Concrete Habitats
Historically, landscapes have been perceived as commodities: locations of relaxation, pleasure, activity, and above all else, expressions of man’s control over natural systems. As a collective society, landscape architects in today’s era are reconsidering the relationship we have with the land. We are still within the transitional process of adjusting our values away from pastoral aesthetics towards a recognition that we must act as stewards to the land’s natural systems.
Concrete Habitat Units (CHUs) explores the potential and possibilities of a wildly poised urban infrastructure through the adaptation of individual construction units to serve dual functions as structural components and as potential habitat for native species of plants and animals. We have found concrete masonry units (CMUs) to be desirable for modification because they are neutral and primitive in form, modular in configuration, and are pervasive building components. The derived alterations explore the tectonic conditions of habitat and the performative ability to adapt the infrastructure of the city.
Award Recipient: ASLA Student Honor Award for General Design, 2013
Published in Landscape Architecture Magazine: ‘Animal Houses’ (January 2014)
Cal Poly Pomona, 2012
Individual research, Collaborative work with Nabyl Macias / Advisor: Andrew Wilcox, Lori Pullman