Fourth Semester Core: Planning and Design of Landscapes

The fourth of the four-term sequence of landscape design and planning studios develops the design concepts introduced in the first year and applies them to landscape site design problems of increased scale and programmatic complexity.The subject matter of the studio is to investigate the landscape potential of a post industrial site in Chelsea; a terrain vague that is abandoned, contaminated, and neglected in its urban setting. The site is considered a conceptual blank slate, with great potential for unheard of new futures. The intent is to reposition this site in the urban context of Chelsea and the greater Boston as a public landscape while fully acknowledging its waterfront location. Investigation in program, infrastructure, natural processes, mitigation of pollutants, phasing, with an underlying confidence in the resilience of landscape, will be addressed in the studio.Three dimensional (ground) modeling techniques are integral to the studio process. As design research tools, rather than representation tools, these techniques oscillate between digital and material modeling through one connected platform.