Criteria Recap

Monument & Environmental Health

The search began in selecting a subject or event whose loss of property, lives, or scale of damage was monumental and of an environmental nature. This led to the exploration of unnatural disasters.

Unnatural Disasters

large scale environmental harm due to the animosity, apathy, accidents, or ignorance of man.

These disasters are described in general categories such as coal mine collapses, dam failures, industrial explosions and toxicity, government actions, nuclear accidents, oil spills, terrorism, etc.

Sites were initially selected for fitting one of these categories.

The Sites

New Orleans – toxicity (carbon dioxide causing more frequent and intense hurricanes), govt

Centralia – mine collapse and fire

Washington DC – govt

New York - terrorism

Gettysburg - govt

Sites were then evaluated on the criteria of cultural impact, political significance, inherent monumentality, financial impact, potential audience, and potential for physical and symbolic applications of sustainability

Gettysburg

Culture – “Gettysburg Address” synonymous with social and political resolution for remembrance and fighting for change, small town thriving on historic tourism, one of largest examples of environment preservation in US, overdevelopment feeding off tourism

Politics – decisive battle in Civil War

Monumentality – incredible number of lives lost, thousands of existing monuments, Gettysburg Address

Finance - huge tourism industry could easily support construction

Audience – nearly 2 million yearly tourists, 10,000 residents

Sustainability – solar, geothermal, wind, recycling, and social. Large, uneducated audience, large transportation footprint

The primary unnatural disaster is War. War is relevant today, particularly because of our war for oil. The need for oil relates to the problems of climate change, over population, and over development. Gettysburg is a beautiful historic town being transformed by large trucks and exponentially increasing traffic. This is a logical site for applying the idea of collective small changes affecting the environment at a large scale. The environmental impact from within the town center is not visible, but becomes clear as one travels through the overdeveloped fringes. The town is home to elegant historic vernacular architecture, but quality current architecture is either non existent or marked for demolition. I am interested in making architecture that is relevant and meaningful to me. A monumental area of preserved land littered with un-monuments. Site packed with meaning and significance due to local and national history. Attempt to confront the unsustainable residents and tourists of Gettysburg, a reaction to over development and environmental apathy. Gettysburg recently quelled the construction of a casino, but the massive development that began in anticipation continues. This area is known for its large scale preservation of land, this is an antimonument alluding to environmental and social preservation.

- War

- Oil - Overdevelopment and excessive large vehicle traffic

- Only current architecture is vinyl townhomes and big boxes

- “Modern” architecture always scheduled for demolition

- Monumentally preserved land marked only with (un)monuments

- Significant local and national history

- Environmentally unaware audience

- Amplifying the idea of environmental preservation