Dissolving Topographies: Coastal Markings in a Dynamic Edge Condition by Jessica Roundy

Dissolving Topographies:

Coastal Markings in a Dynamic Edge Condition Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Landscape Architecture in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design by Jessica Suzanne Roundy, 2010

Approved by Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Examination Committee:

_______________________________________________________________________ Karen Nelson, Adjunct Faculty, Department Landscape Architecture, Primary Advisor

________________________________________________________________________________ Elizabeth Dean Hermann, Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Secondary Advisor

ÂŠ 2010 Jessica Suzanne Roundy

Dedicated to my family and the coastlines we have explored together.

I feel I exist on the boundaries Somewhere between science and art / art and architecture / public and private / east and west I am always trying to find a balance between these opposing forces, / finding the place where opposites meet. Water out of stone / glass that flows like water / the fluidity of a rock / stopping time Existing not on either side / but on the line that divides / and that line takes on a dimensionality / it takes on a sense of place and shape. Maya Lin, Boundaries

Dissolving Topographies

coastal markings in a dynamic edge condition

Jessica Suzanne Roundy

This thesis would not have been possible without the resources of the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the knowledge of the residents of Prudence Island, with special thanks to Stevie Butler and Jeff Davis, as well as the constant guidance of my mentors, critics, and peers at the Rhode Island School of Design.

05 abstract

07 introduction

09 19 29 37 57 conceptual studies precedent studies site selection & history site investigations design development

67 final design

89 conclusion

91 appendix i: glossary

93 appendix ii: bibliography

95 appendix iii: image credits

thesis terms The following terms outline the ideas critical to the development of my thesis: FLUID 1. an aqueous substance capable of changing states. 2. adaptable and flexible. NATURAL PROCESSES a systematic series of actions existing in or produced by nature. an outgrowth, projection or course, as of time. TERRAIN the surface area of land considered by its natural features. a continuous topography which connects a landform to its context. EDGE a line or border at which two things meet. a spatial and dynamic boundary. FRAME a structural reference, particular to place and perception. an expanding boundary. Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

abstract Along the shoreline of Prudence Island, on the site of a former United States Naval Base, a series of abandoned bunkers form a cultural infrastructure within a larger ecological network of coastal wetlands. As a dynamic edge, the dissolving terrain of the coast creates a fluid environment in which the nature of resources must be critically examined. By framing this condition, first perceptually and then physically, the edge becomes spatial while continuing to fluctuate as an active condition. Upon closer investigation of this natural coastal process two distinct edge conditions emerge, each with a particular scale of time and space: the tidal edge and the fresh/saltwater edge. This landscape becomes an active field addressing both transitory and bound conditions. In order to defend the cultural and ecological habitats present on site, topographical interventions reinterpret the traces of the Naval Base as a cultural structure to facilitate the framing of edge conditions on multiple scales.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

introduction

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Introduction

THESIS STATEMENT As a dynamic edge, the dissolving terrain of the coast creates a fluid environment. In this context the nature of resources must be critically examined. By framing this edge condition both physically and perceptually through topographical interventions, the edge becomes spatial while continuing to fluctuate as a natural process.

INTRODUCTION In order to begin framing the dynamic edge, a lens for reading boundary conditions must be established. Only once the perception of the boundary has been framed can physical interventions be designed. The lens with which to read the dynamic condition of the coast is based on five concepts: fluidity, natural processes, terrain, edge, and frame. As an aqueous substance as well as embodying the principle of flexibility, the term fluid takes on compound roles in my work. Water specifically is viewed through multiple lenses as a material, concept, surface, culture, icon, system, and/or resource. Fluid environments are critical in the landscape both in terms of the presence of water as the lifeblood of living things, and in terms of having adaptable qualities to meet changing conditions without being compromised. If landscapes are designed to anticipate change, the likelihood of retaining elements essential to that place is much greater. Considering the materiality of water and how it reacts with or against other materials is critical to this. Investigating the actions and reactions of fluid landscapes focuses my work on natural processes. Through mapping the impression of water upon landscape, ecologies, and cultures, active conditions Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

are revealed. Often scientific processes focus these investigations, through the use of site-specific controls and variables. Time becomes an element of utmost importance to tracking the changes and exchanges within and between systems. The fluid landscape can be considered as a figure-ground relationship in which the ground is literally terrain. Visualizing this relationship in section is critical. Terrain in this regard does not stop at the zero contour, but continues below the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface so as to connect the perceived landscape to its greater context. Terrain has a specific, continuous relationship between each and every contour. By tracing this line between contours, the confines of solid ground can be defined. This edge condition between figure and ground, or water and terrain, is not static however. At precise moments in time a rising or falling tide can be measured against a specific contour as a horizontal mark, or such a tide may leave a trace in a wrack line that will remain until the next tide reaches that line of demarcation. But the concept of edge defined in relationship to natural processes and time is spatial and dynamic. It is a border within which two or more things meet, and is capable of shifting as its context or those elements change. Expanding from the edge itself to a view that includes context, a frame can be employed to understand the factors that affect the edge condition. Considering frame specifically in terms of a framework, a degree of gradation or flexibility within a greater set method is implied. In the same way edge is defined, a frame is not static but is imbued with the ability to adapt to changing conditions. A frame also acts as a lens, and through the act of framing a site will be shaped by both physical and cultural boundaries. A particular frame may expand and contract to consider various scales of context, from watershed to the fluid zero contour within the watershed, to small-scale observations or installations.

conceptual studies

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Conceptual Studies

DYNAMIC EDGE This photographic exploration of shifting boundaries establishes the conceptual orientation of this thesis. It captures the movement of torn edges of trace within a single image where the expansion and contraction of the edge elicits the rhythm of tides along a shoreline. Layers of torn trace were manipulated by breath and captured in a series of equal exposures. The photograms illuminate this process in a composite product that attempts to address notions of change, time, and motion in a single frame. The photograms were then used as the base for a Power Point animation, stills from which appear on the facing page. My intention for the animation was to use dynamic edges to create a sense of fluid space and to explore how an edge can take on a dimensionality. The space was to remain scaleless in its ever changing delineations and blurred conceptions of orientation. These intentions were conveyed through a series of shifting boundaries and by using processes of layering and accumulation in mark making. Slow movement and transitions were used deliberately to imply the seamless nature of fluidity.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Conceptual Studies

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Conceptual Studies

VAPOR, LIQUID, SOLID A single frame captures implied motion or fluidity in the mapping of each of the three distinct physical states of water by activating water as a material or surface in the construction of negatives. Wax, synthetic water, and condensation were used as active materials that were then recorded in a static state to illustrate the visual continuities and disparities between three forms of water. Time, light, and the ephemeral qualities of water become clear factors in these comparisons of the prints. In these terms, water is understood both culturally and ecologically; the term fluid is considered to be both adaptable and aqueous. Culturally water is considered to be evocative; have strong aesthetic potential, especially in its interplay with light; carry a degree of magnitude; serve as a context for commercial, spiritual, and recreational practice; and provide a great resource of sustenance for communities. Ecologically water is seen not only in terms of resources but also in terms of natural processes, from the smaller scale of tides and currents to the larger scale of climate change and sea level rise. The prints were then imported into Rhinoceros and extruded as a height field in order to understand the forms as three-dimensional surfaces that acted as dynamic terrains.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Conceptual Studies

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Conceptual Studies

THE FRESH/SALTWATER EDGE This series of photograms illuminates surface tension particular to the active condition where fresh and salt water meet. An instance of movement was captured by using light to register the surface tension. The study was conducted by pouring salt water at the average temperature and salinity levels of Narragansett Bay into fresh water at the same temperature. From left to right, the photograms capture the freshwater prior to the introduction of salt water pour, the fresh/saltwater edge at initial impact, mid-stream of the pour, end of the pour, and after the saltwater has settled to the bottom of the tank. The top row is the first iteration of the study, conducted by stopping between each photo, while the bottom row is the second iteration of the study, in which the pour was continuous.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Conceptual Studies

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Conceptual Studies

DISSOLVING TOPOGRAPHY

A mapping of fluid edge conditions and surface tension through the dilution of salt conveys an experience over time to eventually reveal existing site conditions, arriving at the average salinity level and temperature of Narragansett Bay at South Prudence Island. Surface tension and the expanding boundary of the fresh/saltwater edge were explored once again in this study of dissolving salt. The study was conducted by adding water in exponential ratios to a set amount of salt (1:0, 1:1, 1:3, 1:10, 1:33) ending in the ratio that is the average salinity level of Narragansett Bay. Like the Vapor, Liquid, Solid study, the prints were then imported into Rhinoceros and extruded as a height field in order to map the study as a series of three-dimensional surfaces of dissolving topographies. A natural process is not only observed in this exercise but is activated as a potential design tool in the creation of site specific yet artificial topographies.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Conceptual Studies

As a series of conceptual studies, Dynamic Edge, Vapor, Liquid, Solid, The Fresh/Saltwater Edge and Dissolving Topography investigate the terms of fluidity, natural processes, terrain, and edge within a photographic frame. A literal lens was created to frame perceptions of the dynamic edge with results that are applicable beyond the darkroom. These terms and prints will continue to focus the exploration of the coastal dynamic edge in a series of place-based mappings and in the physical manifestation of the proposed design. As this investigation moves forward from conceptual studies to site-specific studies it carries with it a series of questions: How can the built environment honor the fluidity of water and time? Are there moments where natural and cultural processes are synonymous? How can terrain be illuminated beyond its perceived boundaries? How does an edge take on dimensionality? How can a frame expand and contract? Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

precedent studies

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Precedent Studies

CONCEPTUAL PRECEDENTS While exploring the ideas of edge and boundary during my initial conceptual studies the image of Oliveira’s evocative, abstract Edge paired with Lin’s writing (see epigraph) were of great influence to the development of my work. Many of the questions posed during that phase emerged as a reaction to Lin’s quote, specifically to the idea of a line or edge taking on a dimensionality that speaks to a sense of place. As my studies shifted to explore the subsequent term of frame and how my understanding of frame might materialize on site, Sugimoto’s photographs of drive-ins and Reis’ installation artifacts focused my conceptual ideas into design thinking. After this initial gathering of edge and frame precedents, an expanded search of landscape precedents was engaged, defined by the terms of fluidity, natural processes, and terrain in addition to frame and edge. Through the process of exploring landscapes and projects from the perspective of particular terms, relationships between the terms arise and in many cases become inextricably linked.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Nathan Oliveira, Edge

Precedent Studies

Hiroshi Sugimoto, South Bay Drive-In

Mario Reis, Natural Watercolors

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Precedent Studies

FLUID The design of the Diana Memorial employs the malleable quality of water to evoke a range of energy and emotion. The character of the fountain shifts according to the speed and surface tension of water in each portion of its fluctuating path. Water initially bubbles up from a fountain and is diverted in two directions according to the topography of the site. To the east it follows a choreography of cascading over textured steps, gently rocking and rolling along a subtle curve, and then gaining momentum as it enters another curve where jets pattern the surface of the water. To the west, water flows within a lively simulation of a mountain stream, travels into a widening channel where bubbles are introduced, tumbles over a waterfall, and spills through a chaddar (a traditional Mughal garden water feature created by water flowing over an elaborately carved stone.) The eastern and western paths meet in a reflective basin where the water is then pumped back to the source fountain to create an unending cycle.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Gustafson Porter, Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain

Precedent Studies

Anne Lacaton + Jordi Bernado, High-Tide Pools

NATURAL PROCESSES By inserting built structure into a context of natural processes the High-Tide Pools are able to utilize the periodic rise and fall of tides to create moments of pause within a greater system of flows. Just as natural tide pools fill through channels between rocks or rising over the incline of the shoreline, this construction uses apertures in the pool walls to allow water to infiltrate the pool area. As the tide ebbs, the pool reacts by slowly emptying via gravity through an artificial subterranean passage. Existing dynamic conditions have successfully been activated to facilitate recreation particular to a particular time and place.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Precedent Studies

EDGE Tom Leader observes the California coast as an interaction between two systems of alignments, each comprised of natural and cultural elements. The north-south system consists of fault lines, mountains, and shorelines as well as rail lines, freeways, and street grids. The east-west system includes wind, fog, tides, migrations, city and state jurisdictions and marginal communities that lack clearly defines forms and boundaries. When these opposing directional flows intersect and collide the result is what the project refers to as a broadly corrugated landscape that heightens oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s awareness of both systems. The installation of parallel screens traced four specific north-south lines: a railroad track, the original shoreline, a frontage road, and the edge of a landfill. The screens were then filled with both organic and artificial materials that accumulated from the flow of the eastwest systems as they intersected the north-south lines. As these collected materials inhabited their new north-south orientation they continued to shift in response to the effects of the east-west phenomena.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Tom Leader Studio, Coastlines

Precedent Studies

Kostas Manolidis, A River Park in Veria

FRAME The River Park maps a seasonal experience of water along a path by creating a setting that references the unique character of each time of year. From the top, in winter water is understood to be dark, still and sad; in autumn water is hazy, stagnant, melancholy and quiet; in summer water is transparent, light, vivid and whispering; and in spring water is fresh, clear, cheerful and rippling. Multiple forms are used in each construction to frame the seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s character in regard to how the water is held (pool), how the site is traversed (path), and what the boundaries of the space are (wall).

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Precedent Studies

TERRAIN Maya Lin engages a process that uses scientific and topologic tools to explore traditionally inaccessible landscapes in which the relationship between analytic study and gestural form is fundamental. With Blue Lake Pass (lower) Lin shifts the conventional understanding of terrain by turning sections of topography on their side and exploding a gridded landscape into a traversable space. In this way ones perspective of the land shifts dramatically. The ground is no longer a single plane but a deep, rich, grounded form. A new perception of terrain is also framed in Water Line (center) which is meant to be experienced from both above and below. Water Line maps the topography an existing ocean floor in order to bring attention to what lies below what covers the majority of the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface. Bodies of Water (top) in the same regard illustrates the volume of a particular sea below the boundary of the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Maya Lin, Systematic Landscapes

Precedent Studies

This investigation of precedents revealed a range in both spatial and temporal scales: in spatial scale and typology from gallery installation to multiple acres of a park; and in temporal scale from a condition that may be observed for only a moment or something that is frozen in time. These precedents also give tangible qualities to the conceptual terms of fluid, natural processes, edge, frame and terrain. By using precedents as a lens through which to view the conceptual terms of fluid, natural processes, edge, frame and terrain across a range of scales they have the ability to become site specific.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

site selection & history

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Selection & History

SITE SELECTION

CHIPPAQUASETT: EARLY SETTLEMENT

In the face of a rapidly changing climate, cultures, ecologies, and natural processes are becoming increasingly fragile. Specific issues of water scarcity and cultural preservation must be addressed immediately and creatively if we are to sustain certain ways of life as we know it. Resource exchange across coastal boundaries becomes critical to issues of sustainability.

Chippaquasett, or Prudence Island, is situated at the center of Narragansett Bay, stretches a narrow seven miles by just over one mile at its widest point, and totals approximately 3800 acres. The northern end of Prudence is primarily sand and gravel glacier deposits while the main body of the island is a rocky spine with a thin soil layer. (Croasdale, 59) The earliest record of settlement on Prudence Island was by the Wampanoags, who were succeeded by the Narragansetts when an epidemic decimated their population. In 1637, the Narragansetts gave Chippaquasett to Roger Williams as a “token of friendship,” which he then renamed Prudence. (Curran, 1) Williams then divided the island with Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The original stone wall that delineated their properties still stands. Property on the island turned over frequently in the seventeenth century, with the first arrival of tenant farmers and real settlement being founded in 1659.

Islands have a particular relationship to shorelines in that they are encompassed completely by the context of water at a perceivable scale. On an island, water both literally and metaphorically surrounds, and even transcends, culture. On an island, water frames all natural processes and defines specific ecologies. Both culture and natural processes themselves become fluid as they are constantly shifting, dissolving, fluxing, moving, and changing. The context for this project is the local watershed of Narragansett Bay and Prudence Island at its center. My project focuses on a series of abandoned bunkers and active wetlands on a former United States Naval Base at the southern end of Prudence Island.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

“The early farms on Prudence, were, in general, similar to the farms elsewhere in the colony. The early islanders seemed to be specialists in raising sheep. The principal source of their income was from the sale of wool, flax, help, cattle, fruit, and produce. The pastures seemed well adapted for sheep raising. A quantity of

Site Selection & History

tobacco was grown, they also had peach, plum, apple and pear orchards. Large quantities of Indian corn were harvested, they mixed the corn with rye to bake their bread. The corn was also fed to their poultry, cattle and swine. The salt hay which grew in large areas at Nag Creek and the marsh at Pine Hill Creek was extremely useful for packing, thatching etc. Every farm had at least one or two oxen, also horses and cows. In checking some of the wills of the early islanders, many farm implements are listed, among them scythes for cutting hay and grain. The supply of shellfish and sea food was practically unlimited. From all appearances, the early farms were decidedly self-supporting an needed very little assistance, if any, from the mainland.” (Maytum, 47)

either in December of 1742 or early 1743.” (Maytum, 111) The British visited, raided, and were driven from Prudence on various dates from 1775-77. The objects of their raids included food, forage and lumber. One particular raid in 1776 resulted in depleting the island’s population to half of what it had been (111 from 228.) (Curran, 1)

In 1747, Portsmouth annexed Prudence Island. In the mideighteenth century travel to and from Prudence increased and several wharves were built. “The South Ferry Wharf, more often called Pearce’s Ferry Wharf, was located on the southeastern shore of the island not very far from the extreme south end. There was a road connecting with this wharf. Nathaniel Pearce, who lived at the south end, operated this ferry when it began and for a few years following. This wharf is shown on the various early maps. The remains of the wooden piling can still be seen. It was built Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Selection & History

PRUDENCE ISLAND: MAPPINGS This series of maps of Prudence Island, ranging from mid-eighteenth century to modern times, illustrate the changing cultural interpretations of the island. Although political boundaries changed over time, traces of the initial divisions of the island, which occurred under the guidance of Rodger Williams and Governor Winthrop, can be perceived even in contemporary maps. Unfortunately no mappings exist from the time of the Wampanoag or Narragansett inhabitation of Chippaquasett.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Le Rouge, Map of Prudence Island, 1750.

Charles Blaskowitz, Topographical Chart of the Bay of Narragansett, 1777.

Site Selection & History

Francis Curran, Prudence Island circa 1895, 1970.

Town of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Plat Map, 2002.

RIDEM, Groundwater Classification for the Bristol & Prudence Quadrangles, 2005.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Selection & History

PRUDENCE ISLAND: RECENT HISTORY In the nineteenth century, Prudence became a popular summer resort, with the settlement of Prudence Park and construction of the Stone Wharf on the west side of the island which was a stop for steamboats. The wooden wharf of the Wilson Oil Works, constructed in 1870, was situated on the extreme southeastern shore of the island and was generally spoken of as the “fish pier wharf” or “fish works wharf.” (Maytum, 166) At this point in time, farmland was also extremely productive, with 11 farms on Prudence in 1880 totaling over 3,500 acres. In 1942 the United States Navy acquired a 600 tract on the south end of Prudence Island which was used as a storage depot during World War II. The Navy built a large wooden wharf, known at the “T Wharf,” on the east shore at the extreme southern end of the island at the time of their initial occupation. A series of somewhere between twenty-nine and thirty-nine bunkers were constructed by the Navy during their occupation, along with an extensive network of roads. The site is now park land which was acquired through the Federal Lands to Parks Program of the National Park Service for use by the general public.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

In 1980 the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve was established. It is part of a network of twenty seven reserves throughout the country created to protect areas through the Coastal Zone Management Act in 1972 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As part of NERRA, which is “dedicated to the protection, understanding, and science-based management of our nation’s estuaries and coasts,” the reserve has been set aside for research, education, passive recreation, resource protection, and sustainable resource use. (NERRA and Croasdale, 61) NBNERR was expanded in 1993 and includes over 2300 acres on Prudence, Patience and Hope islands as well as 2500 acres of water adjoining the islands out to a depth of 18 feet. Sixty two percent of Prudence Island falls under the federally designation of NBNERR. The South Prudence Tract of NBNERR occupies the former Navy site. Today, the agricultural traditions of Prudence Island have practically vanished, with only one commercial farm and one community garden in production.

Site Selection & History

PRUDENCE ISLAND: FRAMED WITHIN THE 21st CENTURY Many of the cultural traditions and features developed along the coast of Prudence Island during the twentieth century will become active elements in my study and proposal of how to engage the dynamic edge. The infrastructure of wharves and docks as well as the Navyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bunker structures may serve as specific sites for engagement of the coastal edge. It is my hope that the cultural heritage of resort or recreation as well as agriculture can be restored in the twenty-first century as means to create a more sustainable and dynamic culture on Prudence Island.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

site investigations

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

PRUDENCE ISLAND: MICRO INVESTIGATIONS OF DYNAMIC EDGES During my initial site visit to Prudence Island I sought to identify natural conditions of dynamic edges similar to what I had artificially created in the dark room for my conceptual studies. This series of micro investigations identifies the condition of water being opaque except at the edge, especially in a solid state. In this regard the dynamic edge is the line or limit between transparency and opacity. This series also reinforces imagery and the evocative nature of water as a concept in my thesis.

The water was utterly turquoise across a distance and utterly colorless in the cup of my hands. -Ellen Meloy, The Anthropology of Turquoise

The following pages describe the visual narrative of existing cultural interventions along the shoreline on Prudence Island. Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Site Investigations

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

PRUDENCE ISLAND: CULTURAL PRESENCE AT THE EDGE

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Site Investigations

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

FLUID TERRAIN The terrain of Narragansett Bay connects the landform of Prudence Island, or the terrain that we perceive, to its context through a continuous topography. In this model the sectional cuts were created by following the actual topography of Narragansett Bay and Prudence Island for the top of the section cut and an abstraction of geologic information for the bottom of the section cut. The depth of the section cut was determined according to sediment type, where sediment typologies most easily manipulated were modeled as thin conditions and sediment typologies that are more static were modeled as thick conditions. Each section cut begins and ends at the zero contour of the surrounding shoreline of the Bay to the east and west of Prudence Island, and extrudes up through delineation of sea level to model the positive topography of Prudence Island. The delineation of sea level is modeled in clear Plexiglas cut to the frame determined in the drawings on the following pages.

Above: RIGIS, Narragansett Bay Geology: Sediment Types and Distribution, 2003. Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Site Investigations

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

SETTING A FRAME The watershed of Narragansett Bay defines the greater context of my site. In order to set a frame for my work within the expanse of the watershed I created a composite drawing of both conventional and redefined frames of reference. Horizontal and vertical lines of major latitudes and longitudes create the initial box frame; next a dotted line follows the shoreline of the bay; an additional line is drawn along the -30â&#x20AC;&#x2122; contour to give depth within the shoreline; then the shoreline is bisected at any bridge (a cultural frame of reference, as articulated by sight lines and residents on Prudence Island); the final framing line is drawn by connecting the shoreline with these bridges. One will notice that the zero contour at Prudence Island is only a subset of this frame, as delineated by its line weight, which is lighter than the overall framing line. As a boundary, the frame of my site is particular to both place and perception.

Above: NOAA, Narragansett Bay, 2006. Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Site Investigations

Using the same concept of framing I modeled the topographic conditions of Prudence Island within its context using the bathymetry of Narragansett Bay. The model illustrates what is fixed (topography) versus what is not (water levels) by refusing to conventionally delineate the zero contour with another material. At the scale of Narragansett Bay, the site is framed by relationships between the fluid zero contour, or sea-level, and the perceptions of what cultural elements interact with that horizon, such as iconic bridges and ferry routes. When residents of Prudence Island describe how they orient themselves on the island, it is most often in relation to these cultural elements on the horizon line, or the topographic horizon itself.

Above: RIGIS, Rhode Island Bathymetry: Narragansett Bay, 2003. Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

CONTEXT DIAGRAMS In order to continue framing the site in a way that is particular to place and perception a series of cultural relationships warranted investigation. The impetus to create these diagrams came from conversations with local residents in which they described both the tension and attraction between the Island and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surrounding context. As previously described, the horizon line and the constructed elements that mark it are how the residents orient themselves on the island. The first image illustrates the viewshed, or the area of land, water, and other environmental elements as perceived from a fixed vantage point, from which these key features can be perceived. The second image maps the navigation routes in Narragansett Bay to, from, and around Prudence Island. While the significance of the contemporary routes is self-explanatory, the historic routes acknowledge landings that were established on Prudence and areas where the Bay was dredged in order to allow for larger boats to navigate the water. The current ferry route which connects Prudence to Bristol draws the strongest cultural connection between the Island and its context, as illustrated in the third image. This image also shows the compromised relationship between Prudence and Portsmouth. As explained by the fourth image, although Prudence Island is politically affiliated with (as a part of) the town of Portsmouth, the financial discrepancies of tax distribution within the municipality have caused a great rift between the Island and mainland. This collection of diagrams frame the site as the residents of Prudence Island understand the activities of exchange that articulate the space the site in a cultural sense.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

VIEWSHEDS TO NARRAGANSETT BAY ICONS FROM PRUDENCE ISLAND ACCESS POINTS Viewsheds are drawn from the Homestead Ferry Dock, Sandy Point Lighthouse, T-Wharf, and Old Stone Wharf to the Jamestown Bridge, Newport Bridge, Mt. Hope Bridge, and the Portsmouth wind turbines.

Site Investigations

CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORIC WATER NAVIGATION OF NARRAGANSETT BAY Prudence Island and other contemporary ferry routes are drawn in solid lines; historic steamboat routes and historic naval routes are drawn in dashed lines.

CONNECTIONS TO SURROUNDING TOWNS Prudence Island has a positive connection to Bristol (due to ferry connections and jobs); a decent connection is established with Barrington (mainly recreational); a negative connection to Portsmouth (see next diagram); and no real connections to the western towns of Narragansett Bay.

COMMUNITIES AND DISPARITY As a part of the Town of Portsmouth, Prudence Island receives a mere .5 million dollars of 2.9 million dollars annual taxes collected by Portsmouth, while the mainland portion of the Town receives the other 2.4 million. The distribution of wealth on Prudence Island is densest at Prudence Park (west side), and lightest/poorest at Homestead (east side), with Sandy Point and Summer Colony in between.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

SITE DIAGRAMS As illustrated above, the winter population on Prudence Island (approximately 125 residents) is concentrated in the neighborhood of Homestead while the summer population (approximately 2000 residents) is distributed across the island, with the greatest influx in population at Sandy Point and Prudence Park. The diagram at the right illustrates this population imbalance in comparison to the availability of resources on Prudence Island, which spikes in the early spring and is quickly diminished by the surge in population during the course of the summer.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Site Investigations

PROXIMITY OF RESIDENCES TO ELEVATIONS Wealthier neighborhoods are shown to have closer proximity to higher elevations, even if they are currently near the shoreline. As the tide pushes inland this will become extremely significant.

ECOLOGICAL SITES ON PRUDENCE Circles delineate wells, shaded regions delineate wildlife management areas, and undulating lines delineate salt marshes. The circulation of water on Prudence is critical to the health of these sites.

CULTURAL SITES ON PRUDENCE Farms, institutions, municipal facilities, religious centers, historic sites, landings, and icons follow the spine of the island and organize the significant social and cultural activities for residents.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

MAPPING SYSTEMS The former United States Naval Base on Southern Prudence Island, as a site with designated park land and which facilitates the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, was selected as the specific context for this thesis proposal. NBNERR has one main facility at the north of the site that houses both research facilities and an educational exhibit, as well as a small educational facility at the T-Whaft. Their presence on the rest of the site is limited to habitat preservation practices in terms of removal of invasive species and monitored burning to propagate the pine barren. The mapping of soil hydrology, wetlands, and vegetation was necessary in order to identify the critical habitat areas of pine barren forests and wetlands, as well as the overall presence of water on site. On the majority of the site the water table is within 1.5 feet of the surface (wet and moist soil hydrology) or between 1.5 and 3.5 feet (moderately moist soil hydrology). In addition, freshwater wetlands occupy a third of the site. The pine barren habitat is of key importance for conservation measures, as it supports a number of rare species of plants and animals exclusive to pine barrens and is an extremely rare habitat for Rhode Island in itself. The pine barren indicates acidic, sandy, dry soil, in contrast to the moist conditions on the rest of the site.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

SOIL HYDROLOGY very wet moist moderately moist moderately dry dry

Site Investigations

WETLANDS

VEGETATION

freshwater pond

pine barren habitat

freshwater wetland

deciduous forest

coastal wetland

brush

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

MAPPING THE LAND To shift the lens of framing from planning to an analysis of terrain it was critical to follow and map the circulation routes across the site as they relate to topography. During the winter many of the roads on site are inaccessible due to snow cover. The majority of the paved roads are remnants of the Navy infrastructure, used to access the bunkers, while the roads outside of the bunkers areas are unpaved and used primarily for habitat maintenance by NBNERR. My first site visit after the spring thaw allowed me to access the entirety of the former Naval Base and catalogue the series of abandoned bunkers and active wetlands that occupy the site. The circulation routes are shown on the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management map to the near right, and the bunker locations and labels are noted on my diagram on the far right. The organization of the network of bunkers follows the contours of the topography of South Prudence.

RIDEM, Prudence Island Wildlife Management Area South, 2007. Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Site Investigations

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Site Investigations

BUNKER TYPOLOGIES As United States Navy artillery installation structures camouflaged by landform, the Prudence Island bunkers were strategically sited within the landscape to protect and store weapons, ammunition, and other items. The act of camouflage is achieved by literally blurring edge conditions. Each bunker is treated as a specific incision on the terrain of the site. Through the process of cataloguing the derelict bunkers on the former Navy Base, five typologies arose, in two main structural categories: the western bunkers were elongated mounds with the an entrance sliced into them, while the eastern bunkers were half-mounds with the bunker entrance located on the vertical plane of exposed side of the halfmound. The later create a wall that can be construed as line of defense, especially in when in close proximity to one another, such as the case in the fifth typology.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Bunker Typology 01: 1BT 11, 1BT 12, 1BT 13, 1BT 16 4AT 36, 4AT 37, 4AT 38, 4AT 39 On Albro Farm Road, Switchgrass Lane, and Brown Road

Bunker Typology 02: 1WT 14, 1WT 15 On Switchgrass Lane (Double the width and depth of bunker typology 01)

By investigating the site across multiple scales of systems and individual incisions upon terrain, the significance of the individual bunker is set in a larger context in the idea of fortifying the coastal edge. As an advisory member of the Precidio Council, a group that in the 1990s oversaw the conversion a military base in San Francisco to a national park, Maya Lin saw the potential in that site for a landscape to serve as an international magnet towards solving environmental issues.

Site Investigations

Bunker Typology 03: 1HT 17, 1HT 18 On an unmarked road

Bunker Typology 04: 3ZC 19, 3ZC 20, 3ZC 21 3XC 22, 3XC 23, 3XC 24 2YC 28, 2YC 30, 2YC 31, 2YC 32, 2YC 33, 2YC 34, 2YC 35 On Mink Avenue, Milkweed Road, Deer Alley, Twin Tupelo Road, and Birch Bunker Road

Bunker Typology 05: 3PC 25, 3PC26, 3LC 27 On Triple Bunker Road (Triple configurations of bunker typology 04)

I think I posed the idea as being a great opportunity to take the idea of defense from being something dealing with the military might, from dealing with machines, army, guns into being the idea of defense defending the world we live in, protecting the environment. That defense in the 21st century should become something else. That as the world gets closer and hopefully we are beginning to get along with each other a little bit better, that we should also focus our concerns on protection, on the defense so to speak of the planet. -Maya Lin, A Strong Clear Vision

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

design development

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Design Development

VERTICAL FRAMES The program for my thesis was first discussed as a park, or a park freed from the conventional notion of a park. Building from my conceptual studies, vivid imagery and illumination were employed to give dimensionality to edges and planes and evoke the idea of community on the water. As John Stilgoe writes in the Shallow Water Dictionary, â&#x20AC;&#x153;sea-marksâ&#x20AC;? can be defined in two ways: either as a line on a coast marking the tidal limit, or as an elevated object discernible at for from sea serving as a guide, a beacon, or a landmark. The T-Wharf was used as a point of entry to the site and as a location for a vertical extrusion over water. As an addition to the context of the iconographic skyline as seen from Prudence Island (of bridges and wind turbines) the proposal of a screen at the end of the T-Wharf is meant to reverse what is perceived on Prudence by placing an icon at the center of Narragansett Bay that would lie in the viewshed from the other icons. This screen could take on a variety of programs, but primarily is proposed as a paddle-in movie theater, which lit up at night would give a new form to the notion of a lighthouse or beacon. This lit up night screen would mimic the condition of water becoming a reflective surface as night. In this

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

regard the water on the site would take on a cultural context by night in its opacity. Below the wharf, scrims would be hung to illuminate the moment of transformation from vertical to horizontal, or section to plan, by blurring that moment with the reflection of the scrims on the water due to their close proximity.

Design Development

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Design Development

HORIZONTAL FRAMES In tandem with the previous vertical screen proposal which uses the opacity of water as a cultural context by night, this horizontal screen proposal uses the transparency of water by day to express an ecological context. The buoyed screens could facilitate ecological monitoring of sediments along the shoreline or create micro-habitats as a floating aquarium. The series of horizontal frames could be explored as an archipelago either by paddling through them or by viewing them from the wharf. By dislocating these screens from the land’s edge and yet allowing them to shift with tidal movement, the buoyed form creates a “floating-mark” that assists the larger “beacon” in marking the reaches of the tide. (Stilgoe, 14.) This iteration is able to delineate the continuously fluctuating boundary the water’s surface while establishing a spatial dimension within it.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Design Development

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Design Development

WALLS AS FRAMES As a more three-dimensional landscape element, walls give density and strength to the idea of framing, and ground the idea of framing conditions related to water on land. A system of walls can hold, filter, and release circulation of both cultural and natural processes. As a constructed edge, walls have the potential to link the existing infrastructure on the site to its landscape, and to link cultural and natural programs. This design iteration uses walls to support and frame both agricultural and hydrological processes. The walls follow the watershed of the site to help direct the flow of water. Walls also appear in open field conditions to frame agricultural plots. As the series of walls approach the shoreline, those walls marking water drift to lower elevations, while the walls delineating agriculture are absorbed into the opportunistic planting beds of the slits between beams on the T-Wharf.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Design Development

By considering the entire island as a series of terraces delineated by its 10â&#x20AC;&#x2122; contour intervals, a system of holding, filtering and releasing resources could be established on a large scale. On the drier western side of the island agricultural plots could be designed with such a system in mind, while the eastern side could mimic the same system with water resources throughout the extensive freshwater wetland present there.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Design Development

FRAMING SYSTEMS As a continuation of the previous concept, the flow of water, people, and resources are held, filtered, or released on site through a series of walls in this development. Walls are understood as both an architectural and topographical form, sometimes merging in the typology of the derelict bunkers. Through this understanding, the landscape becomes an active field addressing both bound and transitory conditions. The western bunker site would be designed to facilitate agricultural systems as a network of small garden plots (as green roofs on the bunkers) connected by a large scale agricultural field at the center of the now empty site. Systems of passage or circulation could lie within the agricultural patterns.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Design Development

The eastern bunker site would be designed to facilitate the holding, filtering, and releasing of water in conjunction with the freshwater wetland network that runs around the bunkers. Bunkers capture and store rainwater; open field conditions slowly filter water into the aquifer; and a series of walls direct the flow of water and circulation. By delineating systems through the use of walls in the same context as circulation patterns, the resources on the site would be illuminated to those inhabiting it. This iterative series of designs, although not literally present in the final proposal of the thesis, were critical to the development of materializing terms on site.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

final design

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

topographic interventions within the dynamic edge condition

Along the shoreline of Prudence Island, on the site of a former United States Naval Base, a series of abandoned bunkers form a cultural infrastructure within a larger ecological network of coastal wetlands. In order to physically frame the dynamic edge condition of the coast, the edge must simultaneously become spatial while continuing to fluctuate as an active condition. In this final design proposal, landscape becomes an active field addressing both transitory and bound conditions. Within this natural coastal process two distinct edge conditions are at work, each with a particular scale of time and space: the tidal edge and the fresh/ saltwater edge. A series of specific topographic interventions within the larger context of the park will frame these dual components of the coast while facilitating recreation along a path network and enriching ecological habitats. In order to defend these cultural and ecological habitats, three sites (as denoted on the site plan to the right) are locations for the development of specific interventions on multiple scales which will reinterpret the traces of the Naval Base as a cultural structure within the dynamic edge of the coast.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

TAKE THE IDEA OF DEFENSE FROM BEING SOMETHING DEALING WITH THE MILITARY MIGHT, FROM DEALING WITH MACHINES, ARMY, GUNS INTO BEING THE IDEA OF DEFENDING THE WORLD WE LIVE IN, PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT. -MAYA LIN

III II I

-x- extruded terrain fortification freshwater wetlands coastal wetlands

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

I. THE FLUID ZERO CONTOUR a tidal intervention Just to the east of the T-Wharf, a stretch of the shoreline holds remnants of previous points of entry to the island in the form of water-worn concrete slabs and granite blocks. The first site frames that area and the density of tides within it. The focus of this intervention is on the relationship between constructed topography, the dynamic edge, and the mean-tide as understood through the lens of daily tidal flow.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

To begin to articulate the relationships of the site in threedimensional form, a plaster terrain model was generated. The model is a composite of existing and proposed site conditions: The upper topography is a designed surface based on a study of the density of accumulating tides; the zero contour is modeled as a thin water line at the center of the model; the lower topography represents the existing depth to the water table; and the highlighted portion of the model shows the location of the proposed intervention as determined by the extrusion created by density.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

Along the tidal edge a boat ramp will be embedded with recordings of tidal conditions from a particular time, illuminating the fluctuations of the water’s edge as a way to frame the tide. This intervention is based off of the extrusion of the site model at mean tide, so that its placement articulates the location where the water’s edge is most often present. As a construction of the fluid zero contour, the dynamic edge is understood on the scale of an installation through a mapping in which the tide itself is used as a mark-making device. This mapping will act as a register to chart rising tides against a single year’s tidal marks as captured in concrete formed by the tide. The functioning boat ramp will reconnect access to the water’s edge and over the years will become an underwater relic. Everyone knows the sea’s normal activities, such as a breeder of almost all species of fish, as a navigable support for bathers, as grower of seaweed, as the ideal place for all kinds of dangerous nautical sports, as an immense reservoir for the planet’s water replenishment. Few know of its work as a craftsman producing objects of uncertain use, for chance enthusiasts, in a variety of materials, distributed without any prior warning over a vast range of beaches. But nobody, it seems to me, has discovered this strange production yet. -Bruno Munari, Sea as Craftsman Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

II. EXTRUDED TERRAIN a wetland intervention Continuing up the shoreline further east from the T-Wharf, the second site is the location of the closest proximity between the freshwater and coastal wetlands that exists along Southern Prudence Island. Considering this proximity as a pressure point, a topographic extrusion at this point is proposed as a protective barrier in order to delineate the wetlands from one another.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

As in the process of designing the first intervention, to begin to articulate the relationships of the site in three-dimensional form, a plaster terrain model was generated. The model is a composite of existing and proposed site conditions: The upper topography is a designed surface based on a study of the proximity of the coastal wetland to the freshwater wetland, where pressure builds as the proximity narrows; the zero contour is modeled as a thin water line at the center of the model; the lower topography represents the existing depth to the water table; and the highlighted portion of the model shows the location of the proposed intervention as determined by the extrusion created by pressure.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

As a mid-scale intervention at the verge of two competing wetlands, terrain is employed to frame the second typology of the dynamic edge condition. Along the boundary between the fresh and salt water wetlands, terrain will be extruded to facilitate preservation of the freshwater wetlands and recreational access to visitors and residents of the island alike. Reinforced berms (structural walls enclosed by soil) are to be constructed at multiple locations where the distance between the coastal and freshwater wetlands is shrinking. As these berms are connected, a recreational path across the park will emerge. The series of berms constructed between the coastal and freshwater wetlands act as an edge to protect the freshwater wetland from salt water intrusion, and as a visual reference to frame what can be an imperceptible edge to the general public between salt and freshwater wetland species.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

III. IN DEFENSE OF THE DYNAMIC EDGE an infrastructure intervention As a final site of intervention, the infrastructure of the military bunkers are engaged as a defense mechanism and as a structural chamber with a specific holding capacity. The topographic extrusion in this instance aligns with the location of a bunker, so that the placement of an intervention will utilize the existing structure and extend as a continuation of it. The form of the model also articulates a relationship between the bound condition of held water (illustrated as density) and the transitory condition of a field condition (illustrated as thinness).

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

III

Final Design

Once again, to begin to articulate the relationships of the site in three-dimensional form, a plaster terrain model was generated. The model is a composite of existing and proposed site conditions: The upper topography is a designed surface based on a study of the holding capacity of both soils and built structures; the zero contour is modeled as a thin water line at the center of the model; the lower topography represents the existing depth to the water table; and the highlighted portion of the model shows the location of the proposed intervention as determined by the extrusion created by holding capacity.

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

At the largest scale of site interventions, the extrusion of terrain rises up to meet and network the infrastructure of the military bunkers as a first line of defense against the encroaching coastal wetlands. In many ways this intervention functions like the reinforced berms, as it facilitate the preservation of the freshwater wetlands and provides recreational access, only it utilizes existing reinforcement and takes on a much more expansive scale. In addition to these functions the bunker interventions also will create a recharge area for the aquifer behind the wall of the infrastructure in a dry pocket of an otherwise wet site.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

These drawings articulate how the path over the bunker may be traversed and how the bunkers can be transformed in order to activate their structural cell as a storage capacity. By cutting an incision into the top of the bunker, either physical or visual access is gained into the spatial dimension of the bunker, making it inhabitable.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

The storage capacity of the bunkers can provide a catalog of uses that fall into three categories: to hold water, to store resources, or to facilitate cultural activities. Within each of those categories, a variety of uses is possible. While storing water the bunkers can act as rainwater collection storage, as a pool, or as an aquarium; while used for a storage capacity the bunkers can act as a cellar to hold agricultural products; or while employed for cultural activities, the bunkers can facilitate artists in residence. Photographers could use the bunker as a darkroom as it currently exists, and other artists could activate bunkers with apertures cut in their roofs, which would allow pedestrians traversing the path across the top of the bunkers to see into the studio space. These interventions are illustrated in color, in addition to the extruded topographic fill and encroaching wetlands, while existing site conditions are shown in grey scale.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Final Design

While traversing the path that connects the network of bunkers along the extruded terrain between them, residents and tourists alike can observe the different wetland systems as they look down to either side of the path. Rather than intensive wayfinding and informational markers, learning is experiential. The nuances of the different wetland typologies will slowly reveal themselves to observant pedestrians. Through the act of experiencing the edge from above, the design has returned to the perceptual framing of the dynamic edge once again after having established the physical framing multiple coastal edge conditions.

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Final Design

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

conclusion

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Conclusion

CONCLUSION Along the shoreline of Prudence Island, on the site of a former United States Naval Base, a series of abandoned bunkers form a cultural infrastructure within a larger ecological network of coastal wetlands. An initial question of what remains intact and what is compromised by the dynamic edge of a changing shoreline was approached by investigating the layering and intersections of multiple systems so as to monitor and defend them. Upon closer investigation of these processes two distinct edge conditions emerged, each with a particular scale of time and space: the tidal edge and the fresh/saltwater edge. A range of interventions specific to these distinct conditions were designed in order to frame larger issues in local contexts. By following the path across the park the three interventions at the bunkers, wetlands, and beach are linked into a narrative that traverses a range of scales and illustrates the concept of the fluid zero contour and behavior of systems at that edge. Analysis of cultural and ecological systems as well as an understanding of conceptual frameworks was critical to this process. Landscape in this context becomes an active field addressing both transitory and bound conditions. Ultimately, in order to defend the cultural and ecological habitats present on site, topographical interventions reinterpret the traces of the Naval Base as a cultural structure to facilitate the framing of edge conditions on multiple scales. Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Through my work I have sought to activate landscape architecture as a tool to integrate science and design. In the instance of the first intervention, the study of tides was contextualized by using water as a mark-making device; in the second intervention, hydrology meets design typologies of wall and landform; and in the third intervention, ecology is defined along a cultural spine. I strongly believe that by utilizing multiple ways of thinking, we can more effectively and innovatively address global issues, such as water scarcity and rising sea levels. It is my hope that this scholarship can support coastal cultures in their efforts to adapt to a changing environment by creatively addressing the dynamic condition before them.

appendix i glossary

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Appendix I

GLOSSARY OF TERMS Contour: a continuous and generally unperceived indicator of an elevation; a horizontal section defined by the leveling of water.

Frame: a structural reference; an expanding boundary; articulated space; particular to place and perception.

Culture: the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social group; the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another; the total product of human creativity and intellect; also interesting to consider biologically in terms of to grow in or on a controlled or defined medium.

Hold: to remain; one component of a three-dimensional, layered system; an active term for cultural and ecological design.

Dynamic: active; characterized by energy or effective action; changing; progressive. Ecology: the science of the relationships and interactions between organisms and their environment; human ecology being the study of relationships between humans and their physical and social environments. Ecotone: a transitional zone between two ecological communities; often a space with increased biodiversity due to the convergence of multiple communities. Edge: a line or border at which two things meet; a brink or verge; a spatial and dynamic boundary. Filter: to distill; one component of a three-dimensional, layered system; an active term for cultural and ecological design. Fluid: a substance that is capable of flowing and that changes its shape at a steady rate when acted upon by a force tending to change its shape; changing readily; shifting; not fixed, stable, or rigid; understood both in terms of being aqueous and adaptable/ flexible. Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Natural Process: a systematic series of actions existing in or produced by nature; a natural outgrowth or projection; the condition of being carried on; the act of natural forces; course or lapse, as of time. Release: to free; one component of a three-dimensional layered system; an active term for cultural and ecological design. Systems: a fluid, layered, three-dimensional articulation of relationships. Terrain: the surface area of land considered by its natural features; a continuous topography; the relationship between contours; a connection of landform to its context. Viewshed: an area of land, water, and other environmental elements as perceived from a fixed vantage point; viewshed implies a witness, often for aesthetic reasons, or with an eye toward conservation because of the natural beauty of the place. Water: Hâ&#x201A;&#x201A;O; seen through the lens of a varied understanding as a material, concept, surface, icon, system, resource, culture. Watershed: an area topographically or hydrogeologically defined that contributes all the water flowing to a particular locally-defined area.

appendix ii bibliography

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Appendix II

BIBLIOGRAPHY Amidon, Jane. Moving Horizons: The Landscape Architecture of Kathryn Gustafson and Partners. Basel: Birkhauser, 2005.

Lopez, Barry, ed. Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2006.

Crosdale, William. A Guide to Rhode Island’s Natural Places. Narragansett: University of Rhode Island, 1995.

Maytum, Charles. Paragraphs on Early Prudence Island. Private publication, 1976.

Curran, Francis. Prudence Island Circa 1895: Research & Cartography. Private publication, 1970.

Meloy, Ellen. The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky. New York: Vintage Books, 2002.

Gali-Izard, Teresa. Los Mismos Paisajes/The Same Landscapes. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, SA, 2005.

Mock, Freida Lee, dir. Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision. Santa Monica: American Film Foundation, 1995.

Hagan, Susannah. “Five Reasons to Adopt Environmental Design,” from Harvard Design Magazine. Boston: Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2003.

Munari, Bruno. The Sea as Craftsman. Mantova: Maurizio Corraini s.r.l., 1995.

Harmon, Katherine. You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. Hill, Kristina. “Shifting Sites,” from Site Matters. New York: Routledge, 2005. p. 130-155. Knechtel, John, ed. Water: Alphabet City No. 14. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2009. Koppel, Tom. Ebb and Flow: Tides and Life on Our Once and Future Planet. Toronto: The Dundurn Group, 2007. Koren, Leonard. Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 1994. Lin, Maya. Boundaries. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

Orr, David. The Nature of Design: Ecology, Culture, and Human Intention. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Postel, Sandra. Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity. New York: W W Norton & Company, 1992. Schäfer, Robert and Claudia Moll, ed. “Wasser Water,” from Topos. Munich: Callwey, 2002. Simon, Anne. The Thin Edge: Coast and Man in Crisis. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1978. Stilgoe, John. Shallow Water Dictionary: A Grounding in Estuary English. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. White, Stephanie. On Site: Water. Calgary: Canada Post, 2007.

appendix iii image credits

Jessica Suzanne Roundy Dissolving Topographies

Appendix III

IMAGE CREDITS p. 20 Nathan Oliveira Edge

p. 33 Town of Portsmouth Portsmouth Plat Map

p. 21 Hiroshi Sugimoto South Bay Drive-In

p. 33 Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Bristol & Prudence Quadrangles

p. 21 Mario Reis Natural Watercolors

p. 42 Rhode Island Geographic Information System Narragansett Bay Geology: Sediment Types & Distribution

p. 22 Gustafson Porter Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain

p. 44 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Narragansett Bay

p. 23 Anne Lacaton + Jordi Bernado High-Tide Pools

p. 45 Rhode Island Geographic Information System Rhode Island Bathymetry: Narragansett Bay

p. 24 Tom Leader Studio Coastlines

p. 52 Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Prudence Island Wildlife Management Area South

p. 25 Kostas Manolidis A River Park in Veria

p. 59 Hiroshi Sugimoto photographs collaged by Jessica Roundy with photographs and linework by Jessica Roundy

p. 26 Maya Lin Systematic Landscapes: Bodies of Water, Water Line, & Blue Lake Pass

p. 32 Le Rouge Prudence Island p. 32 Charles Blaskowitz Topographical Chart of the Bay of Narragansett p. 33 Francis Curran Prudence Island circa 1895 Department of Landscape Architecture Rhode Island School of Design

All other images by Jessica Roundy