AMELIA JENSEN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
2 | AMELIA JENSEN
CONTENTS THESIS UNDAMMING POTENTIALS: SUMMER RESEARCH
4
DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY: UNDAMMING THE KLAMATH AS A HYBRID RESTORATION PRACTICE
8
STUDIO SENECA POWER DEPOT
22
THE ITHACA BUBBLE
26
TIDAL FUTURES: ENGAGING ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTIVITY IN AN UNCERTAIN LANDSCAPE
28
THE SECRET MEADOW: A POLLINATOR OASIS IN THE CITY
34
TECHNICAL SKILLS LIBRARY PLAZA BLOCKS: CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTATION
36
RICE HALL BIOSWALES: PLANTING FOR RESILIENCY
38
COMPETITION ENERGIZE MANTUA: ACTIVATE + ENGAGE + CONNECT
40
RESEARCH: SÃO PAULO CIDADE | RIO | CIUDAD: STORMWATER STRATEGIES IN BUENOS AIRES AND SÃO PAULO
44
RIVER LANDSCAPES OF SÃO PAULO: VÁRZEAS AND PISCINÕES
48
FLOODPLAIN INVERSION: FINDING ROOM FOR THE RIVER, CLEANING WATER FOR THE CITY
50
CONTENTS | 3
UNDAMMING POTENTIALS: SUMMER RESEARCH
This set of photos highlights the cultural artifacts of dam removal landscapes, including sediment, dam structures, and plants, which exist - whether intentionally or unintentionally - due to the human work and technology that shaped the landscape. These images can be read as forensic evidence of the cultural landscape.
4 | AMELIA JENSEN | SUMMER-FALL 2015
PLAN (EXISTING)
INFRASTRUCTURE
PLAN (REMOVED) 100’
GLINES CANYON DAM
160’
ELWHA RIVER, WA
420’
210’
210’
108’
CONDIT DAM
WHITE SALMON RIVER, WA
ELWHA DAM
ELWHA RIVER, WA
214’
471’
125’
1 mi
SAVAGE RAPIDS DAM
500’
ROGUE RIVER, OR
As it is currently practiced, dam removal and restoration is yet another act of labor aimed at transforming the landscape into a culturally-determined ideal condition, and as it tries to obscure the artifacts and cultural landscapes produced by damming, it only produces more artifacts. Whenever dams are removed, despite misleading restoration discourse about returning to a natural state, rivers become ever more cultural.
SECTION
225’
39’
360’
GOLD RAY DAM
Now, with dozens of dam removals taking place every year, an opposite philosophy is taking hold: preservation and restoration of former dam sites. Restoration is intended to return a river to its natural state, but doesn’t acknowledge the long term management of these landscapes. All rivers, but especially dammed ones, are not driven only by geology, hydrology, and ecology: they are managed territories compelled by culture, politics, and economics. They are products of labor, containing objects, textures, materials, and conditions that are also artifacts of labor.
DAM MORPHOLOGY AND DECOMMISSIONED REMAINS
ROGUE RIVER, OR
Dammed rivers in the American West are a very particular type of cultural landscape. Most Western rivers were managed as resources for thousands of years by indigenous nations with specific sets of goals and technologies of agriculture, hunting, gathering, and fishing. White colonial influence arrived on the scene only recently, bringing new opinions of the meaning and value of watershed resources and the landscape in general. Western technology has appropriated rivers for irrigation, water supply, flood control, hydropower, navigation, and recreation. The flawed ingenuity of this conservation approach failed to account for other needs within the watersheds they harnessed.
38’
DEMOLITION
RUINS
LAKE LANDSCAPES
NOTCH-DOWN REMOVAL
TERRACES
CLIFFS
BLAST REMOVAL
STEEP SLOPES
RIVER AND RUINS
WITHOUT A TRACE
ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | RESEARCH | UNDAMMING POTENTIALS | 5
SEDIMENTS IN LAKE ALDWELL ELWHA DAM I experimented with aerial photography techniques to map the intentional and unintentional results of dam removal on reservoir sediments. I found that many places where restoration planting had been done, plants were dying, whereas in other places, micro topographies accumulated moisture and facilitated unplanted vegetation growth. Estimated 6� contours
6 | AMELIA JENSEN | SUMMER-FALL 2015
UNDAMMING POTENTIALS ELWHA DAM REMOVAL
These drawings collapse time and space, showing a variety of histories and future possibilities of these sites. They helped me conceptualize sites like these as opportunities for the compression of hybrid natural-cultural landscape history into a single physical moment, where design might intervene to enhance the performance of this unusual spatial experience. This research was funded by the E. Gorton Davis Travel Fellowship from the Cornell Department of Landscape Architecture, and a Sustainability Research Grant from the Society for the Humanities and the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. GLINES CANYON DAM REMOVAL
ELWHA DAM SITE | ELWHA RIVER, WA
ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | RESEARCH | UNDAMMING POTENTIALS | 7
DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY: UNDAMMING THE KLAMATH AS A HYBRID RESTORATION PRACTICE This project articulates an approach to disassembling a large hydroelectric dam on a major river in order to reassemble a rural collective. It considers how to go beyond mitigation, remediation, and restoration by taking advantage of the hydrological, geomorphological, cultural, and ecological potentials of dam removal. The decommissioning of the four dams of the Klamath Hydroelectric Project will be the largest dam removal project in history. Like many dams across the country, these exist at the tense intersection of Native American rights, rural land uses, and urban-based environmental activism.
Despite the river’s status as a highly contested, heavily managed resource, the discourse about river restoration retains the problematic notion of a former natural state. This precludes people from inhabiting the supposedly natural landscape, neglecting local rural and indigenous communities and concealing the fact that pre-dam, dammed, and post-dam landscapes are all hybrid landscapes co-produced by environmental processes and technology, whether indigenous land management, engineering, or ecological restoration. The paradoxical goal of returning to a natural state both participates in and ignores the long-term management of these river systems.
KLAMATH RIVER BASIN: CONTESTED LANDSCAPES
KLAMATH
8 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2015-2016
COPCO 1 DAM
COPCO LAKE WITH EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE AND HISTORICAL MAP OVERLAY
LANDSCAPES OF THE LAKE: PUSHING HISTORY FORWARD
ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | MASTERS THESIS | DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY | 9
THE KLAMATH HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT: AN ENVIROTECHNICAL LANDSCAPE
J.C. BOYLE
COPCO 1
COPCO 1 DAM AND POWERHOUSE COPCO 2 DAM COPCO 2 POWERHOUSE IRON GATE DAM AND POWERHOUSE
10 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2015-2016
DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY
J.C. BOYLE DAM J.C. BOYLE POWERHOUSE
This proposal re-choreographs the decommissioning process for one of the four Klamath dams so that its selectively timed disassembly can mobilize and demobilize sediment trapped in the reservoir to generate desired landscape conditions. This subtractive design process produces a residual structure that makes way for a new rural public space. As the dams come down, the land exposed from the reservoirs and other surrounding land owned by PacifiCorp will be administered by a cooperative of government and local stakeholders who buy in with time, resources, and land for a vote in how the land is managed and what resources they can gain from it. Eventually, public land owned by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management could also be brought into this experiment in true public land management. A tool palette of traditional and contemporary land management practices is used to manage the landscape for social and ecological health. The act of working on the land is an opportunity to know the landscape. The project reimagines the meanings of both public space and public land in a rural context to better acknowledge the hybrid qualities of rural landscapes.
COPCO 2
IRON GATE ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | MASTERS THESIS | DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY | 11
DEMOLITION SCORE
AUG 2022
12 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2015-2016
DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY My design uses the moment of dam removal to shift local dynamics of land use, water use, and the shared river landscape. The selective removal of sections of the dam makes way for a rural public space. Simultaneously, the demolition method impacts the movement of reservoir sediments, generating desired landscape conditions. At the scale of the dam site, the dam removal takes place in a geologic instant: within just a few years. A subtractive design process breaks down the concrete, rebar, and other materials used to create the dam and regenerates a structure that engages with the river and people to generate geomorphological, ecological, and social relationships. In order to separate different uses and habitat types within the reservoir, the dam removal is timed to take advantage of higher winter and spring flow levels that flush out and redeposit sediment into terraces. The demolition is paused during the high flow season to allow for this to occur. The result is a landscape divided into three zones, which internally experience microtopographies and slope aspects that dictate the types of plant communities which will be most suited to the area.
ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | MASTERS THESIS | DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY | 13
DAM SITE PLAN: ESTABLISHING RURAL PUBLIC SPACE
The hydroelectric infrastructure is transformed into an infrastructure that provides access to the water, engagement with historical artifacts, and space for ritual events and practices including fishing. The remaining dam structure becomes a space for both visitors and locals to gather. 14 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2015-2016
The dam site and its relationship with the former reservoir is a new way of articulating the hybrid landscape that has always existed in this place. It becomes a space of powerful and unexpected juxtapositions. Fine local materials like columnar basalt blocks and juniper decking are combined
with repurposed materials from the demolition, like concrete rubble, and new and refined materials like steel. All of these contrast with raw loose sediment and the remaining structure of the dam, which disintegrates over time.
DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY SITE DESIGN PALETTE
ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | MASTERS THESIS | DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY | 15
CYCLES OF MANAGEMENT AND USE
16 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2015-2016
DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY ELEMENTS FOR COLLECTIVE WORLD-MAKING ANNUAL CYCLES
MANAGEMENT TOOL PALETTE
ANIMAL PALETTE
PLANT PALETTE
In the drained reservoir, a combination of indigenous, local, and federal land management practices is employed, including the use of prescribed burning, traditional horticultural management practices, grazing livestock and wild game, harvesting, hunting, and fishing. These practices result in a set of valuable outcomes including access to abundant natural resources for subsistence and income, tourism revenue, and new and renewed cultural opportunities. Traditional restoration offers some useful tools and knowledge, but its discourse of excluding humans from the landscape, and its tendency to conceptualize these landscapes as degraded, run counter to the goals of this project. Instead, the landscape must be understood as hybrid, shaped by natural systems, by the trapping of sediment by the dam, and also by the process of dam removal. Existing plant communities and traditional ecological knowledge point to configurations of plants which support desirable fauna, or which produce products useful or valuable to humans. Plants that support human health and cultural well-being would be prioritized, along with plant communities that support animals critical to human well-being, like salmon, deer, and cattle. These planting and management strategies would be weighed, balanced, tested, reinterpreted, and altered by the cooperative of local stakeholders based on the collective needs of the community at any given time. Certain uses and management strategies are confined to particular zones. In the uppermost zone, for instance, cattle grazing is confined by steep slopes to keep cows from disturbing sensitive waterways below. Prescribed burning also takes place in this zone, but avoids the time period when grazing is occurring. ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | MASTERS THESIS | DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY | 17
NOVEMBER | FISHING
Overlook steel grate
Boardwalk juniper decking Coho salmon Fish cleaning table columnar basalt
MARCH | FLOODING
Bridge steel Entry gate repurposed painted steel radial gate
Dam surface existing concrete
18 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2015-2016
DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY AUGUST | FESTIVAL
Step structure gabion (concrete fill) Oncorhynchus tshawystcha grilled chinook salmon
Step surface juniper decking
Allium acuminatum sautĂŠed wild onion Arctostaphylos patula manzanita berry sauce
The monumental character of the dam structure can be experienced in multiple ways. As a destination for tourism, or perhaps a place one might stumble upon by accident, it inspires a sense of awe and scale, and offers an opportunity to engage in a phenomenological experience of immense scale. Spaces that people use regularly as rural public space are mainly at the foot of the dam, dominated by its looming structure, which serves as a reminder of the divisions it once created. They are practical and
utilitarian, reflecting the needs and activities of the rural public they serve. The pinch point of the dam site, in its narrow canyon, was historically important for salmon fishing. That opportunity is renewed with a local juniper boardwalk that references the wooden fishing structures typically built by the indigenous peoples of this region. The Powerhouse, with its hydroelectric infrastructure removed, has its walls opened up to allow easy movement between sheltered and outdoor space. There is room
for individuals, families, large groups or even community festivals to prepare food and gather, to host festivals, meetings, or markets. Its open walls are open to dynamic spring floods which flush through the space, cleaning it out while avoiding flood damage that might befall a more enclosed structure. This site becomes a nexus for the watershed, creating a space and a landscape around which a rural public must define itself. It becomes a catalyst for shifting the conversation about water and land resources in the basin.
ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | MASTERS THESIS | DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY | 19
may
Zone 2
jul aug
Zone 1
sep
oct
Odocoileus hemionus hunting season begins
Quercus garryana acorns mature Odocoileus hemionus mule deer fawns born
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER | ZONE 3 | PALUSTRINE SHRUB
jun
Zone 3
JULY-AUGUST | ZONE 2 | MONTANE HARDWOOD
Zone 2
MAY-JUNE | ZONE 3 | PALUSTRINE EMERGENT
Zone 1
KLAMATH RIVER
SEDIMENT TERRACES
RESIDENTIAL
BEYOND RESTORATION: ACTIVATED HYBRID LANDSCAPES OF RENEWAL
Arctostaphylos patula berries ripen
Ranunculus occidentalis signals coming of spring chinook run Allium acuminatum wild onion root digging
Sambucus canadensis berries ripen Oncorynchus mykiss steelhead fishing
20 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2015-2016
Oncorynchus tshawystcha fall chinook run
Oncorynchus kisutch coho salmon run
feb jan
Pinus ponderosa improves seeding
MAR-APR | ZONE 1 | MIXED CHAPARRAL
dec
JAN-FEB | ZONE 1 | PERENNIAL GRASSLAND
nov
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER | ZONE 2 | RIPARIAN GRASSLAND
COPCO 1
FORMER SHORELINE
COPCO ROAD
DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY
apr
mar
Zone 1 0
25
Juniperus occidentalis small plants cleared
Arctostaphylos patula manzanita flowers Bos taurus cattle grazing
Salix exigua stems coppiced + harvested
Perideridia oregana roots harvested
Prescribed burning
Lomatium californicum wild celery leaves ripen
ADVISOR BRIAN DAVIS | MASTERS THESIS | DISASSEMBLY AS REASSEMBLY | 21
50’
THE SENECA POWER DEPOT: HYBRIDIZING GREEN ENERGY INDUSTRIES The 10,587 acre Seneca Army Depot was used for munitions storage and disposal from 1941 into the 1990s. The proposal re-imagines the industrial legacy in one portion of the site by creating a green energy park in which three renewable energy industries - wind turbine manufacturing, algae biofuel production, and biomass pellet production - overlap and feed into one another’s processes in a closed loop system. The site provides up to 600 jobs, contributes to the local economy, and produces sustainable energy for the region, all while reinvigorating a massive post-industrial site.
MANUFACTURE
ALGAE OIL BIO FUEL
This group project engages with the site and its context as an active and productive space where people connect to the landscape and experience its aesthetic potentials through their work, rather than only through passive recreation. 421 mi - 6
Ca
pe
Cod &
ston Bo
op Me tr
min hr 30
i on oli tan Reg
Seneca County
Buffalo & Niagara Reg ion
120 m i - 2 hrs
90 5
Ska
ke co La
Owas
ke
34
414 96
96A
a Lake
g Cayu
ke
ca La
Sene
Seneca Army Depot
34
AES Greenidge LLC 89
96A
Agricultural Zone Refined Oil Pipeline (Biodiesel Export)
96
Rail Line Primary Rail Line (Wind Turbine Export) Road Rail Junction or Freight Station 414
Power Plant (Biomass Export)
Finger Lakes National Forest
New York State Electric and Gas 227
N
0 1 2
5 mi
1”= 5 mi
New York State Electric and Gas
79
0 100 200
500 ft
N
s La
tele nea
New York State Electric and Gas
5
228
ntic A t la
C
ity
Re
gi on 32
5
22 | AMELIA JENSEN | WITH RYOSUKE TAKAHASHI, RACHEL JAWIN, DANIEL LAMBERT | FALL 2013
1″=300′
wetland filtration
algae biofuel production
clean water waste water
algae stock
growth
100
300 ft
wind turbine manufacturing
light
0
N
1″=300′
algae biomass harvest + extraction
heat
CO2
heat
CO2
export raw materials
kilning
LIGHTS
ALGAE PIPES
GLASS
biomass pellet production
biofuel pellets
GLASS
filtration + chipping
harvesting
algae biomass
storage
components
storage
algae oil
drying + milling
chips
export
algae oil
packaging
pelletizing
powder
pellets
stockpile
export
heat
algae production building
algae oil gas station
15’ 1”:15’
biomass chip silo storage
40’ 1”:40’
PROFESSOR BRIAN DAVIS | LA 5010 LANDSCAPE LOGICS STUDIO FINAL PROJECT | SENECA POWER DEPOT | 23
ck
de
tru
a
bl
tr
uc
1
k
’
r=
r=
0 10 ’
r
=
30
35
ar
’c 0 10 20
50 ft
N
1″= 0′
TURNING RADIUS VARIATION & STORAGE
COURTYARD & WETLAND CELLS
24 | AMELIA JENSEN | WITH RYOSUKE TAKAHASHI, RACHEL JAWIN, DANIEL LAMBERT | FALL 2013
THE SENECA POWER DEPOT Biomass pellet production uses waste biomass from agricultural production and forestry in the region and on site, where switchgrass is integrated with wind turbine storage and harvesting can contribute to ecotone managent. Pellets are used to fuel other industries. Algae biofuel is used for on site vehicles, as well as for export. The site is organized for the specific outdoor requirements of each industry’s logistics.
BIOMASS HARVESTING AND ECOTONE HABITATS
FORM MAKING - SITE
The interior space requirements of each industry are organized in buildings that center on a courtyard, providing a sheltered outdoor space for employees to use during the day. The courtyard also treats and recycles water from the various industrial processes through a series of constructed wetland cells in the landscape.
FORM MAKING - COURTYARD & WETLAND CELLS
10’ 1″= ′
PROFESSOR BRIAN DAVIS | LA 5010 LANDSCAPE LOGICS STUDIO FINAL PROJECT | SENECA POWER DEPOT | 25
ITHACA BUBBLE This studio prioritized analog methods of representation in short weekly projects. For an Ithaca civic square, I wanted to explore the idea that Ithaca is a “bubble� city, isolated from the outside world in its values, ideals, and attitudes. The initial design (below) was reimagined in the final project. The geodesic
dome bursts open and partially envelops the Center Ithaca building, serving as an indoor public square: a temperature-regulated safe haven from harsh weather, where broadleaf evergreens offer a perpetual summer. In their shade, visitors can gather for festivals, demonstrations, and social events in any season.
EXISTING
INITIAL CONCEPT EXPLODE
ENCLOSE
MODEL
EMERGE
INSTALLATION
26 | AMELIA JENSEN | SPRING 2014
PROFESSOR THOMAS OLES | LA 5020 STUDIO FINAL PROJECT | THE ITHACA BUBBLE | 27
TIDAL FUTURES: ENGAGING ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTIVITY IN AN UNCERTAIN LANDSCAPE Staten Island’s East Shore is a dynamic and harsh coastal environment, and its communities have long endured the powerful impacts of wind and waves, fire and flood. Impending sea level rise and escalating storm threats require that this low-lying landscape begin a long-term transition to a new urban paradigm. The powers that continuously shape and reshape Staten Island’s coastline can be harmful or dangerous if we continue to place ourselves in their way. However, if we reconceptualize those forces as allies in the protection of our neighborhoods and the resilience of our landscapes, we can harness their potentials to achieve the goals and desires of the community. In this light, the swelling of the ocean is not a threat, but a force for power generation; the raging of the wind can build dunes and beaches; invasive reed grasses, which currently only feed wildfires, can be combined with food scraps and sewage sludge to produce compost for nourishing gardens and parks; a major storm, instead of destroying homes, could be employed to quickly generate an entirely novel ecological and cultural landscape. The new East Shore embraces these natural forces and the landscape processes they engender, harnessing their power to generate economic, cultural, and ecological productivity that sustains both the landscape and the community. The flux of the landscape becomes a tool in the ongoing act of making spaces. This dynamic and constantly changing landscape will better serve the interests of its various communities.
OVERLAND SURGE FROM HURRICANE MODEL (SLOSH)
vulnerable low-lying area
oakwood beach wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)
BERM, DUNES, SAND BREAKWATERS
COMPOSTING REGIME variable dune height
12’ 10’ 8’ 6’ 4’ 2’
ECOLOGICAL ZONES EXTENTS OF EXISTING WETLANDS AND PHRAGMITES
phragmites choking brackish marsh restricted tidal flow
28 | AMELIA JENSEN | FALL 2014
category 4 category 3 category 2 category 1
SEA LEVEL RISE BASED ON TOPOGRAPHY
brush fires
CONTEXT
TIDAL LAGOONS
phragmites monoculture wetlands
CIRCULATION
potential future berm retreat potential for expansion of tidal energy system
collect neighborhood food waste for composting
harvest phragmites as biomass for composting
“yardstick� boardwalk registers movement of dunes
new community center and tidal marsh observatory
TIDAL ENERGY LAGOONS
new composting facility on built-up ground
COMPOSTING
connection to miller field
tidal energy system generates power for community
floating boardwalks bring visitors to water level
sand breakwaters provides sediment for natural beach and dune accretion
SAND ENGINE
repurpose solid waste for composting
remove impermeable groynes connection to great kills park 0
PHASE 1: MOW AND DEMOLISH
PHASE 2: DIG AND BERM
0.5
1
2 mi
PHASE 3: SOW AND SEED
build up vulnerable areas of dune mow phragmites
remove groynes demolish roads and buyout homes
construct community infrastructure build up berms and compost facility with debris and fill
excavate the pools
construct tidal energy gates begin planting native vegetation deposit dredged sand in breakwater formation
PROFESSOR PETER TROWBRIDGE | LA 6010 STUDIO FINAL PROJECT | TIDAL FUTURES | 29
cedar grove lagoon
new dorp lagoon
oakwood lagoon
new dorp lagoon
cedar grove lagoon
oakwood beach WWTP
09 generating (emptying)
6h 46m
06
time (hours)
ocean
03
oakwood lagoon
generating (filling)
5h 57m
00
12
enlarged section below
5h38m
15
18
21
10x vertical exaggeration 24
generating in 4
5
6 7 8 tide height (ft)
9
10
water flowing in from ocean through turbines
generating out
water flowing out towards ocean through turbines
holding
no water coming in or out
GENERATING POWER FROM THE TIDES
section cut line (above)
PROTECTION FROM THE STORM
30 | AMELIA JENSEN | FALL 2014
TIDAL FUTURES
VIEW FROM THE BERM PATH, JULY 2020
TIDAL POWER GATES AS CULTURAL-ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
PROFESSOR PETER TROWBRIDGE | LA 6010 STUDIO FINAL PROJECT | TIDAL FUTURES | 31
path on dike
community center floating boardwalk
“yardstick” boardwalk
VIEW FROM THE YARDSTICK BOARDWALK, MAY 2024 densification
preparation
berm
hylan blvd
tidal marsh lagoon
dune and beach
open ocean
(cut)
sandy high water mark / category 1 hurricane storm surge - 12’
enhanced dune - 14’ (accretion)
new inland berm - 12’ (fill)
32 | AMELIA JENSEN | FALL 2014
harvester
bioswale
10x vertical exaggeration
TIDAL FUTURES TIDAL WETLAND ZONES Morella pensylvanica great white egret
great blue heron recreation
ribbed mussels willet
Spartina patens clapper rail
black rail
LOW MARSH
Salicornia virginica 12
HIGH MARSH
10
8
6 4
high marsh
2
salt-sprayed and flooded in very high tides and storm surge
mid marsh
flooded and exposed daily in normal tidal fluctuations
1
Distichlis spicata
low marsh
flooded most of the day; more saline than the mid marsh
lower littoral (mudflats) flooded over 20 hours a day
Spartina alterniflora seaside sparrow fiddler crab
macroalgae Limosella australis oystercatcher
MID MARSH
recycled asphalt fill
ring-billed gulls
tidal creek channel
almost always submerged
clams and worms
MUDFLATS
ACTIVITY AND ECOLOGY ON THE INLAND BERM
PROFESSOR PETER TROWBRIDGE | LA 6010 STUDIO FINAL PROJECT | TIDAL FUTURES | 33
THE SECRET MEADOW: A POLLINATOR OASIS IN THE CITY
SITE ANALYSIS DIAGRAM
pi
ne
)
in
u sp e re n n i s ( L
dC e d ar)
ia n
a ( Easter
Star) in g
n
u
rp
winter DEC
PLANTING SCHEME
JAN bloom period
spring
FEB moisture
(wet, moist, dry)
MAR
pollinators
shade
(bee, butterfly, hummingbird)
(sun, part shade)
APR
host plants
summer
MAY
JUN
JUL
sideoats grama grass eye u fl wer evening primrose showy goldenrod wild bergamot foxglove beardtongue e e y ur e
ey fl wer
efl wer blue cardinal flower
lupine partridge pea
MIXED MEADOW
purple top grass big bluestem grass little bluestem grass meadow phlox foxglove new england aster salvia blue false indigo butterfly weed prairie blazing star
bayberry
gray dogwood serviceberry
juniper
flameleaf sumac
winterberry
redbud bayberry
red twig dogwood juniper witch hazel
BORDER PLANTINGS
winterberry red twig dogwood
34 | AMELIA JENSEN | SPRING 2015
u re
a (Purp
le
AUG
attracts birds black-eyed susan
STRUCTURED MEADOW
e fl o w e r )
fl y
on
( B utter
C
osa
E c hin a ce a p
b
er
)
it
eed
a lis ( W
W
e
ve r n
ch
m
lis
A scle pias tu
haz
Hama
e l)
i
nu
li s ( Bl P r airie
Re
rr
y)
rg i p er u s vi
Lup
e ayb
m hs t h ro u g h
az
int w
Ju n
s
a (B
at
p
d
i L o b e li a c a rd
e re d t w ig
w o o d aft er
na
a nic
dow
r
e r f o r c ol o
n
un
M o re l l a p e n
ylv
Mow
Pr
og
INITIAL CONCEPT DIAGRAM
ea
Yardworks brings communities together to think about their individual properties as part of a neighborhood ecological network. I worked with my client in Kingston, NY to reconceive the neglected side yard of his rental property as an urban oasis for birds and pollinators. Vegetation at varied heights creates garden structure and habitat, while managing desirable and undesirable views between the main house and the rental.
SITE GOALS
POLLINATOR SUPPORT ECOLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY AVIAN HABITAT NATIVE SEED LAWN
URBAN HEAT ISLAND MITIGATION SCREENING & PRIVACY SIMPLE AND LOW-MAINTENANCE
PATIO SCREENED-IN PORCH
e n d f g ro w o
e
sa
o (Sh o w y G
la n d A s
CONNECTED TO NEIGHBORHOOD PATCH
Eng
e- a
w
o yo t ri c h u m n
GRAVEL PATHS
te
Sy
ph
r)
m
va
HOUSE
enr
cio
o d)
S o li d a g o s p
FRONT DOOR
ld
e
SIDE DOORS
in
M o w onc
at
gs easo n
DRIVEWAY
n g li a e ( N
e
TREES FOR HOUSE SHADING
ENTRY GATE
STRUCTURED MEADOW
SEEDED MEADOW
fall
SEP
OCT
RUSTIC FENCE CONSTRUCTED WITH REMOVED TREES
NOV AVIAN SUPPORT
FORAGE PORTFOLIO
8 new plants with seeds or berries
REFUGE LOCATIONS
Perimeter of tall shrubs and trees provide safe hiding places
BENCH
MOWN PATHS
FIRE PIT PATIO
POLLINATOR SUPPORT NECTAR PORTFOLIO
BORDER PLANTINGS FOR PRIVACY RUNOFF REDUCTION EXISTING CONDITION 74% infiltration
6 plants in bloom at minimum throughout growing season; high functional redundancy and response diversity
0
4
8
HABITAT DIVERSITY
Reintroduced meadow habitats lost from the urban area
23% runoff 3% evaporation
EXISTING CONDITION 61% forest
HOST PLANTS
9 new host plants for moths & butterflies
NESTING HABITAT
brush piles for overwintering pollinators
16’
CONNECTIVITY
20% lawn NEW CONDITION
19% impermeable 83% infiltration 12% runoff 5% evaporation
NEW CONDITION 52% forest
REDUCED RUNOFF BY 11%
WITHOUT GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE METHODS
6% lawn 23% meadow 19% impermeable
river birch red twig dogwood
SITE METRICS
IMPROVED HABITAT DIVERSITY BY 23%
PROFESSOR JOSH CERRA | LA 6020 YARDWORKS STUDIO FINAL PROJECT | THE SECRET MEADOW | 35
LIBRARY PLAZA BLOCKS: CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTATION Library Plaza connects Olin and Uris Libraries on Cornell University’s Arts Quad. In this area of high traffic, the plaza is redesigned to accommodate both movement and pause. Three different sized blocks of local Seneca bluestone are used to create seats, tables, and walls for people to sit, eat, talk, and climb on. The
36 | AMELIA JENSEN | SPRING 2015
blocks and pavers are oriented towards the two primary axes of movement through the plaza (North-South and NorthwestSoutheast), as well as to the key views that make the Arts Quad famous. This design was developed as a construction document set including phasing plans, protection details, and more.
PROFESSOR BRIAN DAVIS | LA 6180 SITE ASSEMBLY FINAL PROJECT | LIBRARY PLAZA BLOCKS | 37
RICE HALL BIOSWALES: PLANTING FOR RESILIENCY This planting plan is for a bioswale between a pedestrian path and parking lot for Cornell’s Rice Hall. In my design, I was interested in using the plants in the bioswale to create the appearance of a more even topography. Shorter and smaller plants at the edges keep the path and parking lot areas clear, and make it easy for pedestrians to gain a clear view as they walked. In the lowest areas of the swales, taller plants create the illusion that the depressions are not as deep as they really are. Plants were selected for variety in leaf shape and texture, and for complementary color, bloom time, and habitat provision.
Key AP1 AP2 AF BH CD CA CY CC CR CS ES GL HR HK JH MM MP PC PO PF RC RP SA SM SP SC SY SD VP VU VB VM
No. 4 2 20 18 23 40 349 6 94 34 22 150 273 149 52 13 56 75 35 71 35 110 44 2 24 11 158 154 19 12 1510 550
Botanic Name Acer pensylvanicum ‘Silver Fox’ Acer pensylvanicum ‘Silver Fox’ Amorpha fruticosa ‘Crispa’ Baccharis halimifolia Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Early Amethyst’ Caragana arborescens ‘Nana’ Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Lissilv’ Cercis canadensis ‘Appalachian Red’ Cornus racemosa ‘Muszam’ Cornus sanguinea ‘Winter Flame’ Eleutherococcus sieboldianus ‘Variegatus’ Genista lydia ‘Select’ Hippophae rhamnoides ‘Sprite’ Hypericum kalmianum ‘Ames’ Juniperus procumbens ‘Bonin Isles’ Morella pensylvanica ‘Morton Male’ Morella pensylvanica ‘Morton’ Paxistima canbyi Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Center Glow’ Potentilla fruticosa ‘Mango Tango’ Rhus copallina ‘Lanham’s Purple’ Rosa rugosa ‘Foxi Pavement’ Salix arenaria Salix matsudana ‘Tortuosa’ Salix purpurea ‘Nana’ Sambucus canadensis ‘Black Beauty’ Symphoricarpos albus Symphoricarpos x doorenbosii ‘Kordes’ Viburnum prunifolium ‘Early Red’ Viburnum utile ‘Conoy’ Vinca minor ‘Bowles’ Vinca minor ‘Valley Glow’
38 | AMELIA JENSEN | FALL 2013
Common Name Silver Fox Moosewood Silver Fox Moosewood Curly Desert False Indigo Eastern Baccharis Early Amethyst Japanese Beautyberry Dwarf Siberian Pea Tree Sterling Silver Bluebeard Appalachian Red Redbud Muskingum Gray Dogwood Winter Flame Blood Twig Dogwood Variegated Five Leaf Aralia Bangle Dyer’s Greenwood Dwarf Sea Buckthorn Ames Kalm St. Johnswort Japanese Garden Juniper Morton Male Bayberry Silver Sprite Bayberry Canby Paxistima Center Glow Ninebark Mango Tango Potentilla Lanham’s Purple Sumac Foxi Pavement Rose Creeping Silver Willow Dragon’s Claw Willow Dwarf Purpleosier Willow Black Beauty Elderberry Common Snowberry Amethyst Coral Berry Early Red Black Haw Viburnum Conoy Service Viburnum Bowles Periwinkle Valley Glow Periwinkle
Size 8’-10’ 12’-14’ 24”-36” 18”-24” 18”-24” 15”-18” 9”-12” 1.5”-1.75” 18”-24” 18”-24” 30”-36” 9”-12” 12”-15” 15”-18” 18”-24” 18”-24” 24”-30” 6”-9” 3’-4’ 12”-15” 4’-5’ 12”-15” 18”-24” 14’-16” 24”-36” 3’-4’ 12”-15” 12”-15” 3’-4’ 18”-24” 3”-6” 3”-6”
Root B&B B&B Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. B&B Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. B&B Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Cont. Flats Flats
Comments 2+ stems, clump form 3+ stems, clump form
single stem
3+ stems, clump form
plant 8” on center plant 8” on center
FULL SIZE: 1”=10’
PROFESSORS PETER TROWBRIDGE AND NINA BASSUK | LA 4910 CREATING THE URBAN EDEN | RICE HALL BIOSWALES PLANTING PLAN | 39
ENERGIZE MANTUA: ACTIVATE + ENGAGE + CONNECT Energize Mantua stimulates physical activity and mental wellness by initiating a communitydriven approach to reactivating resource flows. Incubators concentrate resources and ignite activity within the neighborhood. Arteries radiate the energy of this collective work throughout the neighborhood. Local job stability and improved exercise opportunities help decrease stress and depression through the steady cultivation of resources and community. The project challenges the typical capital-driven development of cities by investing in the latent human capital and the community’s history of grassroots initiative.
JOB SCARCITY
>20% unemployment >75% over 30 min commute 20-30% DISCONNECTED GREEN SPACE
ARTERY Lighting
Circulation
Incubator Extensions
tree canopy parks/open space multiuse trail bike network
RESOURCE RENEWAL
UNUSED RESOURCES
VE
ST
RO
N
N
PE
SG
x 100 lbs/person/yr
474 lbs food waste per household per year
N4
vacant lots 2500 people 250
0TH
ST
LACK OF HEALTHY FOOD ACCESS
EN
ST
D
G
O
Finished Mounds Repurposing Zone Collection & Outdoor Composting 1/8-mi
grocery stores healthy corner stores farmers markets >80 % receiving SNAP benefits
Materials Collection Warehouse
<9%
40 | AMELIA JENSEN | WITH JINHEE HA, JUDITH YANG, CATHERINE JOSEPH, GARRETT CRAIG-LUCAS | FALL 2015
Bridge Canvas of Repurposed Art
Indoor Composting & Vermiposting
7,250 sq ft feeds 1 household per year
1,800 lbs vegetables
Sidewalk
Separated bike lane
Chicane
Crosswalks
PRODUCE PRODUCTION
Parking
AVE
W
TH
O
M
PS
O
N
AV E
LEIDY
Produce Market Indoor Production & Storage Facility
Seasonal Open-Air Market & Gathering Space
Agriculture Education Center & Seasonal Winter Market
$
$
$
$
$
$
Local Employment + Subsidies $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$
Energy Inflow
~4 cubic feet of compost
Invest in Small Business
1,300 sq ft 15 young street trees
5 blocks planted
SEED
Attract Influx of Captial
CE
ST
LA
AL W
Food Cooperative Energy Outflow Education N3
PLANT PROPAGATION
7TH
ST
Cooperative Extension 1-2” caliper trees ready for planting Greenhouses Seed Bank & Learning Center
6-12” tall whip trees
THE BETTER PHILADELPHIA CHALLENGE | COMPETITION ENTRY | ENERGIZE MANTUA | 41
PRODUCE PRODUCTION RESOURCE RENEWAL
ZOO
PLANT PROPAGATION
$
MUSEUM OF ART
INCUBATING OPPORTUNITY NEW JOBS AND ECONOMIES RECLAIMING STREETS SAFETY, ACTIVITY, CONNECTION
30TH STREET STATION
UTILIZING VACANCY EMPTY LOTS TO BE RENEWED BRIDGING THE GAPS NEW OVER-RAIL LINKS
DREXEL UNIVERSITY
BUILDING SOCIAL CAPITAL COMMUNITY STEWARDSHIP
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
VACANT LOTS
N 0
400
800â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
you are here
2016 $
EMPOWER
2020 $
Promise Zone Funding provides training and salaries to employ community members. Volunteer positions are compensated with produce vouchers.
INVEST
2025 $
The first generation of trees from the plant propagation incubator are large enough to be transferred to the street.
ESTABLISH With the incubators fully established the corridors are beginning to grow. The City of Philadelphia invests to revive the Arteries, offering start-up funds for the new businesses springing up in vacant spaces.
the Many residents are offered local, full-time employment opportunities to establish the incubators, allowing them to create a stable work-life balance within the neighborhood.
Tree plantings begin to line the Arteries, lending openness and greenery to the streetscape and bringing residents together for exercise and stress relief. While working together, residents cultivate a strong social network, establishing new roots for the community.
42 | AMELIA JENSEN | WITH JINHEE HA, JUDITH YANG, CATHERINE JOSEPH, GARRETT CRAIG-LUCAS | FALL 2015
ENERGIZE MANTUA
7,250 sq ft
$$$ $$$ $$$ $$$
Energy Inflow
PENN COMPOST FARMER’S MARKET
RECYCLED ART PARK
BIKE REPAIR
APIARY
FARMER’S MARKET
RECYCLED ART PARK
BIKE REPAIR
APOTHECARY
SPECIALTY HOUSEPLANTS
PLANT PROPAGATION HUB
MULCHMAKING
APIARY
SPECIALTY HOUSEPLANTS
Local Employment + Subsidies
RESOURCE RENEWAL HUB
$ $
COMMUNITY GARDEN
$
$ $
RESOURCE RENEWAL HUB
PRODUCE TRUCKS
$
PRODUCE TRUCKS
Seasonal Open-Air Market & Gathering Space
Agriculture Education Center & Seasonal Winter Market
COMMUNITY GARDEN
Produce Market Indoor Production & Storage Facility
PLANT PROPAGATION HUB
CORE ARTERY
W
TH
O
M
PS O
N
AV E
MULCHMAKING
AVE
CORE ARTERY
LEIDY
APOTHECARY
RODUCE PRODUCTION
PENN COMPOST
feeds 1 household per year
1,800 lbs vegetables
Invest in Small Business
15 young street trees
5 blocks planted
SEED
Attract Influx of Captial
Food Cooperative Energy Outflow Education
RESOURCE USE
Cooperative Extension 1-2” caliper trees ready for planting
RESOURCE PRODUCTION
reenhouses 6-12” tall whip trees
2030 $
SUSTAIN
2035 $
The Incubators along with other successful spinoff programs establish a cooperative, pooling funds to invest in new vacant lot economies. The availability of resources, the successes of local businesses, and the innovation of residents sustain an economy of ideas.
EXTEND
2040 $
The economic growth of Mantua extends beyond the neighborhood, engaging the civic and educational institutions nearby.
An expansion of the streetscape activates the community while increasing safety and enhancing the walkability of e neighborhood.
$
EXTEND
$
As the community continues to recharge spaces along the arteries, residents enjoy increased access to fresh food, recreation, and active work, allowing them to maintain healthy lifestyles.
Mantua and its neighbors have become a steadfast feature of Philadelphia’s culture. Residents of the greater metropolis make
Residents are now experts in the cultivation and management of localized resources, and train the next generation to continue enriching their community.
2040
The economic growth of Mantua extends beyond the neighborhood, engaging the civic and educational institutions nearby.
ATTRACT
RESregular OURCvisits E PtoROtheDneighborhood UCTION to engage in the new economy.
As the community continues to recharge spaces along the arteries, residents enjoy increased access to fresh food, recreation, and active work, allowing them to maintain healthy lifestyles.
2035
RESOURCE USE
ATTRACT Mantua and its neighbors have become a steadfast feature of Philadelphia’s culture. Residents of the greater metropolis make regular visits to the neighborhood to engage in the new economy.
Residents are now experts in the cultivation and management of localized resources, and train the next generation to continue enriching their community.
THE BETTER PHILADELPHIA CHALLENGE | COMPETITION ENTRY | ENERGIZE MANTUA | 43
CIDADE | RIO | CIUDAD: URBAN RIVERS OF BUENOS AIRES AND SÃO PAULO
PARQUE VILA DOS REMÉDIOS
BARRAGEM DO CEBOLÃO
VAREJO CEAGESP
FAVELA VILA NOVA JAGUARE
N 566% Pb 145%
fecal coliform 23,424% BOD 20,838% P 313%
CEBOLÃO [THE ONION]: LAYERED LANDSCAPE CONDITIONS AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THE TIETÊ AND PINHEIROS RIVERS
UCL DEPTHMAP
44 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2014
POLLUTION INDICATORS
OPEN SPACE, FAVELAS, INDUSTRIES
This case study compares São Paulo, Brazil and its Rio Tietê with Buenos Aires, Argentina and its Riachuelo. The intent of the project is to understand the current relation between city and river along three lines: flooding infrastructure, water quality, and public space. The methods are threefold: an analysis of the urban morphology, interpretation of cultural history, and the visualization of environmental science. We seek insights into current advances and interesting developments, creating a conceptual and technical framework that can help develop new possibilities and visions for the integration of cultural, ecological, and infrastructural systems in these river cities. Through comparison we hope to draw out lessons that can be of some service both in these two locations, and in other river cities throughout the Americas.
BUENOS AIRES / RIACHUELO COMPLEX GREATER BUENOS AIRES second largest metro area in South America 12,801,365 inhabitants (2010) 3,830 km² 3,342 inh./km² MUNICIPALITY OF BUENOS AIRES 2,890,151 inhabitants (2010) 203 km² 14,237 inh./km² CAMINO DE SIRGA downtown linear park reclaimed public space 30 m on each side of river 5km long RESERVATÓRIOS ex-urban stormwater retention basins 10 floodable zones planning in progress combined area 2,429 hectares combined volume 68,520,000 m3 RIACHUELO “little river” a.k.a. Río de la Matanza, “slaughter river” 64 kilometers MATANZA/RIACHUELO WATERSHED 2,240 km2 30% contiguous with Greater Buenos Aires
SÃO PAULO / RIO TIETÊ COMPLEX SÃO PAULO METROPOLITAN REGION (RMSP) largest metro area in South America 19,683,975 inhabitants (2010) 7,947 km² 2,476 inh./km²
MUNICIPALITY OF SÃO PAULO 11,895,893 inhabitants (2014) 1,523 km² 7,810 inh./km²
PARQUE VÁRZEAS largest linear park in the world target completion date: 2020 70 km long, 107 km² 3.8 billion m3 reduction in water loss US$690 million
PISCINÕES urban stormwater retention basins 51 existing, more under construction combined area 177 hectares combined volume 9,745,300 m3
RIO TIETÊ “truthful waters” (Tupi) runs through 1,136 km of São Paulo state
ALTO TIETÊ WATERSHED 5,985 km² 95% contiguous with RMSP 0
6km
RESERVATÓRIOS | BA
PISCINÕES | SP
PARQUE VÁRZEAS | SP
CAMINO DE SIRGA | BA
0
2km
PROFESSOR BRIAN DAVIS | BORDERLANDS RESEARCH GROUP | CIDADE - RIO - CIUDAD | 45
SÃO PAULO: THE MASSIVE LINEAR PARQUE VARZEA ALONG THE RIO TIETÊ UPSTREAM OF THE CITY HELPS PREVENT FLOODS FROM ENTERING THE CITY. PISCINÕES [LIT. BIG POOLS] ARE STORMWATER DETENTION BASINS SCATTERED ABOUT THE URBAN CENTER AND PRIMARILY ON ITS FRINGES. THEY PROTECT NEIGHBORHOODS BY DETAINING EXCESS WATER FROM STREAMS AND RIVERS DURING FLOODS. CONTAMINATION AND ABRUPT JUXTAPOSITIONS CREATE BOTH CHALLENGING AND PROVOCATIVE CONDITIONS.
46 | AMELIA JENSEN | 2014
CIDADE | RIO | CIUDAD
BUENOS AIRES: THE CAMINO DE SIRGA WAS TRADITIONALLY A TOWPATH ALONG THE MOST DENSELY URBANIZED STRETCH OF THE RIACHUELO, NOW RECLAIMED AS A PUBLIC PARK WITH FLOOD STORAGE CAPACITY. IN ORDER TO BETTER COMBAT FLOODING, A PLAN IS IN MOTION TO ESTABLISH RESERVOIRS IN THE SURROUNDING RURAL LANDS , WHICH WILL FILL UP ONLY IN STORM EVENTS. THEIR PECULIAR ADJACENCIES AND OVERLAPS RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR POTENTIALS DURING THE ABSENCE OF FLOOD.
PROFESSOR BRIAN DAVIS | BORDERLANDS RESEARCH GROUP | CIDADE - RIO - CIUDAD | 47
RIVER LANDSCAPES OF SÃO PAULO: VÁRZEAS AND PISCINÕES ACCUMULATION IN PISCINÃO NOVA REPUBLICA
100m
23
13m
%
PANTANAL
PIRAPORINHA
PARQUE SANTANA
CANARINHO
CORUMBÉ
NOVA REPÚBLICA
VILA ROSA
PISCINÕES OF SÃO PAULO MARIA SAMPAIO
FAC. DE MEDICINA
ANHANGUERA
ARICANDUVA V
VOLKS DEMARCHI
UMP TO P
CHRYSLER
FORD TABOÃO
MERCEDES PAULICÉIA
SHARP
PETROBRÁS
Based on our ongoing research into São Paulo’s river landscapes, Professor Brian Davis and I co-authored and presented a peer-reviewed paper at the Dumbarton Oaks 2015 Garden and Landscape Studies Symposium. The paper places São Paulo’s piscinões - massive stormwater detention basins - in the longer historical context of human settlement and urbanization of the Alto Tietê basin and its várzeas, or floodplains. Throughout its history, São Paulo’s rivers can be understood as borderlands: places where dynamic processes of cultural encounter, exchange, invention, and destruction occur in a context of highly asymmetrical power relations.
ARICANDUVA III
PEDREIRA
CAGUAÇU
RINCÃO RIO TIETÊ
LIMOEIRO
MERCEDES BENZ SÃO PAULO PARQUE PINHEIROS
GUARAÚ
ECOVIAS EMIGRANTES
RIO PINHEIROS
BANANAL
BOM PASTOR ARICANDUVA I
RIVERS ROADS
PACAEMBU
URBAN AREA
ARICANDUVA II
VÁRZEAS FLOODPLAINS
PRAÇA DOS BOMBEIROS
PISCINÕES
48 | AMELIA JENSEN | WITH PROFESSOR BRIAN DAVIS | 2015-2016
ROCHDALLE
CAPITÃO CASA
BONANÇA
FORD FÁBRICA
INHUMAS
ELISEU DE ALMEIDA
PORTUGUESINHA
JARDÍM SÔNIA MARIA
TABOÃO
TAPERA GRANDE TRÊS
SÃO CAETANO
ORATÓRIO
JABAQUARA
0
PEDRAS
2KM
SANTA TERESINHA
PAÇO MUNICIPAL
PISCINÕES (5X MAP SCALE) FOCUS 0
400M
INDIGENOUS SETTLEMENTS
MUNICIPAL BOUNDARIES
AFFORESTATION IN PISCINÃO RINCÃO
The political and hydrological conditions that brought about the existence of the piscinões results from the dynamism of the city’s rivers. While the piscinões are typically thought of simply as engineered objects or emergency infrastructures, they also have a powerful and fraught social function and cultural significance. Situated on or alongside rivers that often make up the physical and political borders between the many municipalities and subprefeituras of the metropolis, piscinões are places of outsized potential and risk. Here we find the most extreme cases of flooding, toxicity, social conflict, and innovation. As the low line for entire watersheds, rivers beckon to all manner of resources and toxins from across the basin: water and polychlorinated biphenyls, nutrients and fecal coliform, sediments and lead, energy and coal tar, soil and household waste. But the same entities attracted to water also repel one another: pollutants push out fish and amphibians; infrastructural projects and high-end housing attract the working poor to reside nearby, but often force informal settlements to relocate. They are frontiers of resource exploitation and waste externalization. São Paulo’s rivers are more than just borders: they are borderlands. In North and South America, borderlands are contested marginal spaces that repel and attract, breeding tensions that transform society. Instead of cultural norms, innovations, and social institutions emanating outward from metropolitan centers of power as in Europe, throughout the Americas it was the frontier experience that gave rise to new technologies, spatial practices, institutions, and political and economic systems, which subsequently shaped the form of metropolitan culture. In São Paulo, the river landscapes have functioned as frontiers for nearly a thousand years of habitation and urban development.
DUMBARTON OAKS 2015 GARDEN AND LANDSCAPE STUDIES SYMPOSIUM | RIVER LANDSCAPES OF SÃO PAULO | 49
FLOODPLAIN INVERSION: FINDING ROOM FOR THE RIVER, CLEANING WATER FOR THE CITY Continuing our research into the river landscapes of São Paulo, Professor Brian Davis developed a studio centered on the piscinões. There is a tension in São Paulo between the experience of drought in the water supply chain, and severe flooding during the rainy season. The city of 20 million is reaching outside the watershed into other drought-stricken basins to obtain water, while wells have run dry due to low infiltration.
This design reinterprets two piscinões as both hydrological and cultural infrastructure, emphasizing the tensions and inversions of the urban landscape. In average flows, water moves through the upper pools and channels, being cleaned by floating wetland technology. When flows are high, water spills over the edges, creating temporary waterfalls that draw crowds to the elevated boardwalks at safe distances from the contaminated water. Stormwater Historically, São Paulo’s rivers have always then infiltrates into the basin, recharging the swelled into floodplains during the rainy season. aquifer. The design increases the local network of Piscinões can be thought of as attempts to open space, constantly improves water quality, replace the floodplain capacity of the rivers, but requires little maintenance, and increases instead of rising, the excess water sinks below groundwater recharge, while bringing the river its typical channel: an inverted floodplain. back to the surface. DROUGHT IN THE MEGACITY
CANTAREIRA SYSTEM BUILT MAX VOLUME (BILLION L) CURRENT VOLUME
1966-1976 1,269 161.2
CONSUMPTION AND REPLENISHMENT [SEPT 2015]
N: 17.5 m /s 3
CONSUMPTIO
100%
: 5.88 m /s 3
PRODUCTION
16.5%
S 8 MILL ION CONSUMER 3%
0
WITHOUT DEAD VOLUMES 1 + 2
-24.1%
ALTO TIETE SYSTEM BUILT MAX VOLUME CURRENT VOLUME
1999 573.8 78.43
N: 13.75 m
3
CONSUMPTIO
100%
: 3.28 m PRODUCTION
3
5M S ILLIO N CONSUMER
16.1% WITHOUT RECOVERED VOLUME
3.6%
0
/s
/s
RIO CLARO SYSTEM BUILT MAX VOLUME CURRENT VOLUME
1932 13.67 8.03
100%
N: 4.09 m /s 3 CONSUMPTIO : 4.02 m /s PRODUCTION 3
1.5
ER S
60.8%
MI LLION CONSUM
22%
0
CANTAREIRA SYSTEM
ALTO COTIA SYSTEM
BUILT MAX VOLUME CURRENT VOLUME
1917-1937 16.5 8.79
100%
3 N: 2.09 m /s 3 CONSUMPTIO : 0.62 m /s PRODUCTION
400,0
ME RS
60.8%
00 CONSU
27.8%
0
GUARAPIRANGA SYSTEM BUILT MAX VOLUME CURRENT VOLUME
1908-1929 171.19 115.82
100%
78.6%
3 /s N: 14.96 m 3 CONSUMPTIO : 9.18 m /s PRODUCTION
31.4%
RIO CLARO SYSTEM
0
S 5.6 MILLION CONSUMER
ALTO TIETE SYSTEM
RIO GRANDE SYSTEM RIO GRANDE SYSTEM
GUARAPIRANGA SYSTEM
ALTO TIETE WATERSHED BOUNDARY
DRAINAGE AREA TO RESERVOIRS CANTAREIRA SYSTEM
RESERVOIR
ALTO TIETE SYSTEM
URBAN WATER SUPPLY ZONE
RIO CLARO SYSTEM
RIVERS
ALTO COTIA SYSTEM
MUNICIPALITY BOUNDARIES
GUARAPIRANGA SYSTEM
MOST EXTREME DROUGHT
BUILT MAX VOLUME CURRENT VOLUME
1937-1980 112.18 91.02 N: 5.23 m /s
CONSUMPTIO 88.5%
61.8%
RIO GRANDE SYSTEM
LEAST EXTREME DROUGHT
SITE
0
1.5
MI LLION CONSUM
0
5
10
20 km 0
50 | AMELIA JENSEN | FALL 2015
3
: 1.33 m /s
100%
ER S
ALTO COTIA SYSTEM
10
20km
PRODUCTION
3
NO RELATIONSHIP TO NEIGHBORHOOD
ENCIRCLED BY HIGHWAYS
4m
10m
50m
40% 30m
20m
DEBRIS MUST BE CLEARED REGULARLY WITH HEAVY EQUIPMENT
ELISEU DE ALMEIDA: EXISTING CONDITIONS
SITTING WATER BREEDS MOSQUITOS
to pump
RIVER FLOWS OUT OF AND BACK IN TO PIPES
UNRELIABLE PUMPING SYSTEM 16m 50m
CONTAMINATED RIVER WATER
11m
50%
12m
to pump
145m 200m
40%
TRASH AND SEDIMENT ACCUMULATE IN BASIN CONSTANT MAINTENANCE
SHARP: EXISTING CONDITIONS
PIRAJUSSARA RIVER FOCUS AREA
existing open space existing favelas existing piscinão boundaries
historic floodplain
FLOODING IN THE MEGACITY
flood points
piscinões
0
2
new river
4 km
25m contours
A NEW KIND OF FLOODPLAIN
0
200 0.5
500 1
1000’ 2 mi
PROFESSOR BRIAN DAVIS | LA 7010 CIDADE/RIO STUDIO | FLOODPLAIN INVERSION | 51
INÃO
PISC
P
SHAR
TS
TMEN APAR
RE
TO ERY S
GROC
S
SHOP
WALK
SIDE
FROM
PLAZA
SEU O ELI
NDS
ETLA
ING W
FLOAT
ITAL
HOSP
DA
LMEI
DE A
INÃ
PISC GAS
ON STATI
NEW
LKS
SWA
CROS
LK DWA BOAR
SING
CROS
SEASONS OF DROUGHT AND FLOOD section-perspective cut line
in regular flows, secondary pools remain dry
aqueducts aerate water during transfer between basins
river enters water flow
floating island wetlands clean water and prevent mosquitos
concrete rubble from demolition
august - november
average flows
52 | AMELIA JENSEN | FALL 2015
waterfalls create spectacle during rain events
stormwater percolates into groundwater during floods
december - march flood season
FLOODPLAIN INVERSION WATCHING THE INVERTED FLOOD
0.5 50
100 1
CUT AND FILL
0
FLOATING ISLAND WETLAND TECHNOLOGY
section locations (1”=50’) cut fill
native wetland vegetation planting medium floating biomat: recycled plastic root network: surface area for bacteria
boardwalk maintains safe distance from contaminated water but allows visual access
trees help absorb excess water
river exits
april - july
lowest flows 0 0.5 16 32 1 1/16” = 1’
64’ 2 mi
PROFESSOR BRIAN DAVIS | LA 7010 CIDADE/RIO STUDIO | FLOODPLAIN INVERSION | 53
AMELIA JENSEN aj467@cornell.edu 503.784.9190