature’s dynamic rhythms. James Kunstler calls the suburbs “the greatest misallocation of goods in the history of the world.”1 Although misplaced, the resources are present in suburban landscapes. The challenge for this research is to design holistically within the existing suburban framework. The suburbs were designed to bring people out of dirty, industrial cities and into natural surroundings. Ironically, this framework has only encouraged people to settle for a mediocre natural setting inside a haphazardly planned residential monoculture.2 This project will address the problem of the commonly felt disconnected suburban existence. I propose a series of interventions which will attempt to reconnect the residents to their natural surroundings. I envision these to be small changes which residents can build and create themselves, resulting in a new sense of possession in their community.

Nature is dynamic and fluctuating, therefore design needs to reflect these patterns. Design needs to invite participants to interact with the changing landscape. Measurement of this kind requires a new concept for building and building methods. Measurement cannot be a static, independent entity. Rather than giving a comprehensible number to intangible qualities of nature,

measurement needs to identify and celebrate the intricacies in our environment. Within the suburban environment, this research poses to consider the additions to the individual and neighborhood fabric which would reconnect inhabitants with their landscape.

new migrationHow can seasonal and daily migrations be introduced into contemporary, weather-controlled environments such as air-conditioned suburban housing? This is a difficult challenge as most residents would prefer to turn on the air conditioner or heater, rather than migrate to a more suitable space within their home. Is this due to ill-conceived design solutions or the results of a pampered culture? Modern suburban housing has not been built to accommodate changes in weather and temperature, but rather requires the constant assistance of mechanical air-conditioning and heating. At one time culture accepted passively cooled homes and adjusted their lifestyles and levels of human comfort according to fluctuating seasons. Through technological developments, we have sealed natural fluctuations out of our homes and created a human species which now requires this

1 Kunstler, James. The Long Emergency. New York: Grove Press, 2005. (p.2��)

2 Bulldozer in the Countryside is the story of how homeowners tried to resolve this contradiction between the desire to be closer to nature and the routinely destroyed natural elements which are honored in suburban place names. (Rome, Adam. Bulldozer in the Countryside. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001)

landscape. How can the front yard be re-defined to create new private and public spaces? How can it be defined as a transitional and transient landscape?

(re)-containThe physical expression of ownership in the suburban environment presents excessive fencing without consideration to its social and environmental impact on landscapes. Fences are used to enclose, exclude, or simply as an outward show of ownership over a piece of land. They are generally unpleasant and serve no direct purpose to the community. How can fences be redefined to become a useful piece of the community landscape?

The traditional front porch historically served as an outdoor meeting place and a transition space between public and private realms. However, today suburban developments the front porch is increasingly narrow and unused. It has become a useless gesture to the nostalgia of earlier times.

Current practices of material enclosure in suburban homes and yards needs to be readdressed. How can a home’s container

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be redesigned to utilize the exposure on all sides of the home without compromising privacy? What could our fences, hedges, or separations between homes provide to community life? Instead of inactive separating objects, fences could become places for food production, areas for children’s play or boundaries enclosing animal habitats. How can our containers become places of daily rituals and community interactions?

(re)-accessAccess to most suburbs gives priority to the automobile at the expense of a pedestrian public life. These designs will look at ways of re-addressing the automobile and address what is missing in a neighborhood’s ‘walkable’ environment. We have given the automobile a place of importance by building wider streets, neglecting sidewalks, and locating necessary amenities out of a resident’s walkable area. To accommodate pedestrians, sidewalks need to be reexamined, and foot-access to important amenities needs to be better understood and expanded.

Pedestrian access is not the only important issue. Access to water, utilites, sunlight3, and the natural environment utilities also needs to be addressed. For example, there is a disconnect

between the inhabitant and their water system. Water comes in through a machine from an undefined place in space and leaves through a drain to a different undefined space. Similarly, rainwater is swept away in large sewers, out of sight out of mind, to a treatment plant. Providing better water access would require examining the natural water sheds, and supplementing them with new watershed designs. It would involve exposing nature’s methods of storm and wastewater management. Careful measurement and calculation went into the design of sewer and

water treatment systems as well as the road systems. How can new, more fluctuating forms of measurement be employed to design important access systems?

(re)-inhabitTo re-inhabit a space it is essential to create continuous modes of dwelling. In volumetric neighborhood designs there is a disconnect between definable ‘volumes’ of dwelling: the home, the car, the office, and the supermarket. Dwelling needs to be redefined, not as a noun referring to the home, but as a verb. Humans are designed for continuous dwelling; we cannot shut ourselves off. Suburbs are not designed this way; they are volumes in a field, neglecting important residual spaces.

These spaces are left largely uninhabited, used purely to display ‘volumes’ of dwelling. This unused space does not support the community fabric. Consequently, living in this environment is increasingly isolated and privatized, moving from one private volume to another. How can residual spaces be inhabited to create a dense and inviting fabric to support dwelling?

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designing for dynamic dwellingRedefining this landscape involves addressing a seemingly inflexible prototype. Where does ‘sustainability’ and ‘democracy’ merge? Roosevelt called for a collective action involving the environment, I am calling for a collective design, which challenges, most importantly, this condition of ownership. It needs to be realized that suburban plots are not independent, but part of a world-wide atmospheric environment. This project examines historical motivations influencing the current concept of ownership. Although the suburbs were historically and governmentally driven, they were also driven in a large part by human demands. How do we meet societal demands while providing the framework for dynamic living.

These projects are critical interventions into the suburban landscape. They are products of a whimsical imagination. The interventions begin to reconnect inhabitants to their landscape and to their community, they are intended as a collection of ideas and strategies for the community to take over themselves.

Each neighborhood interviewed warranted a different scale of intervention. Villo Woods provided the canvas for a complete takeover, affecting every home and also providing a

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new, continuously productive community landscape connecting two previously disconnected natural elements in the subdivision. On Chisholm Drive, the intervention is smaller, taking over an empty lot within the street and making it into a small local park. This park is intended to provide intimate and accessible community space and also provide space for a community garden its needed amenities. Owens Lane realized a softer intervention, providing a new migration for Terri and George Smith in the form of a ‘winter room’.

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designing for dynamic dwellingEach neighborhood warranted a different degree of intervention. Villo Woods, being the quintessential suburban neighborhood, receives a completely a revised community landscape.

Through the motivation to connect the fragmented pieces of open space within the neighborhood,1 I designed a continuous community corridor. The intentions of this corridor (green on the site plan to the right) ignores ownership boundaries, creating a continuous community space which claims the heart of the neighborhood. Images on the following pages illustrate critical points within this landscape.

Much of this design takes place within the plane of the ground, making it a place of discovery, hidden to the distracted eye. The suburbs (as discussed earlier in this document) are not a place which someone ‘happens upon’ or meanders into. Due to their lack of diversity, they are not explored or discovered. One enters this landscape intentionally, to visit a residence. The addition to this landscape is one of meandering and subtle discovery while also providing functional community space within the neighborhood.

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Only six of the homes in Villo Woods have a north-south orientation. Therefore, on most homes, the entrance and the majority of window openings face west or east. The north and south facades have a few window openings and appear to be ‘forgotten’ or ill-designed pieces of the envelope. They face a narrow gap between houses, narrow and insufficient for letting in direct sunlight. This intervention looks at the ways these residual spaces are claimed. If both homes bordering the gap claim this space equally, like the present condition, the residual space is of little use to either home. How can one home claim the residual space between to homes to maximize the benefit of its southern exposure?

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As seen in the Villo Woods house plans to the left, the garage has taken priority over the living space in housing designs. Not only do they claim about a third of the interior living space, they dominate the facade. The garage has become the average household’s main means of entry. Giving this amount of prominence to the automobile dictates the dominance of the automobile in our lives. One can choose to inhabit the garage itself, or build an extension reaching to the street above the driveway. This would allow for car usage, but the car and garage door are no longer seen at first glance, their importance

on the facade of the home has been removed. How can the garage space be used to take priority from the automobile while increasing density and improving the public sphere?

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[front yard: a transitory space]

The modern porch has no function as a transitory space, it provides an inadequate transition between work and home, private and public, hard and soft. To achieve a pleasant and useful transition, the perception of the front yard must change. It must become a useful and integrated space rather then a ‘display’ space. This design will identify and design a transition between private and public realms.

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This project claims pieces of the autonomous front yard as a

continuous community space. The front yard becomes inhabited with defined elements chosen to expose and access utilities. Storm water from the street is directed into the gradually sloping bioswales which slow the water and consequently minimize loss. Water is able to infiltrate the ground at a local level while water-hungry plantings clean and filter storm water from the street. On rainy days, the bioswales become a continuous water feature with excess water only then flowing into the sewer system. This condition reveals a new, desirable condition within the street-scape.


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[lot-park]Site: Chisholm Drive

I discovered an empty lot on Chisholm drive, unused and uninhabited, situated in the center of a middle aged suburban neighborhood. Surrounding parks are partly in accessible because of busy streets. This space is highly accessible for neighborhood residents and therefore ideal for a small pocket park. This particular park, because of its residential location, would be ideal for an edible garden, community pavilion, and outdoor plaza. It would (re)-inhabit the lot through food production and community use. This venture would also provide a space for monitoring the seasons, overlaying a natural, repetitive rhythm within the neighborhood.


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Migration is an important component of natural rhythms. Terri and George Smith perform a seasonal migration due to high energy costs. They close off the majority of their home, migrating into their constructed ‘cozy room’. Historically, animal species and human groups alike made seasonal migrations. This design will re-introduce a seasonal migration with attention to solar gain and the home’s orientation rather than heating costs.

The main reason for their great heating costs is the high ceiling in the main living space where the rising heat is lost. Interventions into the space will give Terri and George the opportunity to change their environment in response to temperate or solar conditions.

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[re]-action

Buildings cannot be conceived of as isolated objects, nor as isolated events. It is incredibly important that they are realized as being connected to the ground and sky. Through measurement, we have divided the land with little regard to its intrinsic values. As we become more, and not less, dependent on the earth’s resources than every before, design has the power to form and accentuate connections with nature. This proposal aspires to engage the body and heighten one’s consciousness of their surrounding through these connections.

The home is an intersection between a person and the natural environment, between a person and society. Our homes need to reflect our beliefs and values. It should monitor, react, and involve our bodies and our surroundings. Architecture has the power to harness nature’s powerful rhythms rather than working harder to combat them. This proposal considers the designers to be everyone, including the empowered suburban dweller. As designers, we should be considering solar-rights zoning and water-rights zoning along with the democratic need to measure and divide. If measurement was a means of comprehending this vast expanse of land, we can use measurement in the same way to comprehend the intricacies of nature. More creative and environmentally informed methods of measurement and value-

assignment need to be taken upon the land. The way we treat the landscape greatly informs the qualities of life within that landscape.

Design needs to reflect the un-volumetric nature of our lives where every piece of our environment is considered and designed.

This proposal aims to reconnect the suburban inhabitant to their surroundings through a heightened awareness of changing seasons, storm water run-off, community, and food production.

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Cronon, William. Changes in the Land. Hill and Wang: New York, 1983

William Cronon presents an ecological look at the settlement in New England. He examines the ways Native Americans interacted with the environment, debunking the myth that they were the first environmentalists. He also looks at the colonitsts, their complications with the environment and their resolutions which had greater ecological implications than they could have known.

Fogelson, Robert. Bourgeois Nightmares. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005

This book examines he history of the suburbs, from 1�70 – 1�30. The author, Robert Fogelson, examines not only the hopes which drove people to life in the suburbs, which is a well documented issue, but also the social and political fears which drove people away from their previous dwellings.

Gaventa, Sarah. New Public Spaces. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2006

Girling, Cynthia and Kenneth Helphand. YARD STREET PARK. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1994

This book addresses public space found in the suburbs. The authors look at not only the designated public space, the park, but also call for a more radical approach to public space, the yard and the street. They consider our entire outdoor continuum, spanning the private domestic spaces of yard to the public landscapes of street and park.

Knowles, Ralph. Ritual House. New York: Island Press, 2006.

Our shelters are intuitive responses, individual and cultural reactions to nature’s elements. The 21st century has disconnected us from these rhythms. This book looks to reawaken our lost heritage and to reconnect humans to nature through the built environment.

Kunstler, James. The Long Emergency. New York: Grove Press, 2005.

The author addresses the unprecedented challenges we soon face as the oil runs out. He examines the history of the oil crisis, of capitalism, and of alternative energies. He highlights the changes which are needed as the oil, which our global system is built on, runs out.

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yAymonino, Aldo; Valerio Paolo Mosco. Contemporary Public Space Un-Volumetric Architecture. Milano: Skira, 2006

The topic of this book is a collection of creative alternatives to overly ‘volumetric’ shape making. These examples include earthworks, surface design, canopies, and shelters.

Bloom, Nicholas Dagon. Suburban Alchemy. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2001

The author, Nicholas Dagon Bloom, examines the “new town” movement of the 1��0’s which attempted to transform the suburban model through changes in social and built environments. The book offers case studies of three important examples—Reston, Virginia; Columbia, Maryland; and Irvine, California. He illustrates efforts in local politics, civic spirit, social and racial integration, feminist innovations, and cultural sponsorship.

Corner, James and Alex MacLean. Taking Measures Across the American Landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

This book is a collaborative effort between James Corner, landscape architect, and Alex MacLean, aerial photographer. It examines the human influence on the American landscape in the past and what the possibilities are for future design. It investigates the way landscape is presented as well as offering a new way of seeing and measuring our surroundings.

Chiras, Dan and Dave Wann. Superbia. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2003.

The authors, Dan Chiras and Dave Wann have researched inhabitants and situations in suburban dwelling. This book offers practical ideas for transforming neighborhoods into more economically and environmentally sustainable places. It first highlights the history of suburban development and examines ways they fail to meet human needs.

Chow, Renee. suburban space—the fabric of dwelling. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002

The author, Renee Chow, and her students examine the social, political and built environment of dwelling in suburban spaces. This book presents new ways of reading this landscape as inhabited, contained, accessed, assembled and dimensioned.

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Lang, Peter and Tam Miller. Suburban Discipline. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1997.

This book is a series of essays addressing the topic of suburbia. They attempt to discover how suburbia is infiltrating our urban culture and shaping both its aspirations and its fears. The essays cover topics addressing the “advertised serenity, poetry and violence, romance and pornography, organic gardens and toxic waste” (back cover) which have settled themselves in the suburbs.

Rome, Adam. Bulldozer in the Countryside. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Adam Rome explores the intricate processes by which land tracts were converted into suburban housing lots in the decades following World War II. He addresses the changes in the American landscape as well as American politics. He also discusses how this sprawl also created the environmental movement which is now struggling fight it.

Steinberg, Ted. Down to Earth: Nature’s role in American History. Oxford University Press: New York, 2002

This book examines the tree key turning points in American environmental history (according to Ted Steinburg), the arrival of Europeans on American shores, Jefferson’s adoption of the Cartesian grid preempting settlement patterns, and the rise of consumerism in the late nineteenth century.

A Measured Landscape

Documents

Transcript of A Measured Landscape