The First Post

And we're off! This fantastic image came out of 4th semester's landscape architecture core studio in Chelsea, MA. Working with Vanessa and Carrie on the potential for reseeding the industrial area with an urban forest, we grappled with the concept and manifestation of landscape infrastructure.

This design thesis will look at the challenges and potentials facing the Charles River Dam in a changing climate and century. In my experience, most people are surprised to learn the Charles is not in fact dammed at the Museum of Science (the 1910 dam), but rather further downriver. The New Charles River Dam (built in 1978) is placed in the middle of a web of infrastructure and exhibits many laudable design intents (a pedestrian path, an ecologically informed fish ladder, and arches that reference the pumping station inside). Yet with the projected rise in sea level, Boston has the opportunity to revisit its infrastructure and chart a new course for coastal communities around the world. This blog will chronicle that design process.