post industrial landscapes

vol. 01

POSTINDUSTRIAL

LANDSCAPESas urban interventions

jeffrey s nesbit

© 2012 Jeffrey S NesbitAll rights reserved

No part of this volume may be used or repoduced in any manner without written permission from the author.

All work is defined and under the direction of:Jeffrey S Nesbit

Work completed by students of:Post-Industrial Landscapes Seminar, Fall 2012College of Architecture, Texas Tech University

Cover design, page design, and layouts byJeffrey S Nesbit and Daniel Garcia

Front photo by Katerina Paletykina and Vania Franco

Special thanks to: Les Burrus and Frank Morrison of Link Ministries, Andrew Vernooy, David Leatherbarrow for his earlier enlightened guidance, Victoria McReynolds for our discussions on Detroit and decay, Daniel Garcia, and most importantly the students who have dedicated sincere effort and time to the essays and work presented in this volume.

POSTINDUSTRIAL


POSTINDUSTRIAL


jeffrey s nesbit

RX

08 [ preface ]

content

AS

WW

FP

SL

TR

FT

PD10 [ pier in the desert ]

24 [ fl exible terrain ]

38 [ traces ]

50 [ a strati fi ed landscape ]

60 [ the forgott en peanut ]

70 [ ww steel ]

80 [ asarco ]

90 [ railway exchange ]

link ministries (former cotton gin) lubbock, tx

8 post-industrial landscapes

Due to the size and abandonment of decaying landscapes, new questions are being asked about the future state of their sites. The decaying industrial landscapes have strong direct heritage to the city, which stretch into their adjacent regions. The importance of the social, economical, political, and cultural conditions from the past of the cities are defined and valued through their manufacturing productions such as sugar, gas, grain, energy and various other productions. Many have been and unfortunately are still lying inactive. These factories and their decaying complexion describe powerful lessons of industry that once were so dominant. The future of these aggressive components is a mandatory issue that must be not only addressed but also addressed appropriately. As we are in the beginning of the 21st century many cities around the world are dealing with the similar issues. Many examples show that the communities are destroying the dormant industrial landscapes by completely erasing them; therefore erasing its significance in relation with the historic context. For example, we see in Renzo Piano’s renovation of a sugar refinery in Parma Italy, the entire factory was demolished and only two sides of the warehouse remained. He created an auditorium for a concert hall, meetings, or activities such as conferences. Although the renovation is well controlled, the context of the field has been completely lost. No understanding of what the site was can be determined unless known otherwise. As the function changed the need to strip the insides seems to usually be the logical answer. Why does the factory have to be converted, torn down, or ‘renovated’? In this course, we are looking into a deeper understanding of these incredible landscapes like Parma Italy by analyzing, evaluating, and providing suggestions for new opportunities and strategies.

“In the mathematics of the environment, weathering is a power of subtraction, a ‘minus’, under the sign of which newly finished corners, surfaces, and colors are ‘taken away’ by rain, wind, and sun. But is weathering only abstraction, can it not also add and enhance?” - David Leatherbarrow

[ PREFACE ]Jeffrey S Nesbit

9

Cities around the world are still and will continue to be responding to the dramatic scale of abandoned landscapes. Historically, many of these decaying places have been ignored, erased, or transformed without any consideration for the inherent rooted cultural and contextual qualities brought forth towards the historic urban agendas. Previously performing as industrial distribution, refineries, manufacturing warehouses, or power plants, now has been flipped and is requiring elucidation due to internal growth. The reversal of industrial displacement has left large fields of palimpsest, desiring strength through adjacent economic stimuli.

These once flourishing landscapes, located in dense urban centers provide incremental possibilities for contemporary activation; including the evaluation though innovative methods of manipulating physical horizontal topography, embedded structures, and ‘leftover’ anatomy.

Simultaneously the research works through notions of landscape urbanism as a technique of inquiry. Our understanding of cities, in particular, the relationship of its parts have transformed into a new ideological paradigm of inter-complexities. From the works of authors Stan Allen, David Leatherbarrow, and Charles Waldheim new methods are determining development strategies through techniques of landscape and sub part-to-part relationships rather than strict functionalistic formations driven by unproductive Classical and Modern urban models. How do these new methods create or even determine the maintenance of sensible dualities of inter-workings between existing conditions of decay and progressive insertions of new network strategies? Throughout the course, lectures and readings demonstrated various discourses ranging from the concentration of urban infrastructure into the organization of horizontal surfaces within the larger discipline of landscape urbanism.

Within a graduate seminar in the College of Architecture at Texas Tech, students have investigated a series decaying industrial landscapes through a methodical research project. This process of research is intended on firstly understanding the complexities and internal structure of the site itself. It is extremely important to initially evaluate and calculate relationships of contextual influences, and fabric of the landscape which includes the physical horizontal topography, embedded structures, and ‘leftover’ anatomy. The following chapters are the contribution and investigations of such inquires.

[ PD ]

[ PD ]


PD

[ PIER IN THE DESERT ]

justin burns + daniel garcia

rail yards, albuquerque, nm

The advancement of civilization hinges upon the development of new technologies and processes in which these phases of development begin to define and characterize progression throughout not only humankind but the use and adaptation of our natural landscapes. We observe that throughout history, these instances occur at a more profound speed and scale with every iteration of innovation. There comes a point, however, when we, as a people, scrutinize these instances; we find that these older technologies, these landscapes become nothing more than inefficiencies and we seek to discard them. Simply put, agreeing with the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, John Ruskin, that these moments and residuals left behind tell a story about our civilizations past, something of a stamp of our history in which the next generation is to build upon, not merely erase. (Ruskin, 334) Working toward the future of today’s ever-growing faster-paced civilization, we find numerous instances of these now defunct landscapes nestled within the very fabric of urban conditions. In which traces of our technological, and even deeper into socioeconomic, past

endure; existing unattended, unkempt, and in the eyes of many, awaiting its undoing. As a progressive society, how do we approach and solve the issue of post-industrial landscapes within the urban context? Do we simply do away with these landmarks of our rise as an economic and cultural entity, or can we divulge into a deeper understanding, and activate these profoundly opportunistic residuals?

While these industrial ruins create voids within the fabric of their urban context, an escalating issue as cities begin to look back inward for growth in opposition to “rapid horizontal urbanization (urban sprawl),” they also provide an insurmountable opportunity for rejuvenation through activation. Lars Lerup, a professor at the Rice University School of Architecture, coined the term ‘dross,’ referring to the impurities found on molten metal, but applied to the urban context as “drosscapes; created by de-industrialization of older city areas (the city core) and a rapid urbanization of newer city areas (herein referred to as the periphery).”(Berger, 200) These drosscapes thus create what Lerup

fig. 02: 1891 map of u.s. railroads

13

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theorizes as a ‘holey plane,’ (Berger, 201) in which these ‘holes’ are currently unused areas within the cityscape, where the city is a complex, living, massive, and dynamic system. But how do we tackle these ‘holey planes?’ A simple solution, albeit rather counter-intuitive, would be to fill them in. These drosscapes need to be activated, with respect to the existing complex systems of the urban environments that they perforate, wherein the drosscape thus becomes a complex system in and of itself.

Wherein post-industrial sites are almost always an example of drosscape, in their most simple form they are landscapes; scar-tissue landscapes upon the urban surface that embrace, maintain, and serve to remind us of rich historical fact. Placeholders in time that should not be taken for granted, but as they once signified socio-economic prowess, they can be adapted to once more become a beacon of operation with a sense of magnitude. These post-industrial landscapes are sewn throughout the land in practically every region, all commonly associated with the technology and utility at the time in which they were operated as well as interconnected through various forms of infrastructure. Following these multifarious systems of scars and traces, we begin to further comprehend the imminence of these landscapes to the progression of the culture and context about them. Take, for example, the Rail Yards at Albuquerque, New Mexico, a major steam locomotive repair station in which not only was the landscape a central hub for most steam-powered locomotives, but also the epicenter of employment through what would become New Mexico’s largest, and capital, city. However, after introduction of the more efficient and less maintenance heavy technology in the diesel locomotive, the landscape ceased productivity and began its decline into drosscape. Therein lies the question: What can we do about drosscape? These post-industrial conditions, as Alan Berger, Professor of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at MIT, describes as a “narrow isolation, objectifying the landscape as a byproduct of

very specific processes no longer operating on a given site?” (Berger, 200)

Albuquerque was chosen as an ideal location for the Rail Yards, given it was near the division point of two major trans-continental rail lines (the Atchinson, Topeka, + Santa Fe and the Atlantic and Pacific railroads) around its inception in 1880. (Fig. 2) In 1880, the U.S. Census listed a population of 2,665 people; by 1915 the population grew to about 13,000, in which the Rail Yards employed about a quarter of the workforce. (Fig. 3) From this point, the city of Albuquerque was allowed to develop, situated between the Rio Grande and the Rocky Mountains, where the Rail Yards were a hub for activity for the city, Albuquerque became a major hub for built infrastructures, including the major rail lines, and interstate highways 25 and 40, along with the longest commercial stretch of the of the classic Route 66. (Fig. 4) The Rail Yards are situated between two historic neighborhoods in Barelas (to the west) and San Jose (to the east), with which the yards provided most of the jobs and a strong connection between the two neighborhoods. (Fig. 5) Once the economic and production regime of steam engine repair were unnecessary, the yards practically closed down (the turn table still being used to rotate trains along the rails), and the connection between the neighborhoods severed; the lack of production upon the landscape and rails seemingly tore a rift though a good portion of the city. (Fig. 6) The rails are still in operation but with very minimal traffic,

pier in the desert

[low]

[high][built | DENSITY] [area | BOUNDARIES]

[medium]

[very_low]

[soft_major][rio_grande]

[hard_major]

[interstate40]

[rioGRANDE]

[interstate25][north | DENVER, CO;]

[amtrak | CHICAGO, IL;][rail_runner| SANTA FE, NM;]

[amtrak | LOS ANGELES, CA;][rail_runner| BELEN, NM;]

[BUFFALO, WY]

[interstate25][south | LAS CRUCES, NM;]

[east | OKLAHOMA CITY, OK;]

[WILMINGTON, NC][interstate40]

[west | FLAGSTAFF, AZ;]

[BARSTOW, CA]

[route66]

fi g. 03: eff ect on populati on

fi g. 04: regional diagrams

[1880 | ABQpopulation | 2,700]

= 500

= working at rail yards

[1915 | ABQpopulation | 13,000]


PD

with one train that goes through the city between Chicago and Los Angeles, and the Rail Runner (a New Mexico train system that connects many of the major citi es in the state).

In order to decipher the issue with drosscape, in parti cular the Albuquerque Rail Yards, we look at reacti vati on of the landscape; designing with a sense of fl exibility and adaptability to not only accommodate for the needs of the present, but to be able to acclimate to the demands of the future. Rejuvenati on of the landscape starts with the premise of fl exibility and adaptability. We draw from Charles Waldheim, Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard GSD and forefather of landscape urbanism, who views “landscape as a medium, uniquely capable of responding to temporal change, transformati on, adaptati on, and succession. Landscape is not only a formal model for urbanism today, but perhaps

[directional l FORCES]

[open + industrial | SPACE]

[barelas + sanjose | NEIGHBORHOODS]

[site | BOUNDARY]

fig. 05: landscape layers

fig. 06: concept diagram

15

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pier in the desert

more importantly, a model for process.” (Waldheim, 39) Combine that with Koolhaas and OMA’s 1982 Competition entry for Parc de la Villette, (in which the principles of organization of urban program as a landscape process, and exploration of juxtaposition of unplanned relationships between various programming, allows the landscape to become malleable, and create a hub for activity that unlike its previous landscape, isn’t necessarily defined. Ultimately to achieve this sort of flexibility and activation, we look at the notion of a Pier in the Desert. A pier being a place of social gathering, is ever changing, and ultimately a hub for people, infrastructure, and cultures.


PD

Rem Koolhaas, in his book Delirious New York, explores the early evolution of Manhattan and more specifically Coney Island. Between the 1820s and 1860s, Manhattan was undergoing urban surgery transforming from a city into a metropolis, the need for escape becoming more prevalent. Coney Island’s scenery and isolation became extremely popular to those who could access the island, including criminals and misfits. Because of the need for pleasure, special facilities are then brought onto Coney Island, to provide entertainment to the masses. By 1883, however, the Brooklyn Bridge creates a mean for new masses to access Coney Island, and the island is forced to ‘mutate’ its natural form that strove to mirror the metropolis to that of its own artificiality. With the further advancement of technologies, such as electricity in the 1890s, Coney Island is forced to continuously transform in a short amount of time. (Koolhaas 32-35). Similarly, with the Rail Yards, there are opportunistic residuals in order to combine and use old technology as well as new technologies. These residuals would be reused through adaptive techniques in order to create events within the landscape, promoting opportunities of activation on a multitude of levels. Post-industrial landscapes, the Rail Yards included, are a location for social practices, especially due to the unauthorized and improvisational activities that take place. Another quality of these ruins, that goes hand in hand with the use of opportunistic residuals, would be ruins boast material affordance. (Jorgensen, 67)

Anna Jorgensen, lecturer of Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield, and Richard Keenan discuss the notions of ruins as it pertains to landscapes (an in particular, Detroit), in which ruins of this nature contain three main features. First is the fact of incompleteness and customary human behavior to fill in those voids. The result of that ruin in the eyes of whomever sees it is subjective. Secondly, ruins represent that contrast between man and nature. Thirdly, the point of juxtaposition, a suggestion of change overtime. (Jorgensen,

17) While studying Detroit, Jorgensen and Keenan observe that “more profoundly, destruction is of a different speed and scale, where we build bigger and more quickly than ever before, but abandon them more quickly than ever before.” Much like Detroit, the Rail Yards were at one time the pinnacle of industrial building technology. It was developed extremely fast, and abandoned just as quickly due to a change in socioeconomic conditions.

The twenty-seven acre landscape of the Rail Yards accommodate stunning machinery that either are still operable or aren’t very far from being restored to operable condition, as well as a host of mega-volume buildings. The turntable (Fig. 7) is a staple of the landscape, as it is the only machine currently in use. The first large building is the machine shop, which boasts 165,000 sq. ft. with a 60 ft. ceiling and 3 cranes that are operable. The second large building is the boiler shop, 58,100 sq. ft. and similar in design and appearance to the machine shop. (Fig. 8) Between the two mega-volume structures lies a main east-west axis through the primarily north-south landscape; on this axis lays a transfer table used to cart the locomotive engine between the machine and boiler shops.

The notion of a Pier in the Desert begins to address a transformative strategy to an otherwise extinct landscape, keeping in mind the need for flexibility and modularity, to make sure to recognize the past without running the danger of a faux restoration. As a Pier in the Desert the Rail Yards would thus become a juxtaposing node in a sense, between Navy Pier in Chicago and Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles. In order to develop a critical strategy, we began to look at the landscape more analytically. (Fig. 9; Fig. 10) As with any industrial landscape (post or current) there is a production process. (Fig. 11) In the case of the Rail Yards, the facilities were designed to be one of the few that could completely dismantle, repair, clean, and even fabricate replacement parts for steam locomotives. Production procession upon

fi g. 07: turntable

fi g. 08: boiler shop interior

40 80 160 320

N

[sanjoseNEIGHBORHOOD]

[barelasNEIGHBORHOOD]

[industrialCOMPLEXES]

[rioGRANDE]

[barelasPARKS]

[alb

uque

rque

RAILY

ARDS

]

[amtrak | CHICAGO, IL;][rail_runner| SANTA FE, NM;]

[amtrak | LOS ANGELES, CA;][rail_runner| BELEN, NM;]

[interstate25][north | DENVER, CO;]

[BUFFALO, WY]

[interstate25][south | LAS CRUCES, NM;]

fi g. 09: landscape map

17

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pier in the desert

[machineSHOP]

[turnTABLE]

[boilerSHOP]

[blacksmithSHOP]

[componentREPAIR]

[lockerROOM]

[wheelsMUSEUM]

[paintSHOP]

[sheetmetalSHOP]

[reassemblySHOP]

[fireHOUSE]

[powerHOUSE]

[smallrepairHOUSE]

FIRESTARTING

PRESSURE BU

ILD-UP (begin process)

REASSEMBLAGE

PRESSURE BU

ILD-UP

FINAL IN

SPECTION

DEPARTURE

FILL WATER

DROP ASH (sm

okebox)DRO

P THE FIREEN

GINE CO

OLDO

WN

(begin process)

FILL BOILER

DECON

STRUCTIO

N of

PARTS to be REPAIRED

SCREEN + PLATE REM

OVAL

STEAM TEST FO

R LEAKS

CORRO

SION

TESTS (hamm

er)

SWEEP TU

BES

BLAST OU

T ASH steam

lance | rod + cloth

BOILER EM

PTIED (1500 gallons)w

ashout plugs removed

REPAIRS AS NECESSARY

CLEAN FIREBOX

WASHO

UT

scale + deposit removed

EXAMINATION

STAGE | 01 STAGE | 02 STAGE | 03

CHECK-IN +PRE-CLEANING COOLDOWN

CLEANING + REPAIR

FIRESTARTING

PRESSURE BUILDING+ FINAL CHECK

FILL WATER

FIRESTARTING

PRESSURE BUILD-UP (begin process)

REASSEMBLAGE

PRESSURE BUILD-UP

FINAL INSPECTION

DEPARTURE

DROP ASH (smokebox)

DROP THE FIRE

ENGINE COOLDOWN (begin process)

SCREEN + PLATE REMOVAL

STEAM TEST FOR LEAKS

FILL BOILER

DECONSTRUCTION ofPARTS to be REPAIRED

CORROSION TESTS (hammer)

SWEEP TUBES

BLAST OUT ASH steam lance | rod + cloth

BOILER EMPTIED (1500 gallons)washout plugs removed


CLEAN FIREBOX

WASHOUTscale + deposit removed

fi g. 10: existi ng structures

fi g. 11: repair process


PD

the landscape is fairly linear, however not constrained to one single path. (Fig. 12) The opportunity for the engines to shift from any part of the landscape to go to a

disti nct area drives the noti on of a pier with adaptable program. Similar to the capability to shift phases in the locomoti ve maintenance process, within the Pier in the Desert strategy is embedded an ability of shift ing programs regulated somewhat by the existi ng rail and machinery conditi ons.

Dissecti ng the landscape opportuniti es further, the strategy comes to fruiti on. A grid is extracted from the surrounding and existi ng conditi ons of the landscape. (Fig. 13) Upon the grid interface, a modular program organizati on is superimposed, not a set program but rather a possible variati on of program within the landscape. In order for the program to be modular, the proposal strategy takes

FIRESTARTING

PRESSURE BUILD-UP (begin process)

REASSEMBLAGE

PRESSURE BUILD-UP

FINAL INSPECTION

DEPARTURE

FILL WATERDROP ASH (smokebox)DROP THE FIREENGINE COOLDOWN (begin process)

FILL BOILER

DECONSTRUCTION of

SCREEN + PLATE REMOVAL

STEAM TEST FOR LEAKS

CORROSION TESTS (hammer)

SWEEP TUBES

BLAST OUT ASH steam lance | rod + cloth

BOILER EMPTIED (1500 gallons)washout plugs removed


CLEAN FIREBOX

WASHOUTscale + deposit removed

PARTS to be REPAIRED

EXAM

INAT

ION

CHEC

K-IN

+PR

E-CL

EAN

ING

COO

LDO

WN

CLEA

NIN

G +

REPA

IRFI

REST

ARTI

NG

PRES

SURE

BU

ILDI

NG

+ FI

NAL

CHE

CK

[horizontalAXIS]

[currentLANDSCAPE]

[currentSURROUNDING]

[combinedLANDSCAPE]

[proposedGRID]

[proposedINTEGRATION]

fig. 12: process on site

fig. 13: stitching the grid

19

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pier in the desert

[programinMOTION]

possibleARRANGEMENT

possibleARRANGEMENT

blurringPROGRAM

fi g. 14: fl exibility + adaptati on


PD

[oportunistic residual |INTEGRATION]

[residual |CIRCULATION]

[landscape |CIRCULATION]

park/PUBLIC

train/TRAM

vendor/RETAILservice/RECREATIONevent/PERFORMANCEtraincars/STORAGE

siteRAILS

tramSTATION

transferTABLE

transferTABLE

adaptedTRAINCARS

turnTABLE

in-useRAILLINE

raillineSTORAGE

fi g. 15: residual reuse

21

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pier in the desert


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advantage of the opportunistic residuals upon the landscape; programmatic features would be upon train car plates that use the rails to move north-south, utilizing the transfer table or cranes to move east-west. (Fig. 14; Fig. 15) This allows existing conditions used in the same fashion as the previous landscape operation to be re-programmed for a new utilization. Like a pier is ever changing, this strategy centers upon flexibility and adaptability for the future, while making a nod to the past and creating a trace for the present. Another proposed system for the landscape would be a tram system to help connect the city back to the Pier. (Fig. 16) This tram would go throughout the landscape, and at certain moments could create unexpected performances. These unexpected performances become a sense of sublimity, a beauty as it exists rather than picturesque, ideal beauty. (Ruskin) The Pier in the Desert becomes a new hub, a place for things to happen, a re-stitching, patching of the void created by the advancement of technology through adaptive activation. It presents a solution not the solution. Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean

and professor at Harvard GSD, stated that “the notion that a building can move or reconfigure itself is not novel, the premise of modularity and dynamic control in combination with unique mechanisms has permeated architectural practice at many points and through a diverse range of projects.” (Mostafavi) In which Mostafavi states that modular systems have been utilized and explored throughout the architecture field and will continue to be explored. It serves as an interesting notion, as technology advances so do civilizations; as the speed and scale of production increase, the speed and scale of destruction also increases. The Pier in the Desert concept serves to address speed and scale, past and future, on a multitude of levels. The integration of multiple layers of infrastructure and transportation along with the ever changing program serve to activate the post-industrial landscape, and provide precedence for similar future projects.

fig. 16: superimposed landscapes

23

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pier in the desert

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berger, Alan. Drosscape. Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2006.Jorgensen, Anna and Richard Keenan, eds. Urban Wildscapes. Routledge: New York, 2012.Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York. The Monacelli Press: 1997Kwinter, Sanford. Architectures of Time: Toward a Theory of the Event in Modernist Culture. MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass., 2002.Lerup, Lars. 2006. After the City. The MIT Press. Cambridge, MA.Mostafavi and Gareth Doherty. Ecological Urbanism. Lars Muller Publishers: 2011.Ruskin, John. Seven Lamps of Architecture: Lamp of Memory. Smith Elder & Co: London, 1849. Reprint in 2011.Waldheim, Charles et. The Landscape Urbanism Reader. Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2006.

[ FT ]

[ FT ]


FT

[ FLEXIBLE TERRAIN ]

vania franco + katerina paletykina

browning seed, plainview, tx

Flexible terrain is a surface of potential that embraces the existing landscape and enhances the traces of history and culture of the landscape. It is a multi-layered surface that once housed flourishing production industry that is transformed into decaying infrastructure in the wildscape. The terrain sets a stage for meticulous research that leads into thematic interventions between the existing conditions of decay and new programmatic insertions and extensions. The multilayered surface introduces questions on how to approach the interactions between the embedded infrastructure and how to use it to create a new program within it. History and theoretic examples can be used to investigate and discover new possibilities within decaying flexible terrain. New possibilities become social event spaces that rekindle the relationship between community and the city, creating diverse sets of interactions within the decaying landscape.

Browning Seed in Plainview, Texas became the starting point to investigate the idea of flexible terrain. The decaying

landscape was agriculturally important to the South Plains region due to its innovative research on seed hybridization in the 1950s, and was a good representation of agricultural importance to Texas. Upon site analysis, the proximity of Browning Seed, Inc. to another industrial site across the railroad was an interesting factor that further motivated research on this abandoned landscape. It is vital to recognize the historical impact that such sites have on the city and the community.

The research led to a clear understanding of complexities of internal and external forces on the abandoned landscape. The abandoned landscape provided a foundation for establishing a conversation between the natural landscape and the artificial industrial infrastructure. This began a dialogue between the “Man vs. Seed” paths, flexible terrain, and opportunistic event spaces that emerge from program pockets. The research established groundwork for a design strategy which became a catalyst for creating new communal event spaces. The history of site and city begins the discussion

fi g. 01a: 1945 total populati on: 11,768

fi g. 01b: 2000 total populati on: 22,336

Represents about 4 people Total Population: 11,768

Downtown District

1945

Represents about 4 people Total Population: 22,336

Downtown District

2000

27

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of relati onships between city, landscape and industry, that becomes the groundwork for future possibiliti es.

Plainview was the highest populated town on the South Plains unti l Lubbock began to grow in the 1920’s (Macik 40) and reached 11,768 people by 1945. Slowly the populati on growth decreased and ulti mately leveled off by 1950’s. In 2000, the populati on was esti mated to be of 22,336 people where the populati on became denser in already populated areas. As the city grew, the populati on extended towards the west demonstrati ng a typical urban sprawl patt ern (Fig. 1). An issue that Plainview faced early on was limited transportati on which prohibited economic development. In eff orts to sti mulate the town economic development, the citi zens

raised $75,000 to att ract the Santa Fe Railway and the establishment of the railroad (Fig. 2 and 3).

In 1981, Plainview was chosen by the Texas Main Street Program to be part of the program in an att empt to “resurrect a struggling town” (Macik 116). The fi rst att empt was short lived and lasted from 1980 to 1983, due to lack of money and grants that were promised by the Main Street Program. Plainview withdrew from the program and decided to rely on itself unti l 1992, when the economic hardships of the 90s led them to reconsider rejoining Main Street. It was a diffi cult task to promote the program a second ti me since the town did not see the need for it and many believed that the program did not work. There was lack of enthusiasm and promoti onal eff ort from the citi zens to make the program successful at the beginning, but began to prosper slowly. This second ti me around, the town seemed to regain confi dence in the program which started to create incenti ves for Plainview. Business owners and town offi cials took a greater interest in the program and took initi ati ve to make the program successful. Plainview focused to create a downtown that was not based on retail but rather creati ng individual business opportuniti es. There were many industries fl ourishing in the area of Plainview, especially along the railroad which disects the city.

The industrial sites of Browning Seed, Inc. are located in Block JK2 of Hale County in Plainview, Texas. The block belonged to one owner who divided the piece of land into four for his children with the railroad acti ng as the diagonal separator, according to the current owner James Browning. Aerial views of the site indicate that the orientati on of infrastructure was dependent on factors such as the railroad and highway that cross the landscape. This division caused a hard edge separati on to occur on site (Fig. 4). The railroad dissects site diagonally against the perpendicular lines that are formed by the city grid (Fig. 5). There is a clear relati onship between

fl exible terrain

interstate highway 27

state highway 194

us highway 70

farm to market

railroad system

city limits

N

0’ 3500’

farm to market

interstate highways

railroads

districts

city limits

regional map

superimposed map

urban context

fi g. 02: regional networks

fi g. 03: regional networks


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the history of city ordinance and the site infrastructure. The infrastructure within the chosen site was developed before city ordinances were enforced, creati ng a linear grid system within the site. In contrast, new development runs perpendicularly with the railroad and highway which shows a new generati on of gridlines.

The history of this currently abandoned landscape goes back to 1958 when it was a site dedicated to the research of open pollinated Sorghum. The faciliti es were primarily used for the cleaning of seed and the manipulati on of hybrids and pollinati on without germinati on. During the height of explorati on of hybrid seed producti on, the site contained from 55 to 60 individual silo tanks as well as four large tanks that could hold up to 3 million pounds of seed at once. For the next 50 years, Browning Seed began to excel in chemical processing and geneti cally modifying seeds including wheat, barley, sorghum, soybeans, corn, and cott on.

The producti on of these seeds is a process that begins with the receiving of the product (Fig. 6). The seeds then progress through a series of laboratory testi ng, which

fi g. 05: infrastructure grid system fi g. 04: hard edge separati on

29

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includes measuring, temperature balance, moisture testi ng, and a procedure of manual sift ing as a fi rst stage of cleaning. Moving into the next stage of preliminary cleaning, the seeds are thoroughly cleansed and remove external waste and debris by use of machinery techniques. Tempering and degerming the seed is a way of saniti zing the product to avoid contaminati on among seed types to prevent any cross contaminati on when the seed is being used by consumers. Aft er these processes, the seed is sorted by the use of sift ers and gravity tables in order to be packaged for either distributi on or storage on site.

On site producti on of these various seeds follows the general process which is regulated by infrastructure on the landscape (Fig 7). The infrastructure is laid out in a linear manner so that the seed follows a certain producti on path on site (Fig. 8). By studying the landscape with the embedded infrastructure it is important to recognize the variati on of paths that are implied. In Le Corbusier’s The City of Tomorrow there is a discussion about Man vs. Donkey:

“Man walks in a straight line because he has a goal and knows where he is going; he has made up his mind to reach some parti cular place and goes straight to it. The pack-donkey meanders along, meditates a litt le in his scatt er-brained and distracted fashion, he zigzags in order to avoid the

fl exible terrain

larger stones, or to ease the climb, or to gain a litt le shade; he takes the line of least resistance” (11-12).

There is percepti on that one takes a certain path based on reason and insti nct. In such case man is likely to take a linear path due to past experiences of work have led him to understand, how linearity is both producti ve and essenti al. While donkey thinks of nothing except what might be easier, that results in a nonlinear procession of space. The landscape of Browning seed provides a fl exible terrain that fl uctuates based on program needs and most importantly the relati onship between the paths taken by Man and Seed. In the case of Browning Seed, the path of seed follows the path of Le Corbusier’s “Man” in its linearity due to the interventi on of man. Linearity brings forth a clear plan that is easy to monitor, clean, and maintain with ease. The seed follows a linear path on the landscape based on the producti on process that needs to occur on site, providing an opportunity for successful producti vity. Man relies on experience and his acti ons are eff orts to produce profi tability as the seed follows the man-made path.

The idea of “Man vs. Seed” path begins a conversati on between profi tability and experience. This profi tability path is set up to emphasize the linearity of procedure in eff orts to increase effi ciency and producti vity for the company. In contrast,

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fi g. 06: general producti on

fi g. 07: landscape plan fi g. 08: producti on process on site


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the experience path is one that relies on the fl uctuati ng landscape and multi ple path sequences - creati ng an interpersonal relati onship between man and land.

By studying both internal and external forces that impact the site, such as the failure of the Main Street Program of Plainview and the abandonment of the industrial infrastructure, a dialogue of new possibiliti es and strategic opportuniti es emerge. It is important to consider the past initi ati ves that were taken by the local community and evaluate their impact before introducing new programmati c strategies in order to prevent the same mistakes to reoccur. A sense of community and community involvement is a vital component since it provides input from a

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non-governmental agent and establishes a citizen based program. A successful Main Street Program is established by the involvement of its citizens and community at the highest level. The idea of community generates the encouragement for a town to rehabilitate the downtown and in some cases the town as a whole. This program relies on the townspeople involvement and the strong commitment to the program itself. Without the community leadership, a community does not exist and there is no sense of togetherness and common interest. By taking the attention away from the center of the city and focusing on the interaction with an outside space, the city becomes stronger as the relationship amongst the community made in the landscape comes back to the city.

The creation of an outside event node enables the relation between the center of community and the outskirts of the city to become stronger. The node becomes an extension of city and community activity within the city limits. That point provides an invitation for the city to step out and interact with the landscape (Fig. 9). It becomes an armature that incorporates the idea of flexible terrain generated by “Man vs. Seed” path and the emergence of program pockets. The emergence of program pockets comes from the relationship between various paths within the flexible terrain. These paths generate an in-between space which becomes a node for the user to experience the landscape. The pockets will be used as site activators and create the possibility of strategic events that the community can engage in. The flexibility within the landscape creates opportunities of conversation between the abandoned infrastructure and the strategic possibilities. This landscape acts as stitch between past and present programmatic spaces. The extension sets the stage for thematic events and how these events can play themselves out.

In Terra Fluxus, James Corner discusses the new notion and discipline of Landscape Urbanism and how it is a focus

flexible terrain

on the fusion of urbanism and landscape, where the two act together and yet stay distinct. The new notion provides the opportunity to further investigate urban fabrics in their natural states in relations to the site and explore the design relationships between these two terms. Corner focuses on four ideas: process over time, the staging of surfaces, the operational or working methods, and the imaginary.

Process over time seeks to create the relationship between the urban spatial forms and the how they relate to the processes that flow through the space. These processes (cultural, economic, social notions) should focus on the understanding of “how things work in space and time” rather than informal understanding of form (Corner 29). According to Corner, the resultant will be a more organic, fluid urbanism, where the environment becomes the analytical agent to understand the complexities of the urban space. “Thus, dynamic relationships and agencies of process become highlighted in ecological thinking, accounting for a particular spatial form as merely a provisional state of matter, on its way to becoming something new” and revealing a new set of rules and findings on how landscape urbanism works (29). Landscape urbanism expands the notion of multiple forces including culture, society, politics, economics, and ecology, working together in the urban setting where the forces create a continuous network of inter-relationships.

The second theme is the horizontal surface, the flexibility of the ground plane. The urban landscape becomes a canvas where there is an interrelationship between landscape and building and the two become a continuous pattern with the urban fabric. This fabric becomes a flexible surface for future manipulations and acts as the trace of past events – it is the surface of potential. Operation or working methods is the third theme where the programmatic visions become conceptualized. The programmatic vision becomes a reality and the working surface of the future possibilities. The

superimposition seed path man path flexible terrain program pockets

superimposition seed path man path flexible terrain program pockets

fi g. 10: fl uctuati ng landscape


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superimposition

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fig. 11: fluctuating landscape

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flexible terrain

opportunities are being shifted in time and space, being reworked in order to rich the optimum potential. Finally, there is the theme of imaginary which is the prospect of new venture. Imaginary is the catalyst of new creations, new events and new surface for new social memories. The combination of urban landscape and imaginary is the groundwork for speculation of what things can be.

Flexible terrain, which is the fluid state of a landscape that has the ability to morph over time allowing new possibilities and relationships of new activities and programmatic imaginaries (Fig. 10). Browning Seed Inc. is the surface of potential that allows the possibilities for the citizens to experience new events and new

social memories (Fig. 11). The abandoned infrastructure and the landscape create continuous networks of inter-relationships and the surface of potential. The inter-relationship becomes the language for the strategic planning and discoveries on how the landscape can morph and adjust to new programs by the users as they interact with the abandoned structures. “A ruined structure compels the viewer to supply the missing pieces from their own imagination” and creates individual responses to the landscape, emerging a new found enthusiasm of experiencing the programmatic events taking place (Jorgensen, Keenan 17). The convergence of ruins and natural scape establishes new experiential possibilities and programmatic event spaces.

fi g. 12: strategy of adaptati on

fi g. 13: strategy through delicate inserti on


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flexible terrain

Program pockets become generators of new event spaces and social memories. The investigations of the relationship of paths that are present within the landscape create interpenetrating spaces which were used to establish program pockets. Attention to the ways buildings act will contribute to a new understanding of the manner in which they are imagined, made, and experienced… building acts to “house” activities and experiences… known as operation or performances (Leatherbarrow 44,45). Program pockets will act as spaces that provide the possibility of multi-disciplinary events that can be held for the community of Plainview. The grain silos, office spaces or the storage facilities can be redeveloped to house multiple events that can be based on different monthly themes. This provides an interchange of programs and events that the community can experience and be involved in. The events can be programmed on the basis of monthly needs, generating thematic events including art exhibitions, lectures, movie screenings, music festivals, children activities, fairs and so forth (Fig. 12). Program pockets become an external node that lets citizens come and gather to redevelop the community presence. The industrial infrastructure node acts as enabler to reestablish the strong sense of community and participation levels in the city that are currently insufficient. Other variation of program pockets uses the abandoned infrastructure as a celebration of industry and its effect on the city. Exposing and revealing industrial machinery and incorporating the industry with the flexible terrain, generates the conversation between the two components.

“Glass, the most immaterial of materials, would be the key to restoring the links between architecture and both natural and urban life, as if the world-nature linkage were to occur within the world of the city” (Leatherbarrow 74).

By creating a transparent layer between landscape and industry the viewer has an opportunity to experience two

themes. A building has character that is expressed based not solely on materials and texture but rather on the performance of the architecture itself. David Leatherbarrow expresses how “the theme of performance is a key to the building’s internal definition or pre-predicated existence” in his writing of Unscripted Performances. The operations of the building both in the interior and exterior become dependent not on the building but on factors that are present in its surroundings, such as public interest, climate, time, and seasons. By removing the walls and replacing them with glass, the performance of the building now relies on the process that occurs within – how it is a memory and trace of what used to happen in the landscape in a given point in time and the impact it had on the city of Plainview (Fig. 13). When this building is now seen and valued for the operations that took place internally, it serves as a generator and contrastingly sets forth the opportunity for external events and possibilities to happen. The blend between these two fabrics creates a continuous inter-relationship within the landscape and opportunistic creative experience for the user. The transparency acts as a continuation of passage from the building’s interior to the flexible terrain. The revealed infrastructure and machinery would begin to evoke personal memories and connections that agricultural industry had effect on Plainview. Infrastructure imprints not only on the landscape but also on the community history. As expressed in Ruskin’s Lamp of Memory, there is an actual beauty in the marks caused by the effects of age and time.

John Ruskin describes parasitical sublimity as “sublimity dependent on the accidents or on the least essential characters of the objects to which it belongs” (344). A type of beauty is developed on site due to passing time and its effects on the physical properties of industrial landscapes. While you can argue that time is never present and instead lives on in past and future, the effect of it does not go unnoticed. The small defects and blemishes seen on site as the landscape interacts with its surroundings

fig. 14: landscape of events


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become powerful generators of memory and a trace for designed possibilities (Fig. 14). There is a respect that is paid toward aged materials as they act as a memory trigger taking the individual mind to a specific time and place. The abandoned landscape then, serves as a place of opportunity as with the link of past and future acting as the stitch.

“[The landscape] is not characterized by velvety textures and polished surfaces, ceaselessly swept flooring or plush carpeting. Instead it contains the rough, splintery texture of rotting wood, crunchy shards of glass, the much of moldering paper, moss and saplings, decomposing clothes, corroding steel, and the oil residues of industry. These material conditions [and] engagement with materiality whether artistic, experimental [or] creative occurs in a context….” (Edensor 67).

Picturesque occurs not only in the physical relationship between contrasting textures and surfaces but also in the responsive connection that are created between memory and possibilities. On the site, there is a constant dialogue

between nature and landscape as they come together and feed off of each other. This relationship creates the notion of a picturesque beauty that emerges from the two fortified with the agent of time that becomes the foundation for designing opportunities. The relationship provides prospect for a more playful, experimental and expressive engagement that can be appreciated in certain parts of the site. Grass and concrete come together in a wildscape that is not designed nor premeditated, where neither is taking over the other but instead coexist in a landscape of their own. All of these imprints reveal the historical impact on the natural landscape as well as the development of the socioeconomics of Plainview.

The investigation of the Browning Seed Industry acted as a systematic research process that led to an understanding of the complexities of internal and external contextual forces. Hidden relationships emerged -- “Man vs. Seed” paths, flexible terrain, and program pockets -- which together created opportunistic possibilities of event spaces. The abandoned site

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flexible terrain

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Browning, James. Personal interview. 1 Oct. 2012.Jorgensen, Anna and Richard Keenan, eds. Urban Wildscapes. Routledge: New York, 2012.Le Corbusier, The City of Tomorrow and its Planning, 1929.Leatherbarrow, David. Architecture Oriented Otherwise. Chapter 2: Unscripted Performances. Princeton Architectural Press: New York, 2009. Leatherbarrow, David. Architecture Oriented Otherwise. Chapter 3: Materials Matter. Princeton Architectural Press: New York, 2009. Macik, Gregory S. What makes main street? : A study of the main street programs in Plainview, Post, and Littlefield, Texas. Dissertation, Texas Tech University. 1994. (Publication No. AC805 .T3 No.176)Ruskin, John. Seven Lamps of Architecture: Lamp of Memory. Smith Elder & Co: London, 1849. Reprint in 2011.

becomes an outside node that reestablishes a space for community gathering and activates not only the site itself but the community presence within the city. The abandoned site becomes a flexible terrain that enhances the relationship of original infrastructure and new design strategies for communal events. The designed thematic events use the existing infrastructure as traces, revealing agricultural importance to the city and personal impact on the community of Plainview.

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bryan jacobsen + mike oler

txu power plant, forth worth, tx

Detroit, a desolate city that has become the victim of America’s manufacturing process. Once the home to unceasing commotion and progress the city now rests silent and bleak, void of interaction and human contact. However, this city is not as hollow and derelict as photographers seek to portray it as. There is life and interaction through the decay. It is only our perception that leads us to believe it is a city beyond hope. This is also not our focus; rather it is being used a device to set the stage for a large power plant in central Texas. Detroit is just one of many cities enveloped by industrial sprawl. These industrial landscapes are viewed as a scourge that must be eradicated in efforts to create a pseudo picturesque landscape not reminiscent of the sites true past. However, there in lies the trouble; the attempt to create, or recreate, what was, is an attempt to manufacture a picturesque landscape. When, in reality, embracing the sublimity organizes a landscape that truly promotes the history and culture of the site’s past, present, and future. Once, these pivotal manufacturing facilities, forerunners in innovation, and leaders in turning raw

materials into completed and refined products are now but ghosts of America’s growth and perseverance. Hollow traces of the past, covered in wild overgrowth, weakened by rust, and decaying from nature’s merciless march are all that remain of the leviathan manufacturing leaders of our industrial existence. This country has been tailored to a new mentality. Instead of being a part of a larger community of producers American’s have made the slow transition into a community of consumers. We will choose the new and updated over the old and withered. Therefore, we allow the potential for facilities like the Carry Furnace in Rankin Pennsylvania, the Rogue Complex in Dearborn, Michigan, the Gas Works Facility in Seattle, Washington and the TXU Power Plant in Fort Worth, Texas to be wiped from the face of the earth and forever sever the connection between our culture and powerful industrial past. One must recognize the prevailing questions associated with these sties such as, what is the significance of this landscape? How can designers orchestrate the appropriate questions that led to justifiable conclusions for the site’s new event? How

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will the public interact with this new event and develop their own understanding of the site’s past through rationalizations of their own memories? Industrial sites of significant impact should be rehabilitated through a process of new events that are unique to each landscape. An understanding will be established through an in-depth look at varying theoretical interpretations of industrial preservation and convey this through different examples of facilities that were under duress and have since been re-purposed.

The focus for this project lies in Fort Worth, Texas. Located on the northern edge of downtown Fort Worth off of Main Street, which terminates into the resorted Fort Worth Court House. Off of the bridge, that leads over the Trinity River, just north of the court house, is an iconic figure embedded in a rich landscape that represents the cities past, present, and future. The Landscape is located in a critical link between the growing downtown metropolitan area to the south and the Historic Stockyards District to the north. It is nested in a bend on the North Fork on Trinity River, surrounded by jogging trails and passed by many locals each day. The building that is apart of this landscape is worn by years of decay and plagued by vagrants and delinquents looking for shelter from the cold or a safe hiding place for unlawful activities. This is the TXU Power Plant constructed in 1910. This neoclassical design housed a coal power plant that was in operation for almost one hundred years. It supplied power to Fort Worth, the greater Dallas County area and parts of Abilene. Currently, it is subject to much dereliction and neglect, abused by time and weathered by nature; to most it is an eyesore. To them the building represents a detriment to progress and a constant reminder of time’s power over all things. However, this is an opportunity, a chance to create a connection to the past through a new experience now and give hope to tomorrow.

An experimental, diagrammatic analysis was conducted to establish a

series of suggestion that organize events of interaction with the landscape and the surrounding populous to energize the site and establish a connection between downtown Forth Worth and the Historic Stockyards district. A study of the landscape’s current conditions, the plant’s coal-to-energy processes, and information about the surrounding areas led to an understanding of how to suggest these new events within the landscape. However, it is not just the process inside the factory that is important to us. Rather, our focus should be on the main ideology behind this facility, an ideology that links all industrial sites together. As Elizabeth Meyer states it, “They are mnemonic devices that bring to mind changes initiated by humans’ need to harness nature for power production and building materials.”(Saunders, 8) To better understand these mnemonic devices we will explore a few examples.

Industrial progress was birthed in what is known as the rust belt. This is a series of manufacturer facilities within a close proximity to each other in the central North East portion of America. It also includes mining plants that worked in tandem to produce many of the products required to push America forward. The steel used to construct some of America’s most iconic buildings were refined in this area, specifically facilities such as Bethlehem Steel in Pittsburg and the Carry Furnace in Pennsylvania. Now, both of these landscapes are in a severe state of neglect and decay. They are also subject to urban sprawl through rejected opportunities for renewal. These facilities have reached a state that is beyond desirable. “Once the site of the nation’s largest steel mill and now big-box stores fill the expanse.”(Surviving Steel, 34) The Carry Furnace was once a “key cog” in the production of US steel, now lays hollow and silent, once the target of much bustling noise and commotion now lays motionless with no attention. Jan Dofner States “Carrie furnaces’ were the finest examples of smelting that made this valley the steelmaking capital of the world. It’s one of the industries that propelled the US

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fig. 01: bethlehem fig. 02: carrie furnace


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into global leadership.” (Surviving Steel, 38) However, there is an ever-present struggle on the landscape, a conflict between man and nature.

As noted by Elizabeth these sites show man’s needs to harness or control nature, what happens when man is no longer present? The building stands as a weak opponent to nature, she is too patient. She will wait until the inevitability of her out living man and the time comes to slowly regain the upper hand on the structures. Without the constant interaction from man, these structures, while not living entities, will eventually become feral. Meaning, that nature is no longer being hindered, manicured, and maintained. After this stage the landscape grows and the structure becomes damaged but also becomes more integrated into its surroundings. Typically, this decay can bring about holes or missing references in the structure. However, this is a direct link to what has occurred from the conflict. They now represent a new stage for the landscape. Consider that buildings are created to sustain events. These events are but instances in time. They can also be scaled, for example, events of a day or the event of the building’s life. These events will change over time, and our interaction and our experience of these events are altered by our own past. As Christopher Woodward

states it, “by the fact of it’s incompleteness, a ruined structure can compel the viewer to supply the missing pieces from their own imagination. Our response is creative, and personal.” Nature has returned and the landscapes have reverted to their wild state; meaning, the original state has already been altered. How could it return to a state of being naturally wild? It cannot. It cannot return to a preexisting state on its own. It must create a new natural event.

The conflict lies between the physical interaction of man and the naturally existing landscape that is boundless without man’s persistent maintenance. Therefore, as Jeff Nesbit would state it, the landscape has now become a wildscape. (Nesbit) It is an environment we experience, one that is void of any preexisting notions of how that environment should behave or appear. It is the removal of our normality. (Nesbit) It is now a designer’s obligation to transform these into domesticated wildscapes. Figures 1 and 2 show the massive overgrowth as well as rust and stains with Bethlehem Steel and the Carry Furnace. When a building or facility like the Carry Furnace or Bethlehem Steel has gone feral we must find a balance to allow the structure to continue its path. A path to decaying and overgrowth, allowing the structure to maintain its current characteristics and continually

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adapt and change in accordance to nature’s will. This is how the industrial site must progress. Resorting, in the industrial preservation sense, is not the appropriate action. Just as you cannot restore the building to its original design and form, you cannot restore the building to its natural landscape. You can recreate it, certainly, however, John Ruskin would consider this a farce. You cannot return a building to its original state in a given time frame any more than you can raise the dead. (White) It has reached a new state, one that requires a new interpretation from the viewer. This can be seen in Peter Latz’s Landshaftspark in Germany and Richard Haag’s Gas Works Park in Seattle. To which Peter Latz’s refers to this amalgamation of domesticated landscape and facility as “Memory”.

In Seattle, Washington lays a 19.1-acre facility that was paramount to the infrastructure of Seattle for 50 years. (Gas Works Park) The facility is the last gasification plant remaining in the United States. (Weilacher, 108) Its unique characteristics led the city of Seattle to purchase the site and commit to repurposing it as a public space. The project was given to Richard Haag. In a report to understand this landscape, Elizabeth K. Meyer stated that two of Richard’s projects share a similar pattern. “Gas Works [Park] and Blondel reflect histories of both human actions modifying natural rhythms and natural events modifying human rhythms; both can be understood as disturbed.”(Saunders, 13) These facilities are interruptions with the natural flow of events; they disturb the progress of nature while at the same time allowing nature to affect them. It is important to understand that not only does the interaction of man allow for the structure or facility to be maintained but also signifies the relevance or importance of the events within the facility. The events can certainly take place without the presence of man but their action and implementation is all by man and for man’s benefit. There is a delicate balance of domesticating feral landscape to a position that the public can be reintroduced and interact with the

structure in a new way, allowing them to create a new event. Elizabeth noted that Haag thought of these engineered machines and tanks on the site as “unself-conscious assemblages” and Haag’s method of assembling,

“consisted of selectively editing the machinery, modifying them with extraordinary restraint for recreational use, and using minimal intervention of the site, such as cuts to reveal the surface of the lake from the park entrance and fill to exaggerate the mass of the burial mound of toxic soil.”(Saunders, 8)

Haag made a claim that his intentions about design where modified through the design processes. He noted his intentions changed from, “do something to the place”, to do “something with it”. (Saunders, 9) This must be explained through the ideas of picturesque and sublime. The picturesque landscape attempts to alter reality with perfection in man’s understanding. Sublimity exists in reality. It is the imperfections that naturally occur around us. Therefore, it lies in dedicating structure to play host to a new series of events that hold a sublime significance. “The sublime escapes one’s physical control”, by this Elizabeth is referring to the necessary action between the mind and the event. Peter Latz would state; this is the act of memory. Memory, in the sense of landscapes, has an ephemeral quality. Memory does not align itself fully with the ideologies of preservation rather it suggests an implementation of one’s own experiences to understand a re-representation of the past. This is the creation of the new event, the experience. Lucious Burckhardt explains this as, “Minimal intervention”. He states, “Minimal intervention doesn’t mean not wanting to do anything, but using ‘espace propre’ (clean space) carefully.” (Weilacher, 116)

Our interaction is necessary to hold significance to these industrial complexes. We must experience them and supply our own interaction derived from

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our personal past to envelope ourselves into a greater experience and transcend our current culture. With this interacti on we blend the lines between the events of the past and the newly found events experienced by our interacti on. Saving these structures is vital to the growth of our culture and these are necessary experiences that can greatly impact our future. Thus the key to our future lies in the culture of our past. These are defi ned links that tell us how we got to where we are and contain insight to where we have yet to be.

With this understanding of memory applied to the TXU plant we can see that a deeper interacti on will only occur through the use of existi ng infrastructure. By tying into the surrounding jogging and bike trails the site opens up to what already exists. Allowing the site to take advantage of those already accustomed to its presence. Also, the city of Fort Worth has a decade long plan to transform Uptown, the land between the Stockyards and Down Town, into a development opportunity for more commercial and multi family use. This plan includes the introducti on of a bypass canal connecti ng varying parts of the Trinity River to take the Uptown area out of FEMA regulated fl ood zones. The context diagram shows the current layout of the Trinity River as well as the sites positi on from the Historic Stockyards and Down Town Fort Worth which includes the Trinity River Vision plan with the new canal. This fi gure 3 also shows

the strategy to introduce new events found from the stockyards and the downtown.

A building in operati on for ninety-fi ve years has had the opportunity to aff ect the lives of so many and with its locati on most of those through a direct connecti on. Remnants of power stati ons and other industrial sites represent an ideology in America, one of growth and perseverance. Now, they are but traces of our past, ever present to bring a since of wonder and hope to our society. The importance that this, and other buildings like it, holds are only valid through the interacti on of man in a sublime representati on of what was. The past is the past, to att empt to bring that to light would not be an appropriate act. Instead allow the decay to be the experience of the building and create a new experience of the technologically sublime. With Latz’s park he wanted to develop systems that were both arti fi cial and ecological. (Weilacher, 128) He conti nues with this idea of conforming the rigid and planned layout of the industrial park and the conti nued insurgence from nature.

“ So [to bring] technology and nature not as a contrasti ng pair, as in early modernism, but technology and nature in accord. Here I am interested in a possible congruence within the ecological concept. This has nothing to do with the need for harmony; no, the technical idea is the try to interact the natural sequences as much as possible.

fi g. 04: stockyard diagrams fi g. 05: stockyard + downtown superimposed

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And to let nature be nature.” (Weilacher, 128)

There is an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder when one experiences the massive scale inside these decadent and neglected structures. At one point these walls were ever accustomed to an unceasing event of activity and occupancy, and much like those in Detroit, is now hollow and void. It holds a sense of grandeur for visitors whose experience is now the event. Therefore, it is not what the power plant was, or is, rather what it can become.

Interaction is the key to implementing a series of events to energizing the site. Much like we explored in the Latz’s Landshaftspark and Haag’s Gas works, both of these facilities were aimed at creating a stage for new events to take place. These events are derived from a visitor’s personal experience. It is done through the minimal intervention or selective modification of the site. These ideas found are similar in technique and will lead to the successful implantation of our new events. The designers use minimal intervention allows from them to create this stage and allow separate and personal events to take place with every individual interaction. When comparing the site to the Historic Stockyards and Down Town it can be understood that the continued presence of man is from the persistent interaction from locals and tourists. It is not the events alone that keep this consistent interaction developing; rather it is due to a varying level of interaction amongst the sites. There are commercial shopping facilities, entertainment functions, auctions, rodeos, as well as nightlife and dining experiences. Much like these events those that will be applied to the site must contain varying levels of interaction. The strategy is to use existing infrastructure to tie into the site and implement a series of varying events reminiscent of those found in the Stockyards and Downtown. Figure 4 shows a map locating these varying events in the Stockyards such as dining, nightlife, and shopping. Figure 5 shows a

map locating similar events in Down Town Fort Worth. These diagrams also depict the graphical manipulations to superimpose them appropriately on the TXU power plant. Figure 6 and 7 shows the implentation of these traces onto the sites; shifted, scaled and superimposed onto the TXU landscape. The building can be repurposed as a functioning facility that allows for patrons to view the building itself as an artifact of the past. This will be a project that requires a re-representation of the events of the past through a new event. It will be stabilized to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the visiting public but will not be a preservation project. Paths can seamlessly be integrated through the building allowing for joggers and park goers to wonder into the building and create a new event from their own past experiences.

These paths will consist of a single level of interaction, a personal form. Here visitors are allowed time to reflect on the structure and understand the past through visible decay found on the surface. They can wander throughout the building not following any specific path, the only indication of directionality will be from the linear path derived from the refining processes shown in figure 8. A dining experience can also be implemented into the great hall. This event will be a more prolonged exposure to the landscape. This establishes an environment that is relatively stationary allowing for more time to focus on the largest space within the facility. This is also where the coal spent the majority of its time completing the majority of the process of creating electricity. Another will be reminiscent of a nightlife experience. A new creation, not recreation, of platforms at varying levels on the north end of the building will play host to this last level of interaction. This will provide another level of interaction that will be more disconnected. The building will be viewed from a new perspective, one that has never existed in the Plant’s lifetime. This allows for a different form of interaction, one where the building itself is not the focus but rather the backdrop for new events that

TRINITY TRAILS

CONNECTING PATHS

UNKNOWN TRACES

BOUNDARIES

OLD STO

CK YARDS

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fi g. 06: traces

fi g. 07: superimposed events

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are created and experienced by the patrons alone. This will be the most unique and diverse experience, one that will vary the most from the others.

The revolution of manufacturing process has led to a new beginning for similar methods in other facilities. Unfortunately, the constant evolution of these processes has lead to their inevitable termination. We purchase products and then after a few years we buy new ones. Not because the old is no longer functional but because of its characteristics, old. This “throw-away” mentality is hazardous to preserving critical links to our past. It inhibits our desire to maintain established connections to where we came from. However, we must remember and hold on to these examples of the great steel mills in the rust belt, and those plants that brought us power. They served as a pivotal importance to America’s early life. These dormant facilities are not dead; rather they are full of life. They are waiting for new events to be created. It is the designer’s obligation to look beyond what the facility currently is, to what it can become.

There are voids throughout our country that are charged with potential to become something more than they are. In the design world we must not view these as husks of their formal selves, rather derive the inspiration from within. They have been transformed by time and become a product of natures manufacturing process. From the neglect of their creators these facilities have become something to despise, a new paradigm must be formed to the public. Designers can only achieve this through the careful and restrained adaptation of these sites. The Designer must set their ego and agenda aside and allow for a new creation to structure input and understanding from its viewers.

Action Reaction Based Process

Delivery

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fi g. 08: producti on process as path sequences

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traces

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrews, David. “Altar of Industry.” Common Ground 1 Mar. 2004: 21-33. Print.Andrews, David. “A Steel Town Seeks New Life; Rebirthing Bethlehem.” Common Ground 1 June 2005: 33-45. Web.Andrews, David. “Surviving Steel.” Common Ground 1 Sept. 2006: 35-45. Web.“Gas Works Park.” Seatt le.gov Home Page. City of Seatt le, 01 Jan. 1995. Web. 06 Oct. 2012. <htt p://www.seatt le.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?id=293>.“Latz Partner.” LATZ PARTNER. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2012. <htt p://www.latzundpartner.de/sites/view/homepage>.Nesbit, Jeff ery. “Post Industrial Landscapes.” Post Industrial Landscapes. Texas Tech University, Lubbock. 6 Sept. 1012. Lecture.Saunders, William S., Patrick M. Condon, Gary R. Hilderbrand, and Elizabeth K. Meyer. Richard Haag: Bloedel Reserve and Gas Works Park. New York: Princeton Architectural, 1998. Print.United States. Nati onal Park Service. Department of the Interior. Nati onal Park Service. By Ken Salazar. Department of the Interior, 26 Sept. 1983. Web. 1 Sept. 2012. <htt p://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/arch_stnds_10.htm>.Weilacher, Udo. Syntax of Landscape: The Landscape Architecture of Peter Latz and Partners. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2008. Print.White, John. “Preservati on History.” Preservati on Lecture. Texas Tech University, Lubbock. 13 Sept. 2012. Lecture.

[ SL ]

[ SL ]


SL

[ A STRATIFIED LANDSCAPE ]

cristina castanon + william cotton

helium production, amarillo, tx

“Wence things have their origin, there they must pass away, according to necessity, for they must account for and pay penance to one another according to the ordinance of time”- Anaximander To understand the landscape surrounding the Amarillo Helium Plant, one must understand the forces acting upon it in the past present and future. These forces are constituent of events throughout time from the Cambrian world to the Anthropocene. Beginning with a unique geological prehistory of substrata decomposing and changing into gasses later trapped under another strata, it is the coalescence of this geology and the events of the 20th century ie. (industrial process, logistics, politics, cultural understanding, and dross) that define the spirit of the post-industrial landscape existing at the Amarillo Helium Plant (Fig. 1 and 2).As we prepare to respond to a forgotten not abandoned post-industrial site, we choose to focus on events and how they are multi-temporal and symbiotic. We categorize these events in time using the metaphor of a stratum in

order to understand their force upon the landscape; this becomes most apparent when observing the site through elevation (Fig. 3). Using analogies of dynamism, morphogenesis, and regeneration to describe time along with the apparent impact of speed and scale, one can begin to better understand how a stratum forms through the sedimentation of events.

Events are the physical and metaphysical phenomena caused by forces that do not await one another. David Leatherbarrow says that events are unanticipated “Because events arise out of a past that we do not know.” One can only see how an event plays out “Events cannot be defined, organized, or scripted because their beginning, middle, and end resist objective comprehension.” Because of this events are considered temporally mobile. The future and the past are reciprocally referential, and the present is a non-consequential floating point between the two. This ideology can be seen in Rem Koolhass’ Parc de la villette, which is characterized by striations of non-defined spaces that permit the flexible inception

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of event. Koolhass uses these striati ons horizontally; we plan to use the analyti cal qualiti es of strata verti cally.

The Amarillo Federal Helium Plant is located on the fringe of a city of 190,695 people centrally located in the Texas panhandle. The Helium Plant represents the local and regional past present and future, perpetually ti ed to the geology, infrastructure, industry, economy, and culture of Amarillo, Texas. From its geographic proximiti es spawned the railroads. The community of Amarillo organized in 1887 as a freight terminal for catt le on the Ft Worth to Denver Railroad. Shortly there aft er the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Chicago, Rock Island and Pacifi c Railroad established services to and from Amarillo. In 1928 the discovery of the Cliff side gas fi eld, and its high helium content, energized the Federal Bureau of Mines to build a refi nery four miles west of town. This was principally because of the depleti on of the Petrolia gas fi eld near Fort Worth, the Navy’s previous stock of Helium.

a strati fi ed landscape

fi g. 01: regional strata fi g. 02: ti meline

fig. 03: landscape sediment

fig. 04: helium production and maintenance


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The following year the Fort Worth Federal Helium Plant was closed and the Amarillo Helium Plant became the principle helium production facility serving U.S. national defense needs until 1943.(Fig 4 and 5)

Due to its prime location on Route 66 with rail access and its proximity to Cliffside Dome, Amarillo Helium Plant received much attention throughout its existence. In 1934 Amarillo became the sole commercial producer of helium in the world. During World War II the military industrial complex of Amarillo grew and Pantex, the nations only nuclear weapons assembly

facility was established, Helium being a critical commodity of its operation. With the ending of WWII in 1945, there was a significant expansion to the Amarillo Helium Plant, in response to the proliferation of the Cold War. By 1968, three other helium plants were opened and Potter County was considered the “Helium Capital of the World,” producing an estimated 95% of the world’s recoverable helium in a 250 mile radius. From this triumph the infrastructure for the natural gas industry constructed. In 1970 the Amarillo Helium Plant stopped producing Helium, and became a shipping terminal to serve the remaining two plants. Its focus shifted towards research of natural gases and the science of their uses. In the 1980’s Interstate 40 bypassed Route 66. In 1990 the national helium program was ended, the industry privatized and its real-estate was sold off. Predeceasing the Helium Privatization Act of 1996, (Fig. 2) which would then go on to mandate private industry to meet all further demands for Helium. From industry spawned new networks and wealth. With Pantex also came Bell Helicopter, Excel, and Valero Mckee Refinery. (Fig. 6) Also, came the development of the southwestern part of Amarillo separated by I-40, full of the characteristics of post WWII urbanism ie. unorganized street grid system, cul de sac neighborhoods, and commercialized shopping centers. From wealth came cultural response to the land with spawned all that proceeds. Earth works funded by

fig. 05: site + production

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a stratified landscape

Stanley Marsh 3, such as Cadillac Ranch, Floating Mesa, and Amarillo Ramp are also in proximity to the plant. (Fig. 6) (These all together become the events that we want to try to bring to our space...the forces that we are using to frame the next event that will take place on our site)

Beginning in the Terra Infra, the buoyant Helium travels upwards through porous sedimentary rocks, where it is met with other raw gasses. The Natural Gas Industry then extracts this raw gas. This is where the process travels across to the Terra Supra is which natural gas is refined and sold after being pretreated and separated. All impurities that solidify after being cooled through a cryogenic section, must be removed in order to prevent them from plugging up the cryogenic piping. The natural gas is then separated in its major components through a process known as fractional distillation. The crude Helium separated in this process is then stored by BLM in the Cliffside bush dome to be conserved. The BLM then rations the crude helium to refineries for further purification, as the helium when stored would have mixed with other natural gases all over again. The purifying process is where

remaining materials are removed from the Crude Helium. This is usually a multistage process involving several different separation methods depending on the purity of the crude Helium and the intended application of the final product. (Fig. 7) Once this is done the element is distributed in either its gaseous state or liquefied state under very high pressures in tightly sealed cylinders. This process is multi-leveled thus making it very easy to relate it to the site in context of its elevation. For example the way the process moves from Terra Infra to Terra Supra, that is a move across the natural axis of the earths crust. This move is literal and can be very well understood when looking at the site of Amarillo Helium Plant in elevation. When diagramming this characteristic, the simplified process diagram was inverted onto the existing site plan according to where each event took place. In this way the two roads become defining barriers, much like the earths crust was in the process diagram alone. An elevation view of the process overlaid onto a birds eye view of the site really begins to uncover certain qualities not easily visible before. This is the point at which it is decided to begin to think of the space correlating with our specific Post-Industrial Landscape


SL

in the horizontal view, thus it begins to take on the quality of layers, which we will go on to define as a strata.(Fig. 5) Dynamism: Greek dynamis ‘power, might, strength’+ ism ‘a philosophical system’

Dynamism is a theory that all phenomena can be explained as manifestations of force. Umberto Boccioni used dynamism to express speed and the simultaneity of his own age. Dynamism is especially apparent when contrasting Interstate 40 to Route 66. The temporal shifts of technology, economy and society are physically manifested by the typologies of the roads. Route 66 has an intermittent speed of circulation. It was dotted with tourist stop, numerous motels, restaurants, and curio shops. It catered to a pace devoid of urgency, and the physical scale of Route 66 infrastructure reflects this. In contrast I-40 is a contiguous body of movement, optimized by bridges and ramps that allow it to function uninterrupted. On I-40 the exterior environment is little more important than the information that describes it on your smart phone. These are the forces of the network society as described by sociologist Manuel Castells. The phenomenon of planetary Helium is the force of radioactive decay of thorium and uranium in a substratum of an impermeable super-stratum of halite or anhydride. Morphogenesis: Greek morphē ‘form’ + genesis ’origin’ Sanford Kwinter is sensitive to time and its affect on things in “The Complex and the Singular,” a chapter from his book Architectures of Time. He begins to discuss how forces correlate with change, and how these different variables are constantly responding to one another. Time is the most consequential force as it is characterized by “relentless fluidity.” Morphogenesis, in Kwinter’s words is “the very principle of life that is creation itself, characterized by perpetual instability, wedding to the ever evolving participation of time”. This definition characterizes our

strategy, which is used to create the next event. We seek to deal with the ultimate problem, the emergence and evolution of form, which itself is morphing in response to time (time being made up of response to force). This helps to define a strategy that is sensitive to the past, present and future events of the Amarillo Helium plant. This acknowledgment to force is inherently morphogenic. The Amarillo Helium Plant in essence is a response to the growth of Amarillo, and a monopoly of natural resources that helped secure America’s global status. (Fig. 3) Regeneration: Latin regenerare ‘create again’

The cellular structure of the human body regenerates approximately every seven years. The Earth’s crust is perpetually in motion and reforming through the process of plate tectonics. The time scale and speed of the Earth’s regeneration cycle is less finite than that of the human body, but their similarities are inextricably linked. We rationalize this as the fusion of Dynamism ‘forces’ and Morphogenesis ‘results’, to create the next strata. We acknowledge that these strata will conflict with one another. This confliction is addressed by Bernard Tschumi programing strategy of Dis-programing. So whatever even spawns from the coalescence of event stratum must dis-program the space that it physically and metaphysically occupies , by introducing surprise and removing ideas of specific outcomes from how designers codify an environment.

We see the Amarillo Helium Plant’s temporal position as the confluence of a regional event panoply. For future development we propose a philosophical approach that integrates a response to its proximity, while testifying to event time scales and the varying conditions that they present. The future strata will be a result of the forces acting upon it (urban, industry, cultural) and the conflict of its substratum (the helium plant). Ultimately we conceptualize future sedimentations

fig. 06: event program hub

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as dynamic chimeras of event that are temporally multivalent. As a visual abstract of what we want our landscape to become we reference Umberto Boccioni painting, Dynamism of a Soccer Player, which he describes as physical transcendentalism, “concurrence of lines and the real conflicts of planes”.

fig. 07: helium process


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boccioni, Umberto. “Plastic Dynamism.” 391. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.391.org/manifestos/19131215umbertoboccioni_plasticdynamism.htm>.Kwinter, Sanford. “The Complex and the Singular.” Architectures of Time: Toward a Theory of the Event in Modernist Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2001. N. pag. Print.Leatherbarrow, David. “Leveling the Land.” Topographical Stories: Studies in Landscape and Architecture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2004. N. pag. Print.Leatherbarrow, David. “Unscripted Performances.” Architecture Oriented Otherwise. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2009. N. pag. Print.Selling the Nation’s Helium Reserve. Washington, D.C: National Academies, 2010. Print.Tschumi, Bernard. “The Architectural Paradox.” Architecture & Disjunction. Boston: MIT, 1996. N. pag. Print.United States. Historic American Engineering Record. Helium Activities Recording Project. Cover Sheet. Comp. Todd Delyea. Washington. Prints and Photographs Division. Lib. of Congress. 20 November 2012 <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/tx0974.sheet.00001a/>.

[ FP ]

[ FP ]


FP[ THE FORGOTTEN PEANUT ]

daniel budke + shawnda rixey

peanut plant, comanche, tx

The United States’ history of industry has left a legacy of wealth and prosperity. Great industrialists like Gerald Ford, Eli Whitney and Francis Lowell are memorialized as the grandfathers of steel, cotton and milling industries. Industry defines America as much as the Constitution and American Dream. Industries serve as the main economic source to cities and towns like the automobile industry in Detroit, the shipping industry in Houston and the peanut industry in Comanche, Texas. These industrial cites are identified by their association with the industry. The Industrial Revolution was a major part of the development of cities in the United States. Industry established itself around the waterfronts of Boston, New York and other cites with access to the water routes. The industries invigorated creation and growth of cities like Paterson, New Jersey, along the rivers. Water was an energy source and transportation. As the Industrial Revolution progressed, railroads lines were laid beside the water routes. The railroad was able to reach out into the American heartland where new resources and opportunities awaited. Industry followed the railroad as

a system of production and distribution stretched over the continental United States. This industry made the United States a superpower in the World.

However this is a cautionary tale. The reliance of industry as a model of growth and success has a fatal flaw. When the industry fails, it is out dated or relocated, the culture it created is left without its foundation. The society must recover. Society leaves behind remnants of its industries. These industrial remains can be seen on the landscape as “…urban population concentrations, patterns of transportation networks, and the evocative ruins of factory and warehouse buildings” (Berens 3). Landscape for this purpose does not refer to the greening of a space or the outdoor gardens; landscape is more of a domesticated wildscape. These once active and vital industrial landscapes have become shells, voids when compared to their past levels of activity. The survival of city no longer relies on the industry. It has no use. The voids created by the loss of industry create a special problem in architecture. What should be done with these post-

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industrial landscapes that at one time served a region, a state or the nation?While industry helped create and finance these cities, it was the people who activated the city. Industry can only serve as a catalyst for society providing funds and means for culture and growth. Conversely, when the industry is relocated or terminated, the activity attributed to industrial production ceases. This termination forces a reaction from the people: exodus or adaption. Christopher Woodard states that the ruin that is created by the exodus reaction becomes a “contest between people and nature” (17). There are two case studies, one better known than the other, that describe two contests and two different victories.

Once called ‘Motor City,’ Detroit is now referred to as a “playground of ruins” (Nesbit). The city’s population depleted as an exodus of around half its citizens fled the failing industry (Woodard 18). Entire sections of the once glorious city sit abandoned and decaying. Nature found root in the destruction and reclaimed buildings, enveloping them in growth and vegetation The empty neighborhood blocks and civic building in Detroit serve as a stage for new undefined activities such as urban exploration, artistic photography and other forms of ‘play’. Tim Edensor divides the type of play in ruins into four categories: destructive play, hedonistic play, artistic play and adventurous/expressive play. The current activity within the ruins of Detroit is play at its purest, unsupervised form. Some people explore, create artistic additions and even sneak into these ruins and host catered dinner parties. Adults have found a stage where they are given permission to perform. Being a child gives you the natural permission to play. As an adult, society becomes a regulator, a supervisor. Edensor rationalizes that adults need play, an unsupervised freedom, also. Edensor infers that “play is the antithesis of production” (73) using this idea to further explain society’s condemnation of post-industrial sites as “blots on the landscape”, instead of accepting them as places awaiting their new

purpose. In the case of Detroit, the focus on the decaying city paints a false picture of the city. People are returning to the neighborhoods, seeking to create a culture grown from the decay. Nature had won the battle but the city is being reactivated.

Paterson, New Jersey was an experiment for Alexander Hamilton’s Congressional Report on Manufactures, trying to explain why American needs to become independent from Britain’s Industrial support. The original use for SUM (Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures) at Paterson was to control the water for the cotton mill along the water (Berens 4). The milling operation failed but the water ways and canals continued to be leased for the next one hundred years until the demand of the growing numbers of mills overwhelming the system. A hydroelectric power plant was installed to help power the mill and SUM sold off their holdings soon after. The town of Paterson purchased the water ways and new manufacturing industries replaced the mills. One of these industries being the silk industry which would go on to be so successful, Paterson earned the moniker, “Silk City” (Berens 6). The people of Paterson were able to recover their industry due to the continuation of their activity on the site. Unlike in Detroit, there was no period of decay to create a new culture, so the industrial society continued to support the city.

We have seen two different set of circumstances, each resulting in the filling of a void left by an industry or industry supported society and culture. The last example we have to present is the combination of these two circumstances. This scenario is where the industry is abandoned but there is no exodus of society or new industry to use its buildings and land. A void is created by each industry’s failure. These voids are connected by rail and road to other industries and important places for the city and community. They are bypassed in favor of the progression of society and industry, left to decay. Unlike Detroit and Paterson, there is no reactivation of these

the forgotten peanut

highway 36

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fig. 01: comanche, tx


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sites. No play happens here, no work either. It is simply forgotten.

A forgotten void can be found in the larger industry of rural production in Texas. Connected by the railroads to larger metropolises and distribution centers, the system served the state since its foundation in 1836 (Werner). Towns situated along the routes served as nodes of production and distribution to Texas industries such as cattle, cotton, peanuts and, most recently, pecans. These towns and cities flourished as long as the railroad brought activity and support to the local businesses (Werner). The system’s interconnectivity extended across the state and reached into its neighbors. The railroad sustained the rural cities and for a period they thrived. New more direct routes were added to the system and these smaller rural areas which formed nodes along the route were bypassed in favor of larger nodes with more products to offer. These rural nodes abandoned save for the infrequent freight trains used for shipping have lost

their catalyst of activation. Without the support of the railroad, the rural industries must find new connections to support distribution. The impact of activation on a rural industry is best understood with an example: Comanche, TX.

Located in the Eastern Prairie Country of Texas, Comanche was hailed as the Peanut Capital of the World. As the major production center of peanuts and peanut products since 1940, the city of Comanche must be proud of their peanut history. When the authors visited Comanche [Fig. 1] on a research trip, we were shocked to find that no one seemed to know of the factory and company that achieved this notoriety or even where the abandoned factory was located. Located at the corner of Mill Avenue and State Highway 16, mere two blocks from the city’s historic bustling downtown, the Gold Kist Peanuts Growers Factory served as one of the supporting industries in this area since the early 1930s when boll weevils devastated the cotton

Industry NodesCommunity NodesGreen Space NodesActive ConnectionsInactive Connections

fig. 02: nodes of activity

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industry. Fortunately, local farmers had begun experimenting with peanuts in 1907 as a way to diversify (Leffler) and the loss of the cotton industry did not have a larger impact. This early diversification led to the area’s leadership in the production of peanut products. The first peanut factory was established in 1926 by Walter Durham. As home based operation, Durham paid local families three cents a pound to shell peanuts in their kitchens (Dollins). He formed the Durham Peanut Company to provide jobs for the citizens of Comanche during the hard times following the failure of the cotton industry and exacerbated by the collapse of the stock market leading to the Great Depression. He purchased the Comanche Depot properties from the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway in 1935 because he thought the new factory’s proximity to the tracks would ease distribution (Dollins). The peanut industry he created would expand into other rural industries and grow as the word’s peanut production focused on Comanche

(Langley). The peanut industry would thrive in Comanche until the mid-1990s when a fungus, Alfa toxin, and overworked land depleted the region’s peanut crops (Babineck). The industry relocated to West Texas where fresh fields, water and disease-resistant air produced bumper crops of peanuts. This relocation left the peanut factory abandoned and the current owners, the Golden Peanut Company, seem content for it to remain that way.

The city of Comanche grew around this industry; its success is linked to the factory buildings and sheds. The rural industry established by Durham continues to produce pecans, process food and manufacture goods. The system of interconnected nodes of industry blends with the activity of the city. One failed node, one void does not cause a retreat as in Detroit nor is it filled like in Paterson. In Comanche, like in the railways that helped create the rural community, the void is bypassed [Fig. 2]. The peanut industry is


fig. 03: storage decay

fig. 04: storage sheds for drying


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forgotten. This bypass of the history of the community is troubling. Ruskin in his “Lamp of Memory” explains that while society can continue to exist without the building, it needs the building to remember. “Architecture is to be regarded by us with the most serious thought. We may live without her, and worship without her, but we cannot remember without her” (Ruskin 324). A void holds no memories. It is without use, without purpose and reason. Our solution is to infuse activity into the void thus filling it and reestablishing the forgotten connections to the landscape.

It is worth questioning how the people of Comanche forgot the peanut industry and in turn the factory. Carol Berens’s book, “Redeveloping Industrial Sites”, explains that this forgetfulness is attributed to “the vacant land and abandoned property of long-gone factories and failed projects stifle growth and effectively seal off sections of the town”(x). Within the city, this forgetfulness created a void, a no man’s land where no human

activity occurs. People were not affected by the landscape and they did not affect the landscape with their activity. In contrast to the graffiti and vandalism seen at other abandoned sites, there is little evidence of the ‘play’ that is seen on the factory buildings. The only graffiti is found on the outer edge of the landscape [Fig. 3]. The power of the void negated the first type of activity to begin to reactivate the site as seen in Detroit. The landscape is currently being underutilized as storage for dilapidated machinery and recycling [Fig. 4]. Despite its proximity to the main centers of activity within the city, the landscape has been made dross-“the ignored, undervalued, unfortunate economic residues” (Lerup 58). This residue can be found in the structures, machinery and other physical remains of the production and joint activities.

The activity of production which promoted interaction with the landscape has been stilled [Fig. 5]. The on-site nodes of production and process exist as traces on the landscape. These reminders can serve

fig. 05: production traces

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peanut shellsmillstone identification tagspeanut shell and sand dryer door

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fig. 06: conditions of sublimity + juxtaposition

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as a basis for the redevelopment of nodes on the site to create new connections along the linear production processional. The physical attributes of the site fortified a line of procession through the site. This procession intersects with several of the nodes and connections existing on the site and bypasses others. Voids are created within buildings and new spaces

are created as seen by the dark blue sections of the diagram. The procession, unlike the production on the site, has no final destination. This experience of the landscape is the goal. The landscape is without boundaries and allows for unexpected events to occur. The rules of architecture blend with the pleasure of the sublime ruin (Tschumi 50). The beauty

fig. 07: activation into decay


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and sublimity of the site is created by the juxtapositions of the site’s past and future in the present [Figure 6]. This move allows the user to define the level of activity he/she with have with the landscape. The space is user defined (Tschumi 30). The user definition creates a dialogue of the city’s interest with the site, leaving the successful reactivation up to the people.

We choose to leave the final success of the reactivation of the landscape to the people of Comanche because we believe they have demonstrated a desire to be “a community where history is celebrated and the present is progressive” (Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture). There are two recent instances of this desire that have proven fruitful and reassuring. In early 2012, Comanche’s Main Street Program, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, was named as one of the year’s National Trust Main Street Center Accredited Programs on PreservationNation, the official website for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Main Street Program seeks to revitalize the commercial downtown neighborhoods

of towns and cities. Comanche’s efforts in creating a lively historic downtown were rewarded and expanded to another historic preservation project. The restoration of the historic Comanche Train Depot celebrated the centennial anniversary of the building in August 2012 (Jones). This project is of special interest to us as the Depot is located on the site of the abandoned peanut factory. The node that has been left empty is activated by inserting the Chamber of Commerce offices into the building. This inserting of activity now needs to happen with the rest of the site, filling the forgotten node with activity [Fig. 7]. These completed projects should be seen as only the beginning to the much greater task of remembering the peanut industry. The landscape and its buildings are there. Utilize it.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

“2012 National Trust Main Street Center Accredited Programs.” PreservationNation. National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.Babineck, Mark. “West Texas leading state’s peanut boom as north-central Texas declines.” Abilene Reporter-News Archives. Abilene Reporter-News, 21 Dec. 1997. Web. 25 Sept. 2012.Berens, Carol. Redeveloping Industrial Sites: A Guide for Architects, Planners, and Developers. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011. Print.Bernard, Tschumi. Architecture and Disjunction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996. Print. Comanche Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture. City of Comanche, TX. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.Comanche Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture. Comanche Chief 2 Aug. 1973: B5. Print. “Comanche, TX.” Wikipedia. MediaWiki. n.d. Web. 4 Nov 2012. Dollins, Sharon Durham. “How It All Began.” Comanche, Texas: Durham’s Pecan Outlet. Texans United, 2011. Web. 20 Sept. 2012.Edensor, Tim, et al. “Playing in industrial ruins: Interrogating teleological understanding of play in spaces of material alterity and low surveillance.” Urban Wildscapes. Ed. Anna Jorgensen and Richard Keenan. New York: Routledge, 2012. 65-78. Print.Jones, Fredda. “Comanche Unveils Its Newly Restored Train Depot.” Comanche, Texas: Durham’s Pecan Outlet. Texans United, 9 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2012.Langley, B.C.. “Peanut Culture” Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012.Leffler, John. “Comanche County.” Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012.Lerup, Lars. After the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001. Print.Nesbit, Jeffrey. Texas Tech University. College of Architecture, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX. n.d. Class lectures. Ruskin, John. Seven Lamps of Architecture: Lamp of Memory. 1849. London: Smith Elder & Co, 2011. Print. Werner, George C.. “Railroads.” Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association, n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2012.Woodard, Christopher. “Learning from Detroit of ‘the wrong kind of ruins’.” Urban Wildscapes. Ed. Anna Jorgensen and Richard Keenan. New York: Routledge, 2012. 17-31. Print.

[ WW ]

[ WW ]


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[ WW STEEL ]

harris briggs + michael reed

steel manufacturing and distribution, lubbock, tx

As industries and infrastructures grow, so do the local economies surrounding them. In the 19th century, railroads in the American West spawned small towns at different stations and stops, determined by local mining and any other goods needing shipment. Key ports along rivers and shipping routes like New Orleans created thriving and exciting new cities, bustling with possibility. Factories and industrial sites were built according to need and whatever current technological innovations allowed. These places were necessary for further technological progress, engaging in a reciprocating process, while providing jobs and opportunities for the community surrounding it . The draw of a new population then stimulates sources of revenue for new smaller businesses to support this community foundation underneath. As the place of industry continues in operation, the city begins to develop around and with it. Different infrastructures layer on top of, in-between, and next to each other, in harmony and individually as demands rise. Because of location, these networks of infrastructure pinch together in tension at these industrial

production sites. The industrial landscape creates a solid connection with the area and the people invested in it; these workers live and breathe their work. This connection between the landscape and the community is established with the city, and solidifies the places’ importance in its moment in time to society by becoming an activational network. This effect is strengthened even more in instances of multiple industries, in cities such as the manufacturing industry of Detroit, Cincinnati and the rust belt of mid-west America in the mid 20th century.

These factories and sites become snapshots of a place and time; in that they tell a story of our society and give conversation between the past and present. John Ruskin supports this idea, saying “better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning” . But what happens to these places when they are abandoned? What happens to them when political, natural, or economical strains force people outward and away from the community they once supported and helped create? What happens when land’s real estate value has become more

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valuable than the property that lies upon it? “Location, location, location” has become the slogan that drives the economy, but what happens with the existing landscape when near its perceived end? A post-industrial landscape is soon forgotten to most, yet not to all. Once it has superseded its function, a landscape is often times too expensive to demolish or renovate. The potential cost to wipe away these empty memories off of the property is in many cases more expensive than the real estate value itself; the land is now cheap because it is deemed “unusable” and “undesirable”. However, the infrastructure of the past still lays in place, able to be fully utilized with the possibility to stitch back together the old and the new, the abandoned and the developing, to inject a new life into the area through these very methods of connection. This idea gives a different kind of “value” to the site, other than monetary. The site can become an activational agent within the city through the systems of infrastructure already in place. Can there be a slippage of function in the infrastructures at the same time, even if the industrial site is still in production? Such an idea holds a sense of parasitical sublimity, not in aesthetic purely, but now in function, with multiple unrelated “accidental events” of infrastructure usage culminating together in a place of tension and harmony at what was once the very reason for their existence.

David Leatherbarrow best explains in Leveling the Land: “Renewed attention to the things themselves is to be welcomed and encouraged insofar as it challenges ways of working that neglect hidden potentials. Care for existing conditions is the first premise of creative work.” To reiterate, the task of both current thought and creative work is to develop new function and purpose that free us from the existing conditions by showing that “a condition of reciprocal determination is more productive and revealing, perhaps even more basic.” Imagine a place or thing that formed the effective center of an activity, region, or network, or a new function and purpose within an already

existing network. Or, to put it more simply, a hub within a hub. The location of W&W Steel within Lubbock hosts an enormous possibility to create such a hub.

The city of Lubbock is known as the “Hub City,” a term derived from its economic, educational, and transportation importance of the Texas South Plains. Located north of the city, along Clovis Highway and University Avenue, sits W&W Steel (Fig. 1). As one of their six fabrication production facilities, the company was strategically placed in close proximity to Lubbock’s major steel mill (General Steel), for the most cost-effective and efficient distribution to any project location. Their facility provides direct access to major rail, interstate, and river transportation routes, creating yet another dimension of economic and schedule-based versatility. The major rail along W&W Steel includes shipping via common carrier, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroads. The US 84 highway and Yellow Canyon Lake are located parallel to the property, close in proximity to the detached residential neighborhoods of northern Lubbock.

We examine W&W Steel as a case study because of this proximity to multiple layers of infrastructure (Fig. 2), socio-economic demographics of Lubbock, and its potential to become a connective tissue between it all as a catalyst for conversation with the city. In 1970, the northern residential neighborhoods of Lubbock surrounding W&W Steel experienced a disastrous F5 tornado causing a rift in the state of the socio-economic demographic. The destruction left in the tornado’s wake drove people away from the area, leaving it in a state of dilapidation and decay. Today, the area has pockets above 24% poverty rate among residents (Fig. 3). In addition, a privately owned barrel recycling company, also located north of the city, had been the cause of public complaints, and committed numerous environmental violations since the 1970’s . Local residents were informed, “Hazardous substances have overflowed the vats and flowed off the Site into nearby

ww steel

fi g. 01: regional map

fi g. 02: lubbock primary infrastructure

fi g. 03: socioeconomic informati on + zones

Uni

vers

ity A

ve

Loop 289

Clovis highway

Aven

ue Q

.

Highway

114

Marsha Sharp

Yellow Canyon Lake

Interstate region

Landscape

river

bike path

bike lane

river

railroad

bike path

bike lane

bike trail (proposed)

Poverty and Minority Areas - southwest expansion

- property value


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Blackwater Draw and subsequently through Mackenzie recreati onal park. The runoff is easily accessible to children at play in the park, golfers, and the park’s wildlife.” These two events of trauma were “the perfect storm” to the northern area of Lubbock and led to a major southwestward expansion for new developments, known as the “sprawl”, away from the history and past of what was the original city. Traumati c events like these change people and the way they think, and to suggest otherwise would be foolish, according to Lebbeus Woods . Although the city was somewhat divided even before the tornado and polluti on according to some maps from 1954, the city from that point on had been fragmented, and we see W&W Steel as a place for re-assemblage.

Upon fi rst glance at W&W Steel, all that is noti ceable is a dilapidated corrugated metal roof overhang that covers stockpiles of rusted steel waiti ng to be relocated. Aft er the initi al glance and further discovery, surrounding the enti re landscape are piles of fi nished steel product, each pile leaving its own traces upon the site. The landscape has more open space than enclosed spaces and the rhetoric of movement implies the primary goal being off -site distributi on (Fig. 4). At 24 acres of land, the landscape places heavy emphasis on circulati on to and from designated stati ons of milling, welding, and cutti ng (Fig. 5). The landscape has three buildings and warehouses located on the center of the site, running north to south creati ng one of two defi ned axes. The biggest warehouse on the site runs perpendicular to the south of these buildings and supplies an exhausted cart rail or track system to and from the other warehouses. Using their adaptable multi -plant method and the various transportati on opti ons available to each facility, all schedules were to be met in the most cost-eff ecti ve manner possible. The southern border of the landscape runs parallel with the existi ng rail and highway system towards downtown Lubbock. Downtown or “Depot,” is home to Lubbock’s Greyhound stati on 2.3 miles away and the only open source of regional public transportati on by land. Nearly the

fi g. 04: on-site infrastructure fi g. 05: on-site producti on process

Factory region

Catogorized steel

Yellow Canyon Lake

Highway region

Landscape

FIGURE 4

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same distance away, southwest of the landscape, lies Texas Tech University. This modern industry of educati on brings about an abundance of student living and social gathering areas nearby (Fig. 6). Texas Tech supplies its own public transit system as well as bike and pedestrian paths all around the state property. The school has succeeded in increasing property value, sti mulati ng economic development and public social interacti on in nearby neighborhoods.

To prolong the inevitability of abandonment, we propose an idea to transform the existi ng industrial landscape and simultaneously provide a new functi on that could bridge the gap between a polarized local economy. Not only does W&W Steel possess connecti on to the rest of Lubbock through infrastructure, but it possesses its own framework of transportati on of the steel product itself within the plant. These ideas of circulati on and distributi on in and out of the site can be

emphasized and expanded to include that of people, becoming a place of interacti on and transportati on, bridging areas of the city together that were once almost disparate. This idea of W&W Steel being a hub within the “Hub City” is important to rejuvenate the area and increase the effi ciency of the inner workings of the city, away from the southwestward sprawl, and solidify Lubbock as the hub city it is known to be, rather than the smear of unrelated zones over ti me.

Parks and Recreati on released a Lubbock area bike trail development plan in 2007. As previously stated, W&W Steel has direct access to yellow canyon lake, which runs directly through Mackenzie park on toward the south east of the city. Some of the economic benefi ts of parks and recreati on faciliti es, existi ng in close proximity to the landscape, include increased property value, sti mulated economic development, and stabilizati on of

fi g. 06: social gathering

fi g. 07: park locati ons


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neighborhoods. As of now, W&W Steel does not have a direct connecti on to the city’s parks and recreati onal faciliti es but it lies in a locati on equidistant from all the nearest parks (Fig. 7). The city of Lubbock Parks and Recreati on has strived to reconnect the public via new park additi ons, community centers, and bike and walking paths. As of present day, the socio-economic demographic of the northwest area has yet to fully recover from the traumati c events of the 1970’s, openly displaying the disconnecti on between the northeast and Lubbock as whole. W&W steel marks a quality locati on to begin to bridge and blend the gap between the socio-economic demographics of the city, much like Lebbeus Wood’s model of ‘The Field’ (Fig. 8) in which he explores the idea of systems in crisis: “the order of the existi ng being confronted by the order of the new”.

Lubbock currently does not provide inter-city rail service and although various proposals have been presented over the years, none have succeeded. For example, the Caprock Chief or Caprock Xpress was a proposed Amtrak inter-city rail service which would run from Fort Worth, Texas to Denver, Colorado, passing through the Texas Panhandle, which also does not currently have passenger rail service of any kind. Initi ally proposed between 2000-2001, the project hasn’t seen signifi cant progress and seems unlikely to be implemented.

We propose an alternati ve functi on for W&W Steel if for some reason left abandoned: A site that becomes an acti vati onal agent within the city by combining and uti lizing the existi ng systems of surrounding infrastructure to slow the southwestward sprawl and encourage citi zens to re-invest in the area, improving local socio-economic growth and small business revenues. W&W Steel is the “end of the line” for all inter-city rail and water service. This could not only be a revitalizati on and benefi t to the Lubbock area, but the

fi g. 08: strategy

Transit Industry

Transit Components

Transit Industry

Transit Components

fi g. 09: route to bus terminal fi g. 10: route to park

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South Plains and Texas Panhandle regions as a whole, allowing for affordable travel other than airborne. Fig. 9 and 10 illustrates the route through the city into the nearest park and bus terminal. W&W Steel can offer a portion of land for the relocation and usage of the station as well as direct access to the rail and lake transit options (Fig. 11).

Because the facility is still in operation today, an important notion signifying the strength of the steel industry through time, there is still a possibility to utilize the site for the same reasons above, all while telling a story of Lubbock’s history. W&W Steel can become a place of heterotopia where certain transportation events occur at a tension point close in proximity to each other, simultaneously but without relation. Proposed bike and pedestrian paths layer next to each other, as well as the railroad and streets; as citizens navigate through this pressure point at

W&W Steel, the slippages of transportation methods begin to create a conversation with each other and with the city.

fig. 11: before + after

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1954 Geographical Map of Lubbock. www.usgc.gov, 2012, Web. 2012.Leatherbarrow, David. Topographical Stories: Studies in Landscape and Architecture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2004. Print.Marx, Leo. The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.Ruskin, John. Poetry of Architecture; Seven Lamps. New York: Fred DeFau, Print.Slother, Michael. EPA Takes Charge of Hazardous Waste Site in North Lubbock. KCBD News. Lubbock, Texas, 31 Aug. 2011. Van Wagenen, Chris. Lubbock Officials Backing Plans for Amtrak Rail Service. Amarillo Globe News. Lubbock, Texas, 2 Aug. 2001. Woods, Lebbeus. Lecture: Experimental Space and Architecture. www.egs.edu, 2008. Web. 2012.Woods, Lebbeus. “The Field.” N.p., 2009. Web. 2012. <http://2009.field.io/project>.Wyatt Little, Ann. City Removes Scrub-A-Dubb Land from Proposed Zoning Change. KCBD News. Lubbock, Texas, 12 June 2009. Television.

[ AS ]

[ AS ]


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[ ASARCO ]

daniel nunez + alejandra robles

asarco smelting plant, el paso, tx

Since its establishment, The American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) at El Paso has caused a major impact to El Paso area, and has been located along a major trade artery for North America. Not only is ASARCO located in one of the most important trade routes of North America, but it is also located a few yards from the United States &Mexico borderlines (Fig. 1). Defined & sculpted by the river, the border between the United States and Mexico is the busiest and amongst the most contrasting borders in the world. Such contrast is clearly reflected in the small town of Anapra, which is a small area of the city of Juarez, Mexico. There is an explosion of diverse cultures near the remnants of the ASARCO facility. On one side is downtown El Paso, the University of Texas at El Paso, upper Westside of El Paso, yet on the other hand is the remnant town of Anapra (Fig. 2 and 3).

The railroads played an important part in the development of ASARCO. The company was able to develop their own rail system, and with this, ASARCO was one of the first transnational corporations

in the world and its extraordinary growth depended on the complex relationships that bound Mexico to the United States. The strategy of the rail system gave the smelter and refining company not only an important bi-national relationship, but it was central to El Paso’s economy. Even as other businesses started to settle into and within the city, the smelter continued to dominate the city’s industrial landscape. And even after the demise of ASARCO and smelter town, one thing is clear. Much of the smoke left by the facility has not fully been cleared. History of ASARCO

In 1887 Robert S. Towne was ordered from the Kansas City consolidating smelting and Refinery Company to construct a smelter and refining facility in El Paso Texas. Towne purchased 1,158 acres along the Rio Grande. Five months later, the 100 foot smoke stack was built. The border town location was ideal for the process because the lead and copper ores could be purchased and brought from Mexico, namely Ciudad Juarez. In 1966 a 828 foot smokestack was built to

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fi g. 01: stacks + el paso beyond fi g. 02: concept diagram defi niti on

fi g. 03: producti on process diagram

Concept Diagram Definition

Site

Downtown EL Paso, TX

UTEP

MEXICO

U.S.

Weighing and Sampling

STATION 1

STATION 2Unloading and Bedding

STATION 3

and Contop Cyclone Charging

STATION 4

STATION 5

STATION 6

Gas Handling System

CD. Juárez México

El Paso TX

To A

mar

illo

From M

exico

[Production Process]

fig. 04: demolition phasing


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alleviate air pollution from the facility. It was intended to disperse a majority of the smoke and gas waste at higher attitudes. Unfortunately, the 828 foot smoke stack did not make a difference. In 1969 El Paso had the highest concentration of lead in the air, out of all the cities in Texas. In 1970 the city of El Paso sued ASARCO for violating the 1967 Air Safety code and Texas clean Air Act. The State of Texas joined El Paso in the suit. Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Landriga, two influential doctors at the time, discovered that people within 4 mile radius of ASARCO had dangerously high traces of lead in their blood streams; a serious condition called Devon colic. An average of fifty-three percent of children, ages 1 through 9 living less than a mile from Asarco had high blood lead levels. In 1985 the ASARCO Zinc and Lead plants were forced to be shut down. The company kept running only producing cooper until 1999, where Copper fell to 60 cents a pound forcing ASARCO to shutdown due to the lack of revenue. Even after many years of ASARCO being closed, in February 2012 a much needed and painstaking demolition process began (Fig. 4).

“Undue lead absorption in a high percentage of area schoolchildren and adults eventually led to the closing of ASARCO and smelter town’s demolition”… (10)-James R. Murphy

Strong quantities of El Pasoans were against ASARCO because ASARCO and its smokestacks had proven to cause respiratory and cancer deaths in the area. However there is also a group of people called “Save the Stacks”, who have proven to play devil’s advocate on the matter. The group currently wants to keep the 828 foot tall smoke stack as a monument or landmark in El Paso and vicinity. In order

for this group to keep the stacks they need to gather 14 million dollars, to pay the legal fees associated with this project. The city of El Paso has given the resolution to leave the lower 20 feet of the 828 foot tall base.

Culture plays an important role in this border region; not only do Juarez and El Paso share traditions and resemble one another socio-economically, but also families are divided between two cities. Years ago, there was no steel barrier between Mexico and the United States along the border highway, and illegal immigrants crossed everyday by the hundreds. People from Mexico see the United States as a possible land of opportunity and a better life for them and their family. They leave everything behind and start a new beginning even when they have to start from virtually nothing. Many make it, some do not, and their death becomes a mystery. As time passes by, there are less people that are able to follow their dreams in that land of prosperity. It is not easy to be away from those you love and wonder how everything back home is. How is the family? Will I ever see it again? Some of these questions roam Mexican’s minds. Is it worth risking your life? Or by living in Mexico you are on the expectation of being a part violence rage? The safest city in the U.S is El Paso while there is Cuidad Juarez, considerably the world’s most dangerous city, a stone’s throw away. What happened to Juarez? The cartels rule the city and you never know that morning that you leave home if you will come back to your family. Every single person in Juarez has being affected by this terrible situation; from people that are part of the cartel, a man passing by the scene, or a family with children killed by mistake. It seems people from Juarez have to be aware of the government and police

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because they have the power and it is not run effi ciently. Arizona’s SB 1070 law made even more intense the barrier between two countries. The law in Arizona is the strictest anti illegal immigrati on measure in the United State’s history. Americans want illegal immigrants out of their territory without any considerati on for whom in may aff ect. Mexicans have resentment and are trapped between the violence and malfuncti oning government in Mexico and the negati vity in the United States deporti ng them. Ulti mately ASARCO seemed to fuel the politi cal fi re in this dynamic area. The ephemeral nature of the Mexican’s dreams to leave their homes and cross the treacherous border is endearing. “Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz--Among individuals, as among nati ons, respect for the rights of other is peace.”-Benito Juarez

Benito Juarez was able to state clearly, that a key for peace is to respect the rights of others. Respect others because no matt er their race, they are humans and have the same value.

“The building out of the horizontal city has formed a new fronti er across American landscapes”. The factor can be things such

planning and zoning codes, sustainability that restrict the ways landscape can be incorporated into development” (Berger 26). Not only these factors come into play but the public and private sectors that speculate about how this land can be used, may leave the land vacant unti l conditi ons are met to develop it. Although the outcome might seem like another common patchwork, that is how undermined politi cians see most abandoned industrial landscapes, as a waste of land (Fig. 5). “This fronti er has evolved into what we called today as fragmented enti ty, best described as the landscape existi ng between node urbanizati on” (Berger 27). The demoliti on of ASARCO was infl uenced by these conditi ons, and it has created a mega void between the city (Fig. 1). Some spectral buildings will remain as an abstract memory of what ASARCO was, but the scar left by the demoliti on will stay in the memories of those who wanted ASARCO to stay open and those who were physically damaged by the dangerous contaminants the smelter produced.

The large empty area that lies between the east and the west side of El Paso, creates a void that will now have to be sti tched to create a bett er bounding relati onship between Mexico and the

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fi g. 05: leveling the land of asarco fi g. 06: sti tching the boundariesJuarez,Mexico

El Paso, Texas

Stitching Diagram


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Unites States. The post industrial landscape will act as the interlocking and the stitching between the two countries; the interlocking will be created by the buildings and proximity. This transcends the physical distance between Mexico and the United States playing as an important role in the process of events that will take place along the gashed landscape. The stitching will create a stronger political relation between the two countries and will allow closing the wound (void) caused by the demolition of ASARCO (Fig. 6). Like said on the book by Jorgensen and Keenan, by the fact of its incompleteness, a ruined structure compels the viewer to supply the missing pieces to their own imagination.Strategy

In order to alleviate the political pressure intensified by Arizona’s new law, the border between Mexico and the United States, must allow ASARCO to embody the stitching of the two cultures harmoniously. If in the past theses cities where divided- and ASARCO mended a wound leading to a better after-life, the scar will assuage. Born from necessity, the rail road systems that once lead to and from the ASARCO ores now transport ideas and cultures. The scar will remain as an enduring mark, yet it will develop into an unrelenting memory. The physical landscape is actually recuperating with the site cleanup and demolition; it will heal just as flesh tends to bond after a deep wound. Even when flesh tries to reconnect the physical properties of the skin layers, the depth of the wound needs stitches, to help the skin become a homogeneous surface, but it leaves behind a scar- never fully healed. The landscape flesh has been seared, it’s visage ruined forever, and El Pasoan’s nor the world may not be prepared for the disgusting after effects. “The scar is a deeper level of reconstruction that fuses the new and the old, reconciling, coalescing them, without compromising either one in the name of some contextual form of unity. The scar is a mark of pride

and of honor, both for what has been lost and what has been gained. It cannot be erased, except by the most cosmetic means. It cannot be elevated beyond what it is, a mutant tissue, the precursor of unpredictable regenerations. To accept the scar is to accept existence. Healing is not an illusory, cosmetic process, but something that -by articulating differences- both deeply divides and joins together.” (Lebbeus Woods)

The site has potential for being a bound created by the landscape. ASARCO affected a vast quantity of people creating a scar in people’s memories. Now that the site is under demolition the site will become a void, a void that can’t be filled but stitched. People will never forget ASARCO they will still have a memory of it. ”We may live without her, and worship without her, but we cannot remember without her.” (Ruskin 324) Without architecture the structure of ASARCO could not be recognize. The structure itself guides people to the past and how ASARCO looked when it was still functional. If a memory remains of ASARCO it needs to have a precious intent. “And if indeed there be any profit in our knowledge of the past, or any joy in the thought of being remembered here after, which can give strength to present exertion, or patience to present endurance, there are two duties respecting national architecture whose importance it is impossible to overrate: the first, to render the architecture of the day, historical; and, the second, to preserve as the most precious of inheritances, that of past ages. (Ruskin 324-325)

The site cannot be considered dross on the region anymore. After being a successful site for many years. the site of ASARCO became waste and wasted land where many dreams dissipated into the air much like the smoke. The remaining fragments of the site will become eternal interpretation of what the structure once was and its relevance to the site. “A former vast and unruly wilderness is captured and domesticated” (Lerup 75) The wilderness of the site must be captured to evoke a sense of

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fi g. 07: interlocking edges

fi g. 08: event diagram

Interlocking Diagram

[Interlocking Diagram]

To the United States

To Mexico

Interlocking Diagram

[Interlocking Diagram]

To the United States

To Mexico

Monument

Cultural Center

Student Center

Linking Path


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history. The production-driven topography and the foot prints of the buildings must be preemptively identified. At the same time the site must be domesticated and purified of all lethal contaminants. (Fig. 7) There is no way of disregarding its all-encompassing impact, not only in a material sense but even, insidiously, in our way of thinking. (Building the unfinished_Lerup78) The “Tranvia”, a source of transportation between Juarez and El Paso, is a move toward domestication. This site has become one of the first international Tranvias in the world. With this transportation, Mexico and the United states are able to attract more citizens to their history and culture. This form of vernacular transportation evolved and was intensely exercised between the 1884 and 1974. Just like the Tanvias were able to share a route between Juarez and El Paso, giving people of the area the opportunity of encounter and sharing cultures, ASARCO has the potential of becoming a route that links the two countries. Cultures in the area are linked, but once they unify the only method to remain connected is the fundamental stitching (Fig. 6).

Since ASARCO’s inception, it has been an important and dynamic industrial landscape, and restoring it will continue to alleviate the existing political pressures. ASARCO is situated in one of the most contrasting border cities in the world, and shall be addressed to not become a drosscape. This is done to reclaim the hovering memories between the history, culture, and political boundaries that the landscape has left behind by the erasing of the smelter. Restoration of the primary railroad system used by the smelter will be among the main functions of the strategy. The strategy presented to reinvigorate this former industrial landscape is to restore its original process and create a stitch between Mexico and the United States (Fig. 8). Based on nuances from the area’s past, present, and future, it can be anticipated that prolonged perception of the ASARCO Stitch will be assimilated into the culture.

The smoke stacks, railroad system, and even the development of smelter town were all a means to even grander end. That end will come once the smoke has cleared.

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asarco

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berger, Alan. (2006). Postscript by Lars Lerup, Drosscapes (pp. 1 - 44). New York, New York: Princeton Architectural Press.Campboy, Ana. The Wall Street Journal. Smelter’s Shut, Now What?. Picture from I-10, 2010. Edensor, Tim. Jorgensen, Keenan. Urban Wildscapes. Chapter 4; Playing in industrial ruinsGray, Robert. Recasting The Smelter. Can an earthquake topple the stacks?. Picture taken from the 828’ smokestack looking into the city and the city.Lerup Lars. Building the Unfinished: architecture and human action. Illustrated. Sage Publication, 1977. Murphy, James. El Paso 1850-1950. Charleston SC: Arcadia Publishing. 2009. PrintRecasting The Smelter. Visuals, 2012, Aerials and Maps. “Oblique Aerial”.Recasting The Smelter. Visuals, 2012, Before and After Photos. “Before, After”.Recasting The Smelter. Visuals, 2012, Photographs. “Panorama taken from south stack- April 25,2011”.Recasting The Smelter. Visuals, 2012, Videos. “Demolition Time Lapse Video”.Ruskin, John. The Lamp of Memory. New York. Penguin Group. Print.

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[ RAILWAY EXCHANGE ]

geoffrey brown + brandon montfort

depots and railway along the llano estacado landscape

Railways have been the key to economic and socioeconomic trends since their inception into society in the 19th century. During this time there was a feverish pace to build and develop spurred on by Americans insatiable love for land money and freedom. This is no more evident than the American’s pursuit for the Pacific Ocean. The pursuit of the west propelled many railroad companies to try and find an effective passage through the Rocky Mountains. The most archetypical examples of this route is the Santa Fe Railroad commissioned to connect the east to the west that throughout Oklahoma Texas and New Mexico extended along the Ozark Trail. The railroad connected Chicago to Los Angeles in 1881 becoming the United States second trans continental railroad. The crossing of the Rocky Mountains was a significant accomplishment for the Santa Fe Railway and placed them as the primary competitor to the Union Pacific Railway, which connected Chicago to San Francisco north of the Santa Fe line through Denver Colorado.

The significance of the Santa Fe’s Transcon Railway railroad has only increased over the past 131 years and the route that passes through Amarillo and Albuquerque is projected by 2035 to be the busiest transcontinental railway in North America . Due to Ford’s success with the Model T in the beginning of the 20th century automobiles were becoming prevalent throughout the United States, and in 1925 the United States commissioned the building and maintain of roads across the United States. These roads typically ran parallel to major railways one highway in particular was endearingly referred to as the Mother Road or the Main Street of America. Many Americans viewed the pathway to freedom as Route 66. Route 66 is the road that extends from Chicago to Santa Monica California and for most of its 87 year life has run parallel to Santa Fe’s Transcon Railway. The dichotomous relationship of the Transcon Railway and Route 66 is a symbiotic relationship that has helped facilitate an exchange of both goods and ideas across America and has a heritage rooted in speed. From the economy to pop culture each method of travel while categorically different maintains a many

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fi g. 01: llano estacado regional rail

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

TERTIARY

LLANO ESTACADO

PRIMARY_MEGALINE

SECONDARY_AMARILLO LUBBOCK CLOVIS

INTERSECTING RAIL LINES

TERITARY_ABANDONED RAILS

LLANO ESTACADO

LLANO ESTACADO_RAIL DISTINCTIONS

similariti es. The inseparability of the Route 66 and the Transcon carry many similariti es of other transpathways throughout the world. For instance the Siberian route mimics the Russian Trans Siberian Railway and is held to the same esteem in Russian history as Route 66 is in American history.

The categorizati on of these transconti nental passageways that are infusing goods and people throughout a country can be best described as a mega-line, meaning a line that is signifi cant in both volume and impact to a specifi c region or country. There are many examples of mega-lines throughout the world and it is for this reason an analysis was done in order to strati fy and codify the diff erent conditi ons along the mega-line. The strati fi cati on revealed that a pathway that resulted in a terminus that was not at a major body of water would incontroverti bly be at or near abandonment (Fig. 1). The resulti ng abandonment of the terti ary lines can best be att ributed in the United States to the expansive growth in regional automoti ve

shipping. The analysis also revealed that other than abandonment the pathways separated themselves what will be referred to as both primary and secondary lines. The primary lines are the mega-lines and are such because of the volume they receive either from internati onal trade or through the coalescence of secondary lines. The secondary lines therefore should be considered as armatures extending outward to serve, sti mulate, and support the mega-line.

The process of strati fi cati on not only allowed for the categorizati on of pathways, it also allowed for the separati on and annotati on of the diff erent types of nodes along each path. Two paths and their correlati ng nodes were chosen due to their secondary relati onship with the Santa Fe Transcon mega-line, and the possibility that the response rendered along these lines could be seen as the prototype in areas that have been impacted by the increased dependence on regional automoti ve shipping. In the United States

fi g. 02: bnsf railways

Lubbock

Amarillo

ClovisAlbuquerque

IP- INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIONPD - PASSENGER DEPOTCIT- CONNECTIVE INDUSTRIAL TISSUE

SHALLOWATER TYPE: IP

WHITEFACE TYPE: PD

LITTLEFIELD TYPE: PD AMHERST TYPE: IP

SUDAN TYPE: IP

MULESHOE TYPE: PD PORTALES TYPE: IP/PD

DIMMIT TYPE: IP

CLOVIS TYPE: CIT

HEREFORD TYPE: IP

LARIAT TYPE: IP

TEXICO TYPE: CIT

SLATON TYPE: PD

ABERNATHY TYPE: IP

LUBBOCK TYPE: CIT/IP

POST TYPE: PD

HALE CENTER TYPE: IP

PLAINVIEW TYPE: PD/IP

KRESS TYPE: PD

TULIA TYPE: PD

CANYON TYPE: CIT/PD

AMARILLO TYPE: CIT

DUMAS TYPE: PD

TYPE: IP TYPE: IP TULIATULIA

PLAINVIEWPLAINVIEW


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the decrease in rail transportati on along terti ary routes is in large part due to the Nati onal Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which created the modern day Interstate Highway. This coupled with less demand for passenger trains has left many rail routes across the United States facing a decrease in demand for rail services. This decrease has put into questi on what to do with the terti ary rail lines and the secondary rail lines. The polarizati on of train usage is only expected to conti nue to increase over the next 30 years increasing the nati ons dependence on the transportati on of goods across freeways instead of railways. The usage in the Santa Fe Transcon mega-line is expected to jump 400% between now and 2035 . Many secondary lines increases are projected to be marginal in comparison. (Fig. 2)

The prototype of these events begins with the analysis of towns or nodes along the secondary lines that extend northward from Lubbock Texas connecti ng to two locati ons along the Santa Fe Transcon Railway. The connecti on of the secondary lines that extend northward from Lubbock occur in the greater Amarillo Texas

area (Fig. 3.1), as well as the greater Clovis New Mexico (Fig. 3.2) area and is where the unifi cati on of the secondary lines with the mega-line occurs. (Fig. 2) The towns along the secondary paths to the mega-line serve the line as a series of nodes and can best be analyzed by discovering the similariti es the towns share in their relati onship to one another and the rail line. These relati onships compose themselves in one of three ways. As Passenger Depots, Industrial Producti on, or Connecti ve Industrial Tissues. (Figure 2)

• Passenger Depot- An enclave that will operate as a point of departure/arrival within an interwoven system of human and informati on transit. (Fig. 4)• Industrial Producti on- An area that does posses or possesses the capacity to grow or manufacture goods. (Fig. 4)• Connecti ve Industrial Tissues- a ti ssue that is an open wound that if sti tched has the potenti al to facilitate connecti vity between two socioeconomically diff erent sides. A CIT would be best implemented as away to repair a region that has eff ecti vely severed itself into separate regions based on affl uence vs poverty by the use of rail line. (Fig. 4)

fi g. 03.1: lubbock to amarillo

fi g. 03.2: lubbock to clovis

Santa Fe Rail Station Dumas TX

SLATON TYPE: PD

ABERNATHY TYPE: CIT

LUBBOCK TYPE: IP/CIT

POST TYPE: PD



KRESS TYPE: PD

TULIA TYPE: PD

CANYON TYPE: PD

AMARILLO TYPE: CIT

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LUBBOCK TO AMARILLORAILSTATION TYPESIP- INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIONPD- PASSENGER DEPOTCIT- CONNECTIVE INDUSTRIAL TISSUE

CONNECTIVE INDUSTRIAL TISSUES

PASSENGER DEPOT

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

Residential

Production

Buildings

Freeway

Highway

Rail Line

Abandoned RailLine

PIL Railways

SLATON TYPE: PD

ABERNATHY TYPE: CIT

LUBBOCK TYPE: IP/CIT

POST TYPE: PD



KRESS TYPE: PD

TULIA TYPE: PD

CANYON TYPE: PD

AMARILLO TYPE: CIT

DUMAS TYPE: PD

N

Residential

Production

Buildings

Freeway

Highway

Rail Line

Abandoned RailLine

SLATON TYPE: IP

LUBBOCK TYPE: CIT/IP

LITTLEFIELD TYPE: PD

AMHERST TYPE: IP

MULESHOE TYPE: IP

TEXICO TYPE: CIT/IP

SHALLOWATER TYPE: IP

SUDAN TYPE: IP

LARIAT TYPE: IP

CLOVIS TYPE: IP

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fi g. 04: depot typologies

CONNECTIVE INDUSTRIAL TISSUESPASSENGER DEPOT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

Residential

Production

Buildings

Freeway

Highway

Rail Line

Abandoned RailLine

SLATON

ABERNATHY

POST HALE CENTER

PLAINVIEW

KRESS TULIA

CANYON

AMARILLO

DUMAS SLATON

LUBBOCK

LITTLEFIELD

AMHERST

MULESHOE TEXICO

SHALLOWATER

SUDAN

LARIAT

CLOVIS


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With the categorizati on of nodes along secondary paths in to three specifi c types, the focal point of the analysis turned to adding value to these nodes. The value along railways has historically been linked to the increase or decrease of commerce through towns along the railway . This has linked the populati on change rate to the tonnage of goods that travel through the node . Meaning that in order to increase the value of the node (town and populati on respecti vely) you must fi rst increase the throughput along the path that connects the node to the network. These connecti ons are criti cal and the more connecti ons a node has within the network the more value it has inside that network. (Fig. 2) A value increase is most evident when multi ple paths converge into a parti cular node, therefore the convergence of informati on and goods is ulti mately the fundamental source for value adding.

The idea of bringing together both informati on and goods sti mulated a new process that could be developed. This was a process where the implementati on of both would ulti mately yield a dynamic that would create a place for people to dialogue without reprisal (Fig. 5 and 6) and a place to express themselves through the arts, dance or language. The nodes whether they are passenger depots, or industrial producti on zones all serve to infuse and initi ate conversati on between multi ple communiti es each within their own unique microcosm. This creati on and exhibiti on of mirco-farms (Fig. 7-9) allows for individual communiti es to choose what they grow in order to support the many layers of the secondary lines. There support for the system could also be expressed through their art, food, and informati on. The idea that one path can lead to many events was inspired by Tschumi’s Park De Villett e. Where Tschumi intenti onally created a

fig. 05: public art interventionsPUBLIC ART WITH A LOCAL IDENTITYAMARILLO TXGARVEY MILLS PROPOSAL

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series of path, edges, nodes, causing the event to be different from many different approaches. Every type of event whether it be growing the produce in the industrial production zones or getting on and off along the rail lines at the different passenger depots, is a response linked to that specific person and region. This allows for each point along the path to facilitate a multitude of actions that serve to reactivate these once dormant nodes.

The apex of the entire process of events occurs when the secondary lines intersect the primary line or the mega-line. It is this intersection where the railway separates socioeconomic classes by the creation of an edge. The actualization of this divide can best be explained by the idiom “the wrong side of the tracks”. This simple phrase is collectively expressed throughout America and refers to the steep divide between socioeconomic classes and is indicative of how a railway can be used as

an economic divide separating an affluent from an impoverished neighborhood. The railway as a physical barrier is artificial and self-imposed but by the creation of a connective industrial tissue neighborhoods can begin to repair the damage inflicted on them by Euclidian zoning. The idea to use architecture as a way for healing was inspired by Lebbeus Woods paintings of Sarajevo. In which he depicts the formation architecture as a scab over the bombed out communities of the war torn city. Lebbeus approached healing as if it was not a matter of mimicking what was there before but instead by creating a multifaceted image projecting the layering of time and events on a building. Lebbeus Woods referred to this approach as “secure dissolution” where the streets of Sarajevo could begin to facilitate the conversation of democracy saying that “the post war city must create the new from the damaged old”. In the same way the notion of mindful healing emerges from the

fig. 06: cinema art projectionsPUBLIC ART WITH A LOCAL IDENTITYAMARILLO TX

GARVEY MILLS PROPOSAL


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connective industrial tissues as a way to connect and activate opposing layers with one another (Fig. 6). Throughout these aging post industrial zones where we propose the implementation of a connective industrial tissues to eliminate the edge that divided neighbors for so long. This reintegration would promote healing along those divided communities, but in order for the cross-programming of the connective tissue to begin a kernel of hope is planted in the area that has been historically divided by these physical edges. These once vibrant industrial centers can now begin the process to reestablish themselves as centers for recreation and the interchange of ideas. This is a fulfillment of the original purpose of the railway because the essential nature of the Santa Fe Transcon was to increase the speed with which information and goods could travel and with it bringing Americans opportunities to seek new horizons like moving west towards the Pacific Ocean and settling along the pathways that got them there. Ideas, inspiration, and information have always followed the railroad from its very inception. The railroad was the country’s first information superhighway and it’s this interchange of ideas both culturally and socially that can begin to repair decades of frustrations felt equally behind both sides of the railway. It is along these railways that purpose the implementation of public artwork. With special consideration given to the famous artist J R who has enveloped the world with his public exhibitions “Portrait of a Generation” 2006, “Face to Face” 2007, “Women are Heroes” 2010. It is this style and scale of work that is pivotal in the successful event making along the secondary lines. The implications of these strategies extend past the Llano Estacado past the crashing oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific and manifest themselves as opportunities to transform once vibrant communities by bringing them simple ideas like food and conversation but its these things that help transform a society divided into a society that is fused respect and admiration for one another. This

fi g. 07: passenger depot prototype

fi g. 05: shallowater prototype

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LITTLEFIELD PASSENGER DEPOTLITTLEFIELD TXA PASSENGER DEPOT

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“The Food Train”

Food Train gathering area

A micro farm to assist in providing locally grown produce for the Food Train

Water cisterns for the collection of water for the micro farm

“We are Shallowater” installation

SHALLOWATER PROPOSAL

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interchange of society is a complex idea that has made this country such a dynamic force, but in order to facilitate this dialogue it becomes necessary to infuse these nodes along the secondary rail lines with multiple yet complementary events. These events of food trucks and public art are merely underlays to the larger context, but are the critical elements for the building of our society. Art has fueled society since its inception and it is by utilizing that power and the conversations that take place over food that these railways will truly become an event that focuses on the free exchange of ideas and information. As Jonathan Hale describes it “Art is the highest expression of human consciousness, being more universal, and hence more powerful than the fragmentary dissections of rational concepts.”


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NSHALLOWATER PROPOSALSHALLOWATER TXINDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nati onal Freight and Railway Capacity and Investment Study. Associati on of American Railroads. Cambridge Systems Inc. Cambridge, Mass., 2007. 30-33.Texas Rail Plan. Texas Department of Transportati on. Austi n TX., 2007. Ch 3, Pg 6.“United States Census Bureau.” Census Bureau Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. <htt p://www.census.gov/>.Woods, Lebbeus. Pamphlet Architecture 15: War and Architecture. Princeton Architectural Press: New York, 1993.Bernard, Tschumi. Architecture and Disjuncti on. MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass., 1996.Hale, Jonathan A. Building Ideas. Baffi ns Lane, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, LTD, 2000. 59.Kwinter, Sanford. Architectures of Time: Toward a Theory of the Event in Modernist Culture. MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass., 2002. Leatherbarrow, David and Mohsen Mostafavi. On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time. MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass., 1993.Park, Kyong. Urban Ecology: Detroit and Beyond. Map Book Publishers: Hong Kong, 2005.


[ INTO THE DECAY ]site visit to former cotton gin, lubbock, tx

Special thanks to Les Burrus and FrankMorrison at Link Ministries for allowing ourgroup to venture into the landscape of decayand witness the intervention of newlyactivated programs. (Photos by William Cotton)

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all work is defined and under the direction of:

Jeffrey S Nesbit

all work produced in this volume is credited to the students of:

ARCH 5301 Post-Industrial Landscapes Seminar in the College of Architecture at Texas Tech Unversity

Harris Briggs Geoffrey Brown Daniel Budke Justin Burns Cristina Castanon William Cotton Vania Franco Daniel Garcia Bryan Jacobsen Brandon Montfort Daniel Nunez James Oler Katerina Paletykina Michael Reed Shawnda Rixey Alejandra Robles

for more information contact:

jeffrey s nesbit, assistant professorcollege of architecture

texas tech universitymail stop 42091

lubbock, tx 79409

[email protected]

Documents

post industrial landscapes