Studio Projects
Cultivating the Urban Forest
The Urban Forest: Background
- Trees have had significance to many cultures for thousands of
years as metaphors for human life (Tree of Life, family trees).
Roots, seeds, flowers, and fruit have carried meanings of
continuity, growth, reproduction, and renewal. Such associations
represent a powerful potential for urban design, particularly in
inner-city neighborhoods.
- From the air, parts of West Philadelphia look like a forest.
These neighborhoods, their streets lined with large, old trees,
are appreciably cooler on hot, summer days and nights than other
neighborhoods nearby. Trees growing up on vacant lots are also a
reminder that forest is the natural state of this landscape. They
are nature's urban renewal.
- Many parts of West Philadelphia are probably more than ten degrees
Fahrenheit warmer on clear, summer nights than nearby suburbs.
The hottest sections are those covered by buildings and pavement,
with few trees, gardens, or parks. Planting large numbers of
trees on streets and in yards would make these neighborhoods
significantly cooler on summer nights and more comfortable during
the daytime.
- A street tree planted today has an average life span of about ten
years. This is partly due to the fact that trees from rural
nurseries are not well adapted to the harsh conditions of city
soil and air pollution and partly due to conventional planting
methods which do not take into account urban soil conditions and
other stresses on street trees.
- Vacant land provides space to grow trees for planting in streets
and gardens of West Philadelphia. Trees which have grown and
thrived from a young age under urban conditions may have a higher
survival rate.
Program
- Design a nursery for street trees on a vacant lot near Sulzberger
Middle School. Assume that the trees will be planted as branched
whips (ca. 3/4") which, depending upon the species you select,
will be ready to transplant as street trees after 3-5 years. Give
special attention to how the grove's appearance announces its
function and future, to the design of a fence and the relationship
that boundary creates between grove and street, sidewalk, and
adjacent buildings.
- The nursery will serve as an outdoor classroom for Sulzberger--a
living laboratory planted and maintained by students as part of
their ongoing curriculum. How does your design reflect potential
academic work at the school?
- Design the process by which sites are selected (vacant lots and
blocks for future planting), permission for use secured, the
program promoted, the trees planted, cared for, transplanted, then
cared for in their new location.
- Design the installation of street trees in their ultimate home on
one or more blocks in the neighborhood.
- Assume your clients are Sulzberger teachers (and students) and the
School-Community Association and that funding for the project
comes from two sources: a federal urban forestry demonstration
program and a local public arts program.
Requirements
- Text describing your proposal.
- Map showing the relationship between sites (tree nursery
"classroom," Sulzberger, future location of street trees, other
relevant places).
- Plans and sketches showing specific features significant to your
proposal.
- Drawings/diagrams illustrating change and phasing over a period of
ten years (and even beyond) from conception, initiation, selecting
sites, planting, caring, transplanting, caring...)
- Construction details showing planting methods and materials.
- Any other graphic material necessary to convey your proposal.
- Submit a self evaluation (use form) with your proposal.
- Remember: the first review (October 8) is a walk-around
review/discussion; the ultimate presentation is on your web
gallery (October 20, 25).
Discussion and Review
- Reviews of work will take place in four stages: preliminary self
evaluation; studio-wide review and discussion; self evaluation;
peer review.
- On October 8, there will be a walk-around review/discussion with
AWS and Paul Meyer from 1-5PM. Post your
proposal and preliminary self evaluation by 9AM before Workshop
class. The work must be understandable on its own. You will not
have the opportunity to make a verbal presentation.
- By noon on October 20, your work must be posted on the gallery
page of your website.
- Peer review: each of you will review and discuss the web gallery
of several others on October 25 during studio. The written review
must be completed submitted by October 28 using the feedback form
provided on individual gallery pages.
Reading
Now would be a good time to read Herb Gans, People, Plans, and Policies
(Columbia University Press, 1993). For this project, see particularly
"Part One. Environment and Behavior", pages 3-43.
For references on plants, refer to the Workshop III bulk pack. In
addition, the following eclectic group of readings is recommended.
- Nathaniel Altman, Sacred Trees (Sierra Club, 1994).
- John Fowles, The Tree (Ecco, 1983). A wonderful, short essay by
the novelist.
- Gerda Gollwitzer, Baume: Bilder und Texte aus drei Jahrtusinden
(Schuler, 1980). Although the text is in German, the book is
copiously illustrated. The author, a landscape architect, was for
many years the editor of Garten und Landscaft.
- Lawrence Halprin, RSVP Cycles: Creative Processes in the Human
Environment (Braziller, 1969). A classic book on design and
process by a great landscape architect.
- Barbara Matilsky, Fragile Ecologies: Contemporary Artists'
Interpretations and Solutions (Rizzoli,1992). An overview of
works by numerous contemporary srtists.
- Anne Whiston Spirn, "Design for Survival," in Urban Islands: Trees
and Shrubs for the Inner City, Arnoldia 44:4 (Fall 1984): 29-36.
See other essays in this publication also.
Skills
- Giving ideas material form: moving fluently back and forth from
the conceptual to the material/formal to details of contruction.
- Designing with natural, social, and political processes over time.
- Weaving your design into context of people and place.
- Web authoring: going beyond the basics.
- E-mail: participating in on-line discussion to share information
and ideas.
- Reflective practice: self-evaluation; peer review.
Self Evaluation Form
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Last Update: 8 January 1997
