The Bargmann L.E.N.S.

the bargmann L.E.N.S.

leave everything, no sacrifices

ruby zielinski

Queen of Slag (Graves, 2006)

contents

Introduction

Just a Girl From New Jersey

D.I.R.T. (Dump It Right There)

The Bargmann L.E.N.S. (Leave Everything, No Sacrifices)

Case Study 1: A Toxic Orange Sludge

Case Study 2: A Crippled Industrial Park

Case Study 3: From Ford to Forward

Toss the Trends, Keep the D.I.R.T.

Photo collage of Ford River Rouge (D.I.R.T)

There are times when the present breaks the shackles of the past to create the future... But there are also times…when it is the past that creates the future, by breaking the shackles of the present.” (Turner 1998)

Julie Bargmann has honed her practice to create spaces that catalyze regeneration. She knows when the present should break the shackles of the past, but more importantly, when the past should break the shackles of the present. Bargmann is a warrior for material reuse and a proponent of what she calls “toxic beauty.” This is a story about how she has mastered the art of industrial rehabilitation and a reflection on her struggle to gain recognition for this challenging work.

Sketch of D.I.R.T.’s Core City Park in Detroit, MI.

Just a Girl From New Jersey

It is important to first dig into her past to understand her process. Born in New Jersey, Bargmann often talks about her early influences as views from the back seat of her dad’s car. She talks about the meadowlands, a vast network of wetlands surrounded by industrial activity, to be beautiful. She was also highly influenced by her mother’s artistic abilities. Her mother would often encourage her to doodle on homework and reward her with sketchbooks and watercolor sets.

As with many other children, Bargmann loved to play in the dirt, but that sense of play became a passion. She went on to study sculpture at Carnegie-Mellon University, but when she gained her degree, she was frustrated by the static nature of art. She was uninterested in the idea of her work sitting in a gallery for people to peruse. At this time, she was living in Boston and trying to figure out what she wanted to do. She calls this period in her life the “black hole period.” (Bargmann, 2021) It was not until she went back to the writings of Robert Smithson that she discovered landscape had the potential to connect many of her interests - science, art, environment.

From there, she went on to get her master’s at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). At the time, her peers were not thinking about industrial landscapes. She proclaims, “I found myself on the margins of the discipline, which is a comfortable spot for me as an artist.” (Hamilton & Bargmann, 2016) While at the GSD, she developed a love for teaching as an assistant for design studios and technical courses. Instead of jumping right into educating, though, she worked for Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates for several years. This allowed her to build the groundwork for teaching but also her practice. She opened her studio and research practice, both called D.I.R.T. when she was a professor at the University of Minnesota. The studio focused on regenerative landscapes, filling a niche in the realm of landscape architecture at the time.

(Above) 4-year-old Bargmann playing in the dirt. (Graves, 2006) (Below) Smithson continued to be a grounding character in Bargmann’s career. She recalls him saying, “art can operate in its most potent form by working with landscape processes.” (Hamilton & Bargmann, 2016) Photo (Smithson, 1969)

What Julie calls the “dirt dance”. (D.I.R.T.)

D.I.R.T. (Dump It Right There)

There are not two similar projects in Bargmann’s catalog of work. Even in the early days of D.I.R.T., every project was unique because every site was unique. In a time when designers wanted the ability to control and gain recognition for the newest, brightest, most beautiful park or plaza, how did Bargmann keep her cool and fight for what she believed in? A lot of it was similar to her peers - ego, but also her ability to process sites differently than other studios. Instead of wiping the site clean and starting from a blank canvas, she never allowed any material found on the site to leave the site. She claims that sometimes this meant that the client walked away, but she never backed down on this statement. In some cases, it meant keeping her strategies a secret so the client did not call her “the crazy liberal lady” (Bargmann, 2015) but in the end, the site still retained all of its dirt.

Many of the lessons she learned from Van Valkenburgh are easy to trace when listening to him speak about his practice and influences. In a talk at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 2015, he quotes Robert Smithson and talks about materiality like it is a religion. Bargmann’s keen sense of materiality and the ability to create landscapes that are more than just something to look at come straight from her time with Van Valkenburgh.

The Bargmann L.E.N.S. (Leave Everything, No Sacrifices)

There are three main tactics to explore about Bargmann that have earned her the title “Queen of Slag.” (Graves, 2006) The first is her hyper-focus on the site, the second is her stubbornness not to take anything off the site, and the third is her ability to add elements that catalyze regeneration rather than force it. The following case studies explore what the world looks like through the Bargman lens: site specificity, material magic, and catalyzing regeneration.

Case Study 1: A Toxic Orange Sludge

VINTONDALE RECLAMATION PARK

Vintondale, Pennsylvania

1995 – 1998

The Vintondale area had been devastated by acid mine drainage left by shut down coal companies. The toxic discharge created a severe water quality problem and destroyed entire watersheds. A historic preservationist, T. Allan Comp, saw potential in the land to remediate it and build public spaces for the community to enjoy. (Comp, 2016) In order to do this, he choreographed a team of artists, designers, scientists, historians, local communities, watershed groups, and state and federal agencies to bring his vision to life. Among those teams was D.I.R.T.

The project’s first phase focused on a forty-acre floodplain. A key artery in the area, Blacklick Creek, was being slammed with acid mine drainage at a rate of two hundred gallons per minute. (Reese, 2007) Cleansing the area was an essential step to creating a usable space. The strategy to clean the water included installing a series of ponds that would slowly filter the polluted water before it reached the creek. The ponds were lined with limestone that naturally pulled the iron out. As the water trickled down these limestone slabs, it would slowly become cleaner and cleaner until finally returning to the creek purified.

(Above) Site condition with orange toxic sludge. (D.I.R.T.)

(Below) Transformation of acid drainage from toxic to clean. (D.I.R.T.)

To complement the changing color of the water - from red/ orange to green/blue - trees were planted around the ponds to represent the changing hues. Specific native tree species were chosen to show off their autumn colors; black cherry and sweetgum at the top turn bright red, sugar maple, poplar, and hackberry in the middle, turning yellow and orange, and black willows at the bottom that are light green.

A large part of Bargmann’s work strives to unearth the mystery of site remediation. In this case, using the ponds to clean the water allows people to engage with the experience, and the trees complement that experience. It has led to other installations that honor the process in their own way. One example is a slab of slate at the base of the ponds where the clean water rolls into Blacklick Creek called The Clean Slate. Park visitors are invited to let the clean water wash over their feet as it finishes its journey.

In this case, Bargmann catalyzed the ability of the community to reclaim this space. Cleaning the water, adding a few footpaths alongside the ponds, and installing trees were all that was necessary for this space to thrive.

The Bargmann L.E.N.S.

Site Specific: The most site specific part of this project was Bargmann’s ability to see the beauty in the surrounding environment and create a space for people to enjoy it. In many articles about the project, the community is described as blind to the region’s natural beauty because of the ugly orange tainted ground and water. Bargmann knew that people would see the natural beauty by cleaning that ugliness.

Material Magic: Using gravity to clean the water, no additional mechanisms were added to treat the acid-ridden streams chemically. The dirt removed to build the ponds would have been reused to build up the walls of the ponds and allow for the added footpaths. The only materials brought in were local slate and native trees.

Catalyze Regeneration: The site was not over-designed. Bargmann laid the groundwork (literally) for the ecosystems to thrive, giving room for the community to appropriate the land for their needs. Art installations have been added today, and a bike path connects 46 miles of trails.

(Above) Bargmann’s diagram of the water treatment process. (D.I.R.T.) (Below) Colorful trees were added to complement the transformation process of the water. (Zufall, 2003)

Case Study 2: A Crippled Industrial Park

MASS MoCA

North Adams, Massachusetts 1997

Tucked away in the Berkshire Mountains, 16 acres of industrialized land formed a web of stories dating back to the early 1700s. European colonists created a hub for makers after displacing the Mohican people from their ancestral homeland. Around the 1800s, businesses included shoemakers, a brickyard, sawmill, carpenters, hat makers, wagon manufacturers, and ironsmiths. Many of the businesses were employed by the government to create supplies for the Union Army. In 1860, a printing company named O. Arnold & Company installed equipment for printing cloth and supplied fabric for the soldier’s uniforms. By 1905, Arnold Print Works was one of the leading textile producers globally and the largest employer in North Adams. With the looming effects of the Great Depression, though, Arnold Print Works had to leave its North Adams location in 1942 and work out of smaller factories in the neighboring towns.

A flexible outdoor plaza was created to allow for events like concerts or film screenings and everyday activities like picnics or reading. (D.I.R.T.)

Sprague Electric Company bought the property and reoutfitted the inside of all the buildings to create a mega electronics plant. The company was working for the U.S. government, building components used in World War II. It was not until 1985 that the plant finally closed, leaving a large hole in the community. A year later, the Mayor approached the Williams College Museum of Art to house large art installations in the buildings. In 1988, funds were secured to retrofit the industrial campus, and in 1995, final designs were submitted for the first of three phases of the project.

The team of architects that brought the site back to life was Bruner/Cott. Extensive remediation work was done to preserve the existing structures, remove hazardous materials, and adapt the spaces to connect. In the end, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) comprised 280,000 square feet of gallery space, performance venues, and commercial space and is still expanding and growing today.

There is little information recorded about Bargmann’s contribution to the project. Still, it is clear which aspects of the project are hers and her influence on retaining the site’s character. Her light touch is felt when walking around the large brick buildings. The most significant public space is a flexible event plaza at the center of the buildings that MASS MoCA can use for an outdoor theatre to screen movies, a concert, or just a place to picnic on a nice sunny day.

The Bargmann L.E.N.S.

Site Specific: The element that Bargmann highlights in MASS MoCA’s site are the imperfections. With almost 300 years of industrial use, the wear and tear in the bricks and pavings tell a story. In order to enhance that story, Bargmann simply created connections between plazas and cleansed the site of hazardous material to allow the public to appreciate the structure’s hard work.

Material Magic: Most of the material work rearranged the elements to open up the pathways for access and create the blank spaces for flexible programming. All the materials feel like they had been there before but were simply uncovered to reveal themselves.

Catalyze Regeneration: MASS MoCA has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. Today it stands as one of the most prominent contemporary art centers in the U.S.

This site seems to be a rare case of industrialization. Since the beginning, the site has retained productivity instead of sitting vacant for many years like most post-industrial sites. It would be interesting to know if this impacted the ability to maintain materials and be able to experience a lot of the history since the site had only just been abandoned. If people were able to anticipate the industrial site’s collapse, would it make the design process easier and more efficient since the pieces are still in working order? Or is it more interesting when the site sits for years as nature takes back over?

(Above) Bargmann’s diagram of the design layout. (D.I.R.T.) (Below) A photo I took in September 2021 of the grass growing through the grates on the floor of the plaza.

Case Study 3: From Ford to Forward

FORD RIVER ROUGE

Dearborn, Michigan

1999 - 2001

The beginnings of the Ford River Rouge plant started in 1915 when Henry Ford bought a 2,000-acre stretch along the river. Initially, he did not have a plan for the land and even imagined it to become a bird sanctuary at one point.

(The Henry Ford, 2022) When World War I began, Ford was hired to build boats for the U.S. Navy and began constructing the complex.

Charles Sheeler was hired to take photos of the Ford plant in the 1920s. He created a series of paintings from the photos that depicted “the factory as a paradigm of modern rationality and order”. (Sheeler, 1932)

In the 1990s, William Clay Ford Jr had a vision for a more ecological campus for the monstrous campus in Dearborn. Ford believed he could transform the industrial icon into a model for sustainability as the world headed into the 21st century. Instead of building from scratch, the intent was to revitalize the existing plant with new ecological systems. William McDonough led the master planning team to retrofit this transformation.

The design centered around developing the world’s largest green roof totaling 600,000 square feet. The green roof overshadowed the other efforts that Bargmann had led for the project. These elements included swales and retention ponds to regulate the water cycle, phytoremediation to extract chemicals from the water that goes into the Rouge River, porous paving to allow for water to reach the soil underneath, and more.

The Bargmann L.E.N.S.

Site Specific: The inspiration for the ecological system came from the industrial system. The new biological infrastructure complements the Ford plant - “manufacturing vehicles along with clean water, air and soil.” (D.I.R.T.. 2021) On D.I.R.T.’s website, Bargmann has drawings of the industrial systems alongside the ecological ones showing the influence and similarity

Material Magic: Instead of tearing everything down and starting from scratch, the design used the existing campus to create ambitious ecological systems. The National Trust for Historic Preservation protected many of the buildings because Albert Kahn designed them. Some of the structures were even considered artifacts because of their obsolete processes, such as the coke ovens.

Catalyze Regeneration: There is a clear concept about the campus’s past, present, and future. The team uses the past to inspire the present, to create the future. They used Ford’s philanthropic spirit to pilot many ecological systems that are now regarded as requirements in landscape projects - stormwater management, green roofs, etc. These systems proved to clean the water, provide habitats, and save the campus money because of natural energysaving capabilities such as the green roof cooling the building in the summer and retaining heat in the winter.

(Above) Photo of the regenerative landscape (D.I.R.T.)

(Below) A concept diagram incorporating the past, present, and future in a combined system. (D.I.R.T.)

Toss the Trends, Keep the D.I.R.T.

It is interesting that in each of these case studies, Bargmann stands in the shadows of the “famed” architects and designers. Even though early in her career, she had significant contributions to every one of them. She often talks about her ability to rub people the wrong way (Bargmann, 2021), but that cannot be grounds alone to leave someone out of being credited for the work they do. Are these male architects so wrapped up in gaining stardom that they do not mind leaving out the smaller players? Maybe so. Today, when introduced in talks, people credit Bargmann as being “modest”, but it is unclear whether she is given that title because she is modest or has been painted as modest because no one has credited her work. The term modest could also be a way to describe her style of landscape design. She is not the designer who will add flashy decorations and perfectly pruned plants to a space. She is going to use the site materials and not over-design.

However she is described, she is finally being recognized for the work she has contributed to the field of landscape architecture in a big way. The Cultural Landscape Foundation recently awarded Bargmann the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Award. The award is given to designers that are “exceptionally talented, creative, courageous, and visionary, with a significant body of built work that exemplifies the art of landscape architecture.”

(Stouhi, 2021)

Maybe modesty is the way forward. As “starchitects” focus on creating iconic spaces (Kingsland, 2018), designers that focus on collaboration could create spaces that have depth and catalyze change. If it were up to Julie, designers would develop a drive for restraint instead of a drive for recognition. By looking through the Bargmann lens, designers could use the imperfections of their sites to create unique experiences rather than trying to fix them by overprescribing design solutions. In Julie’s case, the design solution is digging and rearranging what is already there and giving it a pathway for growth. Going back to Tuner’s notion about breaking shackles, when approaching broken or forgotten sites, how might we allow the site’s history to inform the future rather than listening to trends of the present?

Julie Bargmann is named the first recipient of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Award in 2021. Photo: Barrett Doherty, The Cultural Landscape Foundation

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the bargmann L.E.N.S. leave everything, no sacrifices

ruby

zielinski

Turtle Creek Water Works Dallas, TX, USA (D.I.R.T.)