The following images are constructed to introduce and pull people to the “Power of Controlling The Mighty Mississippi River.”  Louise and I worked with the concept of the irony that each of these structures do actually control the River.  There is a contradicting illusion of safety that people may possess that reside in Louisiana, especially along the Lower Mississippi region.  Do these work?  Comments Please.  Are these compelling to you, and are you intrigued to travel River Road to experience these structures and the “control” man holds over the natural landscape?

We read Invisible Cities, and selected two cities to create on paper.  This was a very interesting project . . . there was no wrong way to draw these cities.  We could be as conceptual or as realistic as we wanted.  The city that I selected to draw in plan had very many details describing it’s experience.  However, I wanted to keep the plan more conceptual so that other could extract a city from it in their own way.  The section was very illusive in the description, yet, I wanted to allude to a more defined landscape.  It was a city of only pipes.  All the buildings had been erased, or perhaps they forgot to complete that part of the city.  You can decide.

The Pepper Drawings: A series of pepper drawings that I produced over a 6 week period.  I was trying to capture the decay process of the pepper, but it went rather fast due to one day in the window.  oooppppsss!  The peppers were one of our first projects . . . we were trying to learn a balance between contour and tone in our drawings.  I think that my tone got really better as the assignment progressed.  I really like the drawings as a series.  It really shows the changes and improvements in my drawings.

The Walking Plan: There was a section of the landscape that I chose to study.  I began looking at the landscape and taking notes in drawings and sections.  All of the 6 drawings below were completed on site.  From these drawings, I reproduced a final plan with sections of the landscape.  There was an elevation change that occurred through this portion of the site.  It was where the natural levee existed.  The sections became very important.  I think that the hardest part of constructing the drawing was being able to portray the elevation change in the site.  I think that the overall project was a success.

This is the final constructed drawing from the above study drawings.

Atmospheric Section Perspectives: Again selecting landscapes to draw a series of study perspectives.  I completed two final section perspectives that were composed of two separate drawings focusing on one atmospheric element in each.  The first being “light and dark” and the second “wet and dry”.

The Final Section Perspective for Light and Dark Study.

The final drawing for Wet and Dry Study

Egg Plan and Section Drawings: I also completed a series of egg sketches that can be used to look at the lighting hitting the eggs.  These drawings were completed over a 6 week period.  They were very hard to draw.  You would initially that they would be really easy, after all they were just eggs.  Try it if you think so.

Self Portrait: This is not your traditional self portrait.  It is more of things collectively that I have or hold dear to me that make me, me.  There are a series of drawings on one canvas.  The positioning and layout have meaning behind their location on the sheet.  If you can figure those things out, then you probably know me pretty well.  If not, now is your chance to do so.  hehe

Desk Elevations: I chose three desks to draw in our studio.  They are of three of my classmates . . . they each held a specific interest or beauty about them.  They would describe each of the occupants that situated their lives at the desks.  I think that half of the interest and beauty of each of the three followed by my own desk elaborates to who each person is and their individual personality traits.  It was interesting to step back and look at them knowing each of the people to see what elements were placed on the sheet and if they accurately describe that person.

I began researching the historic memories that originated throughout the River Road extents.   On the initial site visit, my observations of the landscape began to focus on the Hanson’s Disease Medical Clinic that was founded in Carville, LA along the road.  The Hanson’s Center was a clinic that treated leprosy.  This clinic became the focus of study in producing a model derived through memories captured or experienced in a landscape.  The crux of the project was to determine if a model could represent a landscape through memories expressed in a narrative form.   The model itself would be constructed in the expression of a memory box of the landscape.  During the site visit, I collected a series of objects from the Hanson’s Clinic.  These objects were used in the narration process of the model construction.  Each object collected from the site held with it a story of its own that was based on a personal experience from the Hanson’s Medical Clinic patients. The crux of the model was to generate a story that could be interpreted many different ways depending on how the viewing elements were arranged within the memory box.  The memory box contained a single object recovered from the clinic that remained constant throughout the viewing.  The objects cast in resin could be arranged in any way, with all or only two, with undetermined placement, each interchangeable.  The object located as the final piece remaining constant resulted in the story ending the same each time viewed.  The model represented the history and experiences within the Hanson’s Disease Clinic.  The historic stories and interpretations of the clinic are a direct connection to the experiences undergone by all the individuals in and around the facility.  However, the past will ultimately hold and present the same conclusion regardless of the personal events and experiences within any landscape.

I chose three of the objects from the first model to carry into the second analysis model.  The overall goal of this project was to determine how these elements became detached from the structure in which they were previously attached.  The elements carried forward included the railroad stake, the cabinet knob with broken glass, and the barb from a strand of barbwire.  Each model consisted of a series of study models, which projected the detachment of the element from its greater structure.  The railroad stake focused on the compaction of the infrastructure; the cabinet knob and broken glass focused on erosion on a residential home, and the barb focused on decay of objects in the landscape through the impact of the natural elements over time.  Through the construction and process of the models, an interpretation of the landscape developed in areas such as geomorphology, history, inhabitants, and land use of the landscape.

I chose a precedent museum to study and disembody as one final analysis study.  I chose the Kimball Arts Museum located in Fort Worth, TX.  The research of the facility revealed that the architect Louis Kahn utilized the arch form throughout the layout of the design of the building.  The idea of compression and tension was the focus of the infrastructure.  He also designed contrasting materials in the building such as concrete and aluminum.  The materials he chose juxtaposed through density and flexibility.  Kahn also designed museum structure to capture, project and reflect the natural light throughout.  The layout of the rooms and placement of exhibits are determined by the light illumination inside the structure.  The compression and tension, juxtaposed or contrasting materials, and the manipulation of natural lighting are the elements extracted from the disembodiment of the Kimball Museum that were carried forward into the design process of River Road.

Plaquemine Point was chosen as a site along River Road to begin the designing process.  The extracted elements of natural lighting manipulation and the compression and tension of structure experienced from the Kimball Museum were incorporated in the site design.  The purpose of this model construction was to grasp a perception of the scale in the overall site, and to progress in the design process through numerous iterations of model construction.  The Plaquemine site design included a series of structures that were mounted over the bike path on the levee in the form of an inverted “L”.  The inverted “L” structure was set in the landscape as groupings, which generated a defined space.  Together the groups determined the single structure.  The structural groups were designed to compress the space it enclosed by shifting in height.  Each of the individual structures are constructed out of a variety of materials, such as:  concrete, wood, aluminum, metal, steal, and glass.  This strategy was incorporated to generate different light reflections and projections in the spaces created with the “L” form structures.  There were five series of these structures accompanied with planting material to highlight the spaces by casting shadows and again compressing the pathways leading from River Road to the bike path at the top of the levee.  Each space was designed to introduce a degree of experiences with the use of lighting and compression.  When these series of individual experiences were encountered sequentially the entire site of Plaquemine Point revealed a new interpretation in the landscape.

Old Airline Highway Bridge Site:

Port Allen Across the Mississippii River into downtown Baton Rouge Site:

I was drawn to two specific sites.  The sites experienced a series of rhythms introduced by systems. The sites transitioned from more agrarian landscapes that seemed more open and vast into commercial or urban landscape that contains railroads, shipping, roadways, and infrastructures. The first site reached from Port Allen across the Mississippi to downtown Baton Rouge and continuing into the industrial portion.  The second, was the kick back just North of the old Mississippi Bridge on Airline Highway.  I constructed models for each of these sites concentrating on two areas of interests within each.  The Port Allen site studied the history and land use that occurred, and the Old Bridge study concentrated on the geomorphology and the hydrology.

The Great River Road design incorporates the historic, hydrologic, geomorphologic, and present land use.  Each of these elements converges and emerges into the landscape as one form generating two experiences; one being designed for the passerby and the other for the occupant within the site.  The historic river courses emerge out of the landscape marking the impact of flood years resulting in devastation to the surrounding landscape.  The four years extracted from history is 1543, 1882, 1927, and 1973.  The individual years are represented separately in the design.  The year 1927 is the most dominate of the courses due to the nation wide impact of the flood, and is represented with a wall at the course edge and the surface is plant in wildflowers to be the most dominate when viewed distantly.  The 1882 course, being the second most dramatic impact, is defined by a row of Live Oak plantings at the edge with a rapid slope that inclines to the leveled space of the course.  The 1882 river course is remembered by its very localized impact to specific locations along the river, not the National impact that defines the 1927 course.  The course of 1543 that is represented by an invert wall at the edge of the course, and the surface is planted in a low growing grass species.  This course of the river is remembered in history as a period of another major flood where the river breached many landscapes while the water consumed homes and lives.  The chosen edge of this course leads an occupant of the space to grasp a sense that the land is pushing and the wall is collapsing much like the experience in the 1543 flood.  A gradual slope marks the final course of 1973 and the surface is not altered leaving a sense of the present land use incorporated into the design.  Each of these courses relays the idea of the inverse movement of the river.  Where the river dredged out its courses in history, these constructed landforms build up.  They also represent the transformation, which came through man constructing and controlling the river movement and annual flooding.  Historically, the river was wider and covered a broader span of land, and when the width was not controlled the depth of the river was not as extensive.  Therefore, these levels also relate to the landscape that was untouched and uncontrolled in history.  These design moves creates a series of corridors that can be experienced both in an automobile and for the occupant contained inside the defined river course spaces of the landscape.  The incorporation of this experience is determined by the two speeds, which the landscape is experienced.  It introduces new experiences to River Road one being focused on the movement in a vehicle, and the second being the occupants moving through the landscape.  Two momentums of speeds, two experiences, one landscape; reconnecting to the history, the geomorphology, the hydrology, and land use of spaces along the Great Mississippi River emerge the River Course Design.

Figure 1 (The Matrix)
Connecting each city to each other would be strands representing the innovative design strategies to improve the flood protection, ecology, and circulation along the entire coast.  The strands would develop a sense of fluidity along the coast. The strands would be slightly altered to meet the protection requirements held by each town in relation to the individual threats as result of the rising sea, subsidence, and natural elements affecting each location.  The strands themselves would be interweaving along the coastline uniting the land and sea.  The design focused on developing costal defense strategies for each individual town, which together create a continuous defense system along the coastline.

Figure 2 (Drawing of Concept)

Master Plan
The Master Plan introduces a combination of constructed elements proposed throughout the landscape.   These elements, depending on location, hold functional and/or artistic purposes directly related to the town.  In order to develop a cohesive coastal defense system, the utilization of both barrier islands and constructed panels are placed along the entire coastline.  Depending on the location of determined placement of the elements, the panels and islands are either designed to enhance the coastal defense system or increase the aesthetic value of the coast.  The boulevard and bicycle route move fluidly along the entire length of the coast reinforcing the connection of the towns by land while a ferry service would enhance the connection in the sea.  The image below is a diagrammatic Master Plan produced by the group, and all of the factors explained above can be located within the context of the surrounding landscape.  The elements that are specifically designed and located per town will be elaborated on later in the narrative.  The coastal defense system is the one element, which remains constant throughout the entire plan.

Figure 3:  Master Plan
The Master Plans developed for each town elaborate in more detail are found in figures 4, 5, and 6 below.  Each strand moving through the landscape can be seen as continuous in the design master plan and be comparison in more detail can be distinguished from seeing the town master plans.  According to the towns’ master plan, the placement and movement of the constructed and introduced elements is in direct reference to the relationship with the sea and the natural elements affecting town.  Each of the plans is labeled to show how each of these elements are connected to one another as moving along the coast.

Figure 4, 5, 6:  Plan of Westkapelle, Plan of Zoutelande, Plan of Vlissingen

Coastal defense strand:
Westkapelle
An auxiliary dike would be constructed behind the existing dike, which would allow space between the two for water detention.  The detained water would drain into a holding facility below the dike, and would later be pumped either back into the sea or further inland for agricultural purposes.

Figure 8 (Auxiliary Dike and Detention Area with Constructed Wetlands)
Zoutelande
There would be a constructed waterproof wall that would rise up out of the existing dike that would provide more advanced defense against the sea.

Vlissingen
A constructed waterproof wall would rise up out of the existing dike to provide a more advanced defense against the sea.

Figure 11:  Constructed Panels in water with floating structures

Ecological Strand:
Westkapelle
The area of detention would be multifunctional in storing both water a creating a wetland landscape in between the dike and the lake.
Zoutelande
The existing nature persevere that is located along the coast would be enhanced and the preservation would continue.
Vlissingen
There would be a floating market and greenhouse located to the west of the harbor.  A proposal of a constructed wetland would be located along the coastline west of the entrance of the harbor.

Circulation Strand:
Westkapelle
The existing bike path would be rerouted first over the sea to allow access to the fishing docks, and then come back into the land to the lake.  The lake is reminder of a WWII bombing which flooded the town and provoked a sense of fear from the sea, so a bridge proposal was suggested to represent the “rising above the water” feeling by the residents.

Zoutelande
The construction of walkways, which would move adjacent to the groins, extends out to the islands.  The bike path would be rerouted to move over sea and land.

Figure 9:  Coastal defense system and boardwalks

Vlissingen
The bike path would offer multiple views of both proposals of land and sea.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

The first week that LSU Landscape Architecture Study Abroad class arrived in Holland, we were able to commence a workshop charette with the Landscape Architecture and Architecture students at the Technical University of Delft and the Professor, Han Meyer.  The main focus throughout this design project was within realm of urban design.  Our site location was revealed to be Walcheren.  The beginning day of the workshop consisted of an overview of Walcheren and the emphasis of the three towns to focus, which included:  Westkapelle, Zoutelande, and Vlissingen.  The following day was a site visit along the coast, which allowed us as class and individuals to determine the final analysis of the landscape.  The analysis is complied and an interpretation of the data is presented from each student.  The analysis and interpretation is considered to be the keystone on which a design is developed.  The purpose of this section is to provide background information, historical data, and convey the analysis, which was compiled in the workshop, explaining the results of interpretation by students, by groups, and by class.
FIGURE 1                     FIGURE 2

Walcheren is located within the Providence of Zeeland.  Of all the Dutch providences, none experiences more damage from the wrath of the water.  Today, it is characterized as one of the locations of threat along the Netherlands Coast.  The lakes and rivers slice the landscape into islands and peninsulas giving its communities an isolated notion.  The name Zeeland implies is inextricably linked with water and the sea.  From the earliest times, the power of the North Sea and the flooding of deltas of the Maas and Schelde rivers have shaped the landscape, encouraging resilience in the inhabitants and the desire to control the elements.

FIGURE 3

Throughout the existence of the island it has continually changed in shape.  In the time of 1250, it was actually a single island off the coast.  Throughout time, the island has actually evolved into a peninsula through the reclamation of land from the sea (Figure 3 – Figure 6).  Walcheren is the result of century-long work on a “hard” coastal defense.  Today, Arcadis, a global engineering firm, is working to develop and design innovative ways to protect the lands.  Arcadis presented all of the historical data and the initial introduction of Walcheren.  The company has been working with this landscape for several years.  The towns of focus being Westkapelle, Zoutelande, and Vlissingen was ideal due to the threat they held resulting from the rising water levels and the incoming storms from the North Sea.  The goal was to introduce or propose through the design process is to develop new innovative and conceptual ideas to reduce the threat. The project required the student teams to develop “innovative ideas [about] how to design new waterfronts using technical, spatial and economic instruments” with the added charge to reinforce the cultural relationships between the study areas and the waterfronts.  Solutions should be designed to protect the whole coast from Vlissingen to Westkapelle and enhance the identities of the towns.  ARCADIS representatives instructed students to develop unique strategies to combine coastal defense, town identity, and economic possibilities.
FIGURE 4                                   FIGURE 5

FIGURE 6

Within Zeeland, the delta landscape can be divided into six landscapes along the coast.  The distinguished landscapes include:  1) Dune Villages are created in the as of yet safe shelter of the dunes and are in economic sense oriented at sea.  2) Villages encircling a church are not actually oriented towards the sea, but are characteristic for the estuarine coastal landscape, through which numerous creek ridges run.  Subsiding polder land created the higher level of the ridges.  And, these ridges inversely created the country lanes. 3) Ports have developed along the creeks, which discharge into the long reach of the sea.  4) Villages located perpendicular to the dike is the result of strict regulations from the Polder Board with the regard to dikes management control.  5) Key cities generated around ports and villages with streets perpendicular to the dikes.  However, the ports have been closed off due to deposits of the large waters.  6) Holiday villages have developed immediately along the coast and waterside, thank to the closing off the sea arms and the Delta Works.
Walcheren appears to be more stable than it actually is.  The island has continued to evolve into what it has become today.  The force of the natural elements, which include:  the storms, the constantly rising sea level, the tide, and the winds, are the factors which are directly linked to the significant changes of the shoreline. The dunes have been slowly subsiding and washing away due to the fierce west and southwest storms.  Therefore, throughout the years the coastal defense of the island changes and shifts with the water has left several spaces along the coastline unprotected.  Therefore, in order to design a innovative defense, the understanding of the elements in this area and their affects is crucial.  Below is a sequence of diagrams, which show the changes in the land by the reclamation from the sea.
FIGURE 7                           FIGURE 8

FIGURE 9                            FIGURE 10

Each of the three towns is located along the southwest coast of Walcheren.  Overtime, changes in the forced changes from each town economically.  The identities the towns once lived by were no longer able to hold true.  A new economic foundation had to be determined for each location.  This once again was in direct result to the constant affects of the natural elements which rendered each town in constant change and unstable.  The changes and growths of Westkapelle, Zoutelande, and Vlissingen are listed and explained for each individual town in the following narratives.  These elements were many of the issues, which were attempted to be resolved throughout the design process.

Westkapelle

Westkapelle is the northern most towns on Walcheren.  The most impressive element of this town is the sea wall, and the history it holds is fascinating.  In former times, this town lay securely behind dunes, but these were washed away in the 15th century.  This meant that the access route to the island had been altered through the storms, rising tides, winds and sea currents.  At this point, a dike was constructed, which was completed in 1458.  It is also know for the historical events that were result of WWII.  In 1944, the dike was bombed and breeched by allies in order to flood Walcheren so it could be liberated.  The water intake was repaired and the remains of this breech can be viewed from the lake, which still remains.  Westkapelle was not a harbor town, but it holds a historical reputation for fishing.  It also holds a very religious background of Protestant.  The boats were beached instead of locating them in a harbor.  The dike in this town generates a significant disconnect from the sea.  The houses are also positioned with the back of the house facing the sea.  Presented with the historical background and developing an analysis from that data, we as a class were able to determine that the town of Westkapelle and the inhabitants are considered to have “turned their back” on the sea.  Therefore, a conclusion of can be developed that the town is actually “defending” itself from the sea.

Zoutelande

Zoutelande is located between Vlissingen and Westkapelle.  It is considered to the town that brings in the most tourists.  There is a very large beach front throughout the town’s coastline.  Therefore, it has developed and evolved into a recreational or vacation oriented town.  There are generally many people on the beach, including tourists, surfers, and artists.  It is one of the only towns that today contain houses that have been constructed in the dune areas.  From the location of the houses along and in the dunes, it can be implied that there is not a complete separation from the sea as that which existed in Westkapelle.  It holds a history of attracting artists and painters to the town due to the existing groins extending into the water along the majority of the beachside.  The groins themselves were 18th Century engineering design to retain and build the shoreline.  The artist would visit this town to capture the aesthetic quality of the groins, coastline, sea, and dunes.  The groins hold a strong relationship to the history of the Dutch identity and culture.  The town has strived for years to maintain and reconstruct the dunes along the shore.  Today, the town has constructed a boulevard along the backside of the dunes, which contain vistas points from locations along the top of the dunes.  This reconnects the town with the sea again, and perhaps generates views that the artists once captured.  There is also a nature preserve just south along the coast of this town.  It appeared to present more ecologically based enhancements than Westkapelle and Vlissingen.  Therefore, the majority of the proposals from the student’s workshop were geared more towards the possibilities of the enhancement of the ecological components this town presented.

Vlissingen

Vlissingen is probably the first Dutch city where a hard coastal defense was erected.  The construction for the dike occurred around 1439.  Vlissingen is located at the southern most point of the Walcheren Peninsula.  It has always been a town of great military significance.  The harbor was a naval base during the period of WWII.  Therefore, there are several WWII historical monumental markers throughout the town and surrounding areas of the military force post.  Vlissingen can be considered to be one of the most modernized towns along the coast, but at the same time holds a large amount of history.  The town grew aggressively in the 20th Century.  Today, it is a flourishing town that attracts tourists to experience the historical aspects of the town, the beachfront, and the cultural uniqueness.  This town also attracts many retirees to relocate.  There are approximately forty-five thousand inhabitants and it does not seem to be increasing, and in fact, there is speculation that the overall population may be decreasing.  It was considered to have three waterfronts throughout the town including the beach, the harbor, and the shipyards.  Once an important ship building industry dominated the harbor.  This industry has shifted to a new location several miles to the east of the old harbor location.  The abandoned building still remains in the old harbor and represents a potential new set of economic activities, which is yet to be defined.  Tourists are present in the town two to three months out of the year.  This town has the longest period of daylight, the least amount of rain, and considered to be the windiest in the Netherlands.

My plan is focused on the concept of light movement through light and shadow within the site.  I have located trees, shrubs, and grass material in the water basin that runs throughout the entire site.  The water basin is a water retention area that collects the water from the interstate.  The water will be held in this areas until it has absorbed.  It will be an area that is in constant fluctuation is relation to the site.  The plants within the water basin would complete phytoremediation of the water runoff.  The basin would act as a detention area of the site.  the drains from the interstate were relocated to flow into these areas.   I wanted to connect the two sides of the interstate through the circulation through the site and on the edges.  I located the parking along the road edges, and located an overflow lot at the back of the site.  Essentially, allowing parking access to the west and east side of the site. 

Overall I really like the plan and section graphics.  I liked working with this site and the overall layout of the design.  i wished that i would have had more time to resolve how the glass pieces would work at being places throughout the site to reflect the moving light into specific locations.  The hardest thing about this concept is configuring a way that these elements would have been constructed in order to work precisely.  I really like this idea and think that it would have helped my design if it had been competed.