Class Reflection: November 6th, 2008

Professor Jean Trottier from the landscape dept. spoke of the details involved in site planning. I found his presentation particularly interesting not only because of an interest in landscape form and its pertinence to the design process, but because it opened my eyes to the pressures and reality of failure that a designer must deal with. Knowing how the land beneath the ground we walk on functions is just as important as the way the structure will appear above the landscape it rests on. Utilizing slope concepts and other ways of building that can predict the way the land will move with the structure are useful, but never definite. This is something that must be realized when approaching any design endeavor, that the earth is a much more powerful place than we perceive it to be. His examples of homes distorted by the natural processes occurring beneath the soil and some completely destroyed as a result of our own neglect of the landscape, such as the effects of erosion on a hillside that has been clearcut of trees to make space for the structure. There are certain things we cannot control in nature and then there are choices we can make that are informed and thoughtful in respect to the natural landscape.