Marking Environmental LossesBuilding Beyond Elegy

Rutgers UniversityDepartment of Landscape ArchitecturePraxis Studio 2018 Anita Bakshi

IRON1740s - 1960s

Layers of History & Memory

FORD 1960s - 1970s

EPA 1987 & 2005

TRUMP v RAMAPOUGHLUNAAPE NATION1993

PILGRIM PIPELINE / KOCH2013 - ongoing....

Praxis Studio 2018

Marking Environmental LossesBuilding Beyond Elegy

Design ExplorationThis studio explores how design practice can respond to emotional aspects of environmental loss and climate change, and create immersive experiences of empathic engagement with loss, interconnectivity, and possibility. Can such sites help to transform collective grief into political action? Today we are faced with many facts and figures about environmental losses and projections of how our climate will change. Narratives that make the numbers and losses understandable are required to visualize the scale of these changes and their emotional impacts. Designed spaces can make abstract information available to the human body and can open up access to understandings of different temporal, historical, and spatial scales: from the neighborhood to the bioregion, and from our lifetimes to intergenerational thinking.

ProcessAfter a series of shorter exercises, the main design task for the semester will involve documenting and commemorating environmental memories and histories. These changes can include those caused by migration, climate change, environmental degradation, species loss, or change in land use or cultural meaning. We will explore a range of issues for the initial Memorial Concepts Exercise by, for instance, marking the losses of coral reefs, removed mountaintops, and communities displaced by rising sea levels or by chemical contamination. The focus will then shift to the Ringwood Mines Superfund Site in northern New Jersey. In Ringwood we will document changes to the landscape through nuanced representations of the cultural and environmental history of this community, and will develop memorial projects that focus on representing their contributions, land stewardship, ongoing environmental activism, and intergenerational knowledge about the landscape.

Historical and Cultural Context Ringwood has been the site of iron mines since the mid-1700s, and is also the ancestral home of the Ramapough Lunaape Nation. The community living in upper Ringwood has experienced significant environmental degradation, radically increased rates of cancer and illness, and loss of their traditional living practices and connection to the land after it was used as a dumping ground by Ford Motors in the 1960s and 1970s. Following significant activism by the community, this site was declared a Superfund Site. Although the EPA claimed that the site had been cleaned up, significant remaining contamination was found, and the Ramapough had to again take action to bring attention to the issue. Ringwood was again declared a Superfund site, yet contaminated material remains on the site to this day. Today a new environmental threat, in the form of the Pilgrim Pipeline, is on the horizon.

Praxis Design Studio | 11:550:432, Spring 2018, 5 creditsInstructor: Anita Bakshi ab1332@sebs.rutgers.edu

Tuesday (studio) 2:15 – 5:15Tuesday (lecture) 5:35 - 7:00Thursday (studio) 2:15 – 5:15

Anita BakshiLandscape Architecture

Jan BarryThe Record - Environmental Reporter

Chuck SteadRamapo Saltbox Environmental Research Center (ERC)

Chief MannTurtle Clan ChiefRamapough Lunaape Nation

Upper Ringwood Residents

Kristin O’Brassill-KulfanCoordinator & Instructor of Public History

Trinidad RicoCultural Heritage & Preservation Studies

Rui Gomes Coelho Daonne Huff Julian Gilbert-DavisSedrick ChisomMason Gross Visual Arts Memory, Monuments & Memorials Group

Partners

Kristin O’Brassill-KulfanCoordinator & Instructor of Public History

Learning Objectives:

1. Develop an awareness of environmental impacts on communities, and represent and design for them.

2. Develop understandings of connections to landscapes, including cultural meanings and emotions.

3. Understand and respond to environmental justice issues and unevenly dispersed impacts

4. Approach and independently structure complex design problems.

Collaboration with the Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies Program (CHAPS)

This studio involves a special collaboration with the CHAPS Program (Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies) through joint lectures, discussions, and field trips with students in the Methods on Cultural Heritage and Preservation class. Together we will explore questions such as: What are memorials and how do they work? Are there more creative alternatives? How can flexibility and participatory approaches be enfolded into the design of sites of memory and heritage?

Joint Lectures

Memorial Design: Contested Heritage – Anita BakshiHeritage and Temporality: Tsunami Memorials – Trinidad RicoSensorial Heritage: Remembering Slavery in Contemporary Brazil – Rui Coelho

Course Information

Course Expectations:Except for circumstances truly beyond a student’s control, all assignments are due at the dates and times specified. Any work submitted late will be penalized a letter grade for each day past due. Studio sessions, lectures, and the Common Lectures all count as individual class sessions for this course. More than 3 unexcused absences will result in a step reduction in your semester grade. If you encounter any personal circumstances that inhibit your ability to fulfill the requirements of this course, you should contact the Instructor immediately. Submitted drawings, models, photographs, or written papers for any project assigned in Landscape Architecture courses are considered the property of the department. All information in this syllabus and course schedule is subject to change throughout the semester and will be announced during class; it is your responsibility to stay informed!

Studio Expectations: Much of your learning will occur through your active engagement in studio—both during class and while working at your studio desk during non‐class time. The distinction between studio as a class and studio as a space and as a community is quickly blurred as you get focused on projects and rely on your peers for perspective and support. You are expected to engage in all activities, including site visits, drawing exercises, projects, pin‐ups, and project reviews. You are expected to contribute to the studio’s learning process through conversations and critiques during and outside studio time.

Homework:Project statements outline the final expectations for each project. In addition, new assignments may be given during the studio and lectures as a way to direct your work. Reading assignments are required homework. Late homework will not be accepted. Exceptions will be made if contact with the instructor regarding the assignment has occurred prior to the due date and the absence meets the requirements of the Department for an excused absence.

Contact:It is important that all students are given the same updates and information. Most of this will occur during class lectures, but the instructor will also rely on email to the students. You are expected to check your email regularly regarding postings made to the Sakai website for specific assignments.

Attendance:The Department of Landscape Architecture requires attendance in all of its classes. The individual student’s development as a landscape architect is largely dependent upon two aspects of education. First is the exposure to and assimilation of a body of information which relates to the field. Second is the application of this knowledge through studio projects and problem‐solving skills developed through critiques, reviews and interactions during each project. Departmental policy allows for a total of three unexcused absences. Four or more absences will automatically lower your final grade by one full letter grade. Please note that missing a long studio day (lecture & studio portions) will count as two absences. Each additional three absences will result in another step reduction. If a circumstance arises beyond your control, please notify the Instructor prior to the class meeting, and other arrangements will be made. Documented medical and family emergences are, of course, excused.

Visualizing Narratives

Due 23 January

Deliverables:• drawing, photo collage, or mixed media (minimum size 11x17)

The purpose of this quick exercise is to translate a narrative or story about an experience with nature - and the associated emotions and memories - into a visual image. This is the first step in developing the ideas for your memorial projects.

Start by looking through Michael McCarthy’s book “The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy.” After reading the first two introductory chapters (pages 1-55) choose a story that resonates with you, perhaps something that connects with one of your own personal encounters with the natural world. Translate this into a visual expression, which may be a strictly 2D graphic image, or an interpretation that goes off the page in multiple dimensions or directions. There is no required format or size for this exercise, but it should be no smaller that 11x17. The completed project should include some excerpts from the original text, a few words or a few sentences.

• the Dee estuary (49-55)• the death of the estuary in Korea (66-83)• abundance (87-100)• moth snowstorms (100-105)• the sparrow (106-122)• the natural calendar (125-132)• snowdrop flowers (132-136)

• March hares (137-141)• the European cuckoo (141-147)• blossom (147-154)• beauty & color in nature (155-170)• rivers (170-179)• dolphins (209-213)

m a s s e x t i n c t i o n m o n i t o r i n g o b s e r v a t o r yThe Blur Building DSR(Swiss Expo)

The Rising Tide Jason DeCaires Taylor(London)

FloodHaha (Chicago)

Monument to the Anthropocene Museo Aero Solar (Toulouse)

Revival FieldMel Chin (St. Paul)

A Subtlety / Sugar BabyKara Walker (Brooklyn)

What is Missing?Maya Lin

Big Vortex Realities United(Copenhagen)

The AA Project Ala Plastica (Argentina)

Chicago Urban Ecology Action Group Mark Dion (Chicago)

Particle Falls Andrea Polli (Pittsburgh)

Seed CathedralThomas Heatherwick(Shanghai Expo)

CLI-MateMel Chin

Tamarack Rooftop Christine Baeumler(Minneapolis)

Mass Extinction Monitoring Observatory David Adjaye(UK)

What is Missing?Maya Lin

Particle Falls Andrea Polli (Pittsburgh)

Tamarack Rooftop Christine Baeumler(Minneapolis)

Precedents Art + Architecture

Due 30 January (Presentation is due in your Dropbox on 30 January. Presentations on 30 January & 1 February)

Deliverables:• 3-page paper with accompanying illustrations • Presentation and leading of class discussion

Choose a precedent from the list below. Research the history and goals of the project and describe:• the media used to execute it• the history of the issue it engages with• any controversies associated with the project• the artist or architect’s working methodology• community engagement strategies• collaborative practices • most importantly, outline your critiques

Taking inspiration from this precedent, create a quick conceptual sketch of how this idea could possibly be applied to your site. Spend about 1 hour on this using trace, then scan or photograph this and make it the last slide in your presentation.

The Blur Building – Diller, Scofidio & Renfro (Swiss Expo)The Seed Cathedral – Heatherwick Studio (Shanghai Expo) The AA Project – Ala Plastica (Rio de le Plata basin near Buenos Aires)Revival Field - Mel Chin (Superfund Site in St.Paul, MN)CLI-mate – Mel ChinReconstituting the Landscape: A Tamarack Rooftop Restoration – Christine BaeumlerChicago Urban Ecology Action Group – Mark Dion (Chicago)Flood – Ha Ha (Chicago)

A Subtelty / Sugar Baby – Kara Walker (Brooklyn)A Monument to the Anthropocene – Museo Aero Solar (Toulouse)Listening Cone / What is Missing – Maya LinHighWaterLine: Visualizing Climate Change – Eve Mosher (NYC & other cities)Big Vortex – Realities United /BIG Architects (Copenhagen)MEMO Mass Extinction Monitoring Observatory – David Adjaye (UK)Particle Falls - Andrea Polli (Pittsburgh)The Rising Tide – Jason DeCaires Taylor (London)

Partners

Mountain-top removal

Destroyed Estuary, South Korea

Bleached coral reefs Loss of water to fracking, PA Great Pacific Garbage Patch

First climate change refugees in US, Isle de Jean Charles

World’s plastic recycling centerWen’an, China

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

Bayou Corne Sinkhole, LA Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico Love Canal, Niagra Falls NY

Resettled town of Morissonville, LA

Environmental Losses

Due 13 February

Deliverables:• Drawing or mixed media• Model or mixed media• Oral presentation and discussion of the site’s history / your memorial

Choose a site from the list below, or a site of personal significance to you. Research the history of the site and the environmental losses experienced there by local or global communities.

Do a quick study of how these losses can be represented and commemorated. This does not yet have to be a spatial design. In this phase you can stay in the more conceptual and representational realm, using collage, drawing, painting, sculpture, or model to communicate these losses and their physical, emotional, and social impacts.

The death of the mountain, WVThe loss of land to the Bayou Corn Sinkhole, LAGreat Pacific Garbage PatchLove Canal, Niagra Falls NYWen’an China world recycling center dead zoneFormer Morrisonville Settlement, LAGulf of Mexico Dead ZoneHurricane Maria in Puerto RicoFracking and water pollution in Pennsylvania

The death of the Saemangeum estuary in South KoreaThe vanishing coral reefs Losing ground to water in Isle de Jean Charles, LA The loss of abundance The retreat of the wildernessThe forest fragments that remainThe species lost in New Jersey The loss of expected calendrical and seasonal time

Site Documentation

Due 27 March

Deliverables:• One Map• One Section / Perspective• Incorporation of photos from the site (past or present)• Incorporation of text (from interviews or documentation)

Taking inspiration from the Petrochemical America book, document the environmental conditions at the site. This can include locations of contamination and remediation, diseases in the adjacent communities, points of relocation and displacement, restricted areas, loss of access to natural environments, changes to traditional cultural uses of the land, and the history of resource extraction and dumping on the site.

Site / Intervention Due 27 February (1st Review) - end of semester

Deliverables:• Site documentation• Memorial proposal• Final Design Development Boards

Our work at the Ringwood Mines Superfund Site will proceed through a series of steps. This will include documenting the environmental and cultural history of the site and developing memorial design proposals. Steps along the way will include:

- meetings with people who have been involved with the site, including environmental activists and community members - lectures and design crit visits from artists and cultural heritage experts- work on maps and drawings that present nuanced interpretations of the cultural and environmental history of the Ramapough community- development of several site plans- creation of a series of study models and conceptual explorations- development of design details and documentation of the design development

There will be a series of meetings, site visits, and deadlines throughout the semester, which can be found on the studio schedule.

Sites can be selected anywhere on or adjacent to the Ringwood Mines Superfund Site, and can engage with the capped landfill areas, the old mine shafts and infrastructure, existing streams or forest areas, existing or proposed new hiking trails, open space and public areas in the Upper Ringwood community.

Week 1 jan 16 18

tuesday2:15 - 7:00

tuesday2:15 - 7:00

thursday2:15 - 5:15

thursday2:15 - 5:15

SPRI

NG

BRE

AK

Lecture: Course introduction Reading: Moth Snowstorm

Movie: Mann v Ford

JOINT SESSION Lecture: Memorial Design: Contested Heritage (AB)

Presentation: Visualized NarrativesMovie: Troubled Water

Precedent Study Presentations

Visiting Speaker (3:00): Amee Pollackbook artist and sculptor

Windows of Understanding artist

Studio: conceptual memorial study

Visiting Speaker: Chuck SteadRamapo Saltbox Environmental

Research Center (ERC)

Movie: American Native

Precedent Study Presentations

Studio: conceptual memorial study

Visiting Critics: Artists from theMemory, Monuments & Memorials(MMM) Group

Studio: Work on visualization of MS narratives

Field Trip(s): Visit “WIndows of Understanding” in New Brunswickwww.windowsofunderstanding.org

Project Presentation: Petrochemical America

VIsit from Chief Mann

Visiting Speaker: Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan Coordinator of Public History Studio: Prepare questions Reading: Strangers on the Mountain Field Trip on weekendFeb 24 or 25 Date TBD

Project Presentation: History of Others (reading) (from History According to Cattle)

Studio: Ringwood documentation

Studio: Visualizing personal narratives / site photos

Studio: Studio: choose site of change / loss from list & begin conceptual memorial study

Reading: What a Year of Grief Taught me about Monuments & Memorials

Week 5 feb 13 15

Week 2 jan 23 25 Week 6 feb 20 22

Week 3 jan 30 feb 1 Week 7 feb 27 march 1

Week 4 feb 6 8 Week 8 mar 6 8

Lecture: Sacrificial Landscapes, Climate Change and Species Loss

Studio: conceptual memorial study

Visiting Speaker: Jan Barry - The Record

Presentation: conceptual memorial study due

Studio: Documentation Review

Film: Revolutionary Medicine

Lecture: Sensorial Heritage: Commemorating Slavery in Brazil –

Rui Coelho

Studio: Ringwood documentation

Studio Schedule

tuesday2:15 - 7:00

tuesday2:15 - 7:00

thursday2:15 - 5:15

thursday2:15 - 5:15

SPRI

NG

BRE

AK

Week 9 mar 20 21

Studio: Begin Ringwood Memorial Schematic Proposal

JOINT SESSION Lecture: Heritage and Temporality:

Tsunami Memorials - Trinidad RicoPresentation: Ringwood site

documentation & memorial proposal(with CHAPS Students)

Lecture: Designing for Emotional Bodies

Studio: Study Models #1

Lecture & Design Exercise: Landscape Architecture for Auditory, Haptic, and

Tasting/Smelling Systems

Visiting Critics: Artists from MMMMemory, Monuments & Memorials

Studio: Site Plan #1

[some student at LaBash]

Studio: Study Models #2 review

Work Day

Studio: Final layout mockup

Studio: Desk crits TBDSaturday, April 28Rutgers Folk Festivalexhibition / presentation with Chief Mann

Reading Days(special sign -up for desk crits)

Studio: Desk crits

TBD: Class will meet on Wednesday 3/2812:00 - 3:00Crits with John Donnelly (SCAPE)

Week 13 apr 17 19

Week 10 mar 27 29 Week 14 apr 24 26

Week 11 apr 3 5 Week 15 may 1 2

Week 12 apr 10 12 Final Review

In class exercise: Final Booklet Layout

Studio: Revised site plan & Design development drawing

Studio: Review of presentation boards (75% complete)

Reading Days(special sign -up for desk crits)

Date TBD Final Presentation with Trinidad Rico,

Rui Coelho, and CHAPS students

Major Project Reviews:

Visualized Narratives 23 January Precedent Study Presentations 30 January Conceptual Memorial Study 13 February Site Documentation & Memorial Proposal 27 MarchFinal Project May (TBD) Documentation Booklet 2 May

Course Grading:

Visualized Narratives 5 %Precedent Study Presentations 5 % Conceptual Memorial Study 10 % Site Documentation 10 % Memorial Proposal 10 %

Site Plan #1 5 %Study Model #1 5 %Detail Drawing #1 5 %Revised Site Plan 5 %Design Development Drawing #1 5 %Study Model #2 5 %

Booklet Layout 5 %Final Boards Layout / Mockup 5 %75% Complete Drawings 5 %Final Design Development 10 % Booklet 5 %