LANDSCAPES OF REPULSION: HIDDEN IN PLAIN SITE

Harvard Graduate School of Design, MLA Thesis

2022

Author: Colleen Sloan

Advisor: Sergio Lopez-Pineiro

Software Used for Project: ArcGIS, Rhino, Adobe Creative Suite

This thesis interrogates landscape architecture’s participation in the cleaning and concealing of repugnant sites of industry through the creation of a public mountain range in Iowa constructed from the wastes of the industrial hog industry.

The constructed mountains, dubbed the De Soto Range, reveals the repulsions of industry through the collapsing in space of pleasure and disgust. In doing so, the site becomes a battleground of differing political ideologies, motives, and backgrounds connected by a common reality.

At right, the plan of the mountain for the year 2075 shows the layering of material over time. The various colors represent time as well as the variations in the color and texture of the material itself.

On a clear day, the tallest peak can be spotted across a large portion of Iowa and even parts of Minnesota and Nebraska, as depicted in the visibility map below.

The De Sotos are a spectacle of disgust, a working landscape, a public park, and a political and social tool of expression demanding to be seen.