Landscape Dissection
Course Instructor Duration Project Team
Architectural Programming - Spring 2009 Frank Jacobus 3 Weeks S. Dobbins, M. Geserick, B. Henry, M. Maiolie
Project Description
Student teams were asked to select a stretch of road along the MoscowPullman highway within the city limits of Moscow, and reveal the programmed, experiential, and cultural elements embedded within the landscape.
Project Focus and Analysis
The entire section of road in this area is programmed for vehicles, it is dominated by paved streets, parking lots, and large-scale signs meant to be read by cars passing by at 35 mph. What would a pedestrian experience in this space which was designed with only a small sidewalk as the provision for foot traffic? The team set out to individually record its experiences in the landscape. We noted dominant colors, noise levels, hard and soft scapes, interactions with other pedestrians, bicycles, and cars, and our relative anxiety levels. Analyzing the team’s findings we noticed that anxiety spiked where different modes of transportation cross paths, especially at the intersection of Peterson as it is the site of a major crosswalk leading to campus. High noise levels were also a cause for anxiety and were the result of passing cars which are uncomfortably close to people on the sidewalk because of the lack of buffer zone between them. The results of our experiences led us to conclude that the pedestrian experience is unduly stressful, harsh, and unpleasant due to the lack of programmed landscape specific to foot traffic.
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