Living with Nature
Studio, Fall 2018
Instructor: Linda Pollak (Harvard GSD)
Collaborator: Jichao Sun
Site: Woburn, MA
Abstract
One of the problem we observed at the site is that the edges of the landscape and buildings are usually very hard. But there is also potential emerging on the facade of the existing buildings that over time the natural and the built are not necessarily divided rather, they could grow as a whole. Given that the site is contaminated and loosely built, we would like to bring it back to its original state. By doing so, we are envisioning a new suburban experience where people could collectively living, working and shopping closely in contact with nature.
Between the inaccessible nature and the hard-bounded built, we introduced a third “in-between” element to negotiate with the two divided parts. Not intended to become another segregated part, the third element had its variations to thicken but also soften the edges when meeting with “nature” and “the built”.
As a starting point, we seek to reveal the invisible edges on the site, including two flood zones, historic water body, contaminated class zones and surface geology zones. When we overlaid them, four types of new zones were generated, each with different edge condition: the most buildable area, the less flooded area, the more flooded area and the natural landscape.
In this case, the in-between element becomes the collective and public space: the less flooded area accommodates the collective space for the community; The more flooded area is transformed into the wetland park for people to have intimate relationship with nature.
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