Infrastructure and Design

Saleem Ali's anticipation of a convergence between ecology and engineering definitely resonated with some of the Rev Minds readers. His broad assessment of the state of the academy and sustainable architecture:

University programs in environmental science and those in civil engineering and architecture are generally still quite separate in terms of administrative structures. Although the growth of "green buildings" has increased the market for more ecological design, most of these projects tend to be insular and speak more for branding and vanity of particular companies or households.

These concerns about post-secondary education and cynicism regarding green architecture are both well warranted. Ali also suggests that ecological design needs to "reconfigure" itself to address infrastructure. This is a point worth dwelling and on and in surveying contemporary architecture and landscape architecture there are a number of current developments that suggest that precedents to inspire a widespread "reconfiguration" are already emerging:

• Infrastructural retrofits such as the High Line in New York City. This project (a collaboration between James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro) saw a 1930s freight line converted into a 1.5 mile long elevated park with natural plantings. The progressive decision here is to keep aging infrastructure and repurpose it as a staging grown for a "naturalistic" landscape intervention amidst the density of Manhattan.
• A similar recent proposition, The Bay Line (pictured above) by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello posits that the Bay Bridge (that runs between San Francisco and Oakland) could be transformed into an urban park instead of being dismantled. [see Geoff Manaugh's commentary on this and other habitable bridges]
• Another proposal: a dynamic "remediation" of the runways of a ReykjavÃk, Iceland airport was proposed last year by a team led by Mason White and Lola Sheppard. The scheme Runways to Greenways, postulated that the massive footprints of of landing strips could be transformed not only into parks but farming tracts. [more great commentary by Geoff Manaugh]

As evidenced by the above examples, it is an exciting moment within architectural design as definitions of "site" and "program" are expanding to interlock with complex infrastructural assemblages. Many of the most interesting (and historically charged) opportunities lie in adapting the frameworks of existing public or transport services. Landscape architecture is also enjoying an expanded relevance as the expertise associated with the discipline is vital to an increasing number of projects. Even something as simple as a green roof speaks to this conflation of design, environmental science and engineering. While these disciplines are not joined at the hip within the academy, change is certainly afoot—it is an exciting moment.

For further reading please see the aforementioned BLDGBLOG as well as Pruned, The Infrastucturist, InfraNet Lab and DesignUnderSky.