Drawing Common Ground

DR AWING COMMON GROUND

Issue 01

SA FEGUA RD

Volume I Spring 2020

DRAWING COMMON GROUND is a biannual journal intended to ignite curiosity and wonder, to explore connections, and spark conversation. Our purpose is to test methods of creating that expand discussion of drawing within landscape architecture and generate common ground in stories spanning the everyday and the beyond. Most importantly, we ask you to continue to share and add to the narrative, to expand the conversation, and develop more methods of interaction and interpretation. Through this we seek a greater connection to drawing, creating, land, and people.

“If, like me, you are craving a shared meal, a shared project, a shared sense of purpose (if only for a day), then please join me at a grand lasagna dinner. Let us enter a new kind of space together- a digital oneand turn it into a dining room.�

Samin Nosrat

TOP ROW: My paternal grandpa John Shea; my maternal grandpa with his 11 siblings; my maternal great grandparents at the farm MIDDLE ROW: My maternal grandparents at their high school prom; cousin Mckenna at hockey practice; Duane Otto at the SRMSC BOTTOM ROW: Cousin Alexa at hockey practice; my maternal grandpa Norbert Schneider, Mom and grandpa looking at photos

Issue 1 presents the culmination of stories of life and land from a Cold War missile base in North Dakota. This first issue proposes 5 tools that may be incorporated into landscape architecture study and practice. These tools seek to explore landscapes and share narratives through new experimental forms of making and drawing. First, we discuss why these investigatory tools and others like them are necessary and how these techniques succeed in their mission. Following this introduction, we share a series of stories that explain what happened when we allowed a process of questioning and open ended investigation to lead.

ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

Contents P.1 Letter from the editor. A manifesto on drawing in the field of landscape architecture. “Representation should be both speculative and demonstrative straddling worlds of symbolism and construction�

-James Corner

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1

3-4

3-4

5-6

5-6

19

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P.3 Narrative and Interpretation Toolkit.

A short introduction to our storytelling tools and their value. How do we use them and what can we learn from them.

P.9 Issue 01 Site The Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex. Nekoma, North Dakota. A primer on where the site is, what exactly it is, and why it exists.

P.19 Safeguard Stories.

5 stories from Langdon, Nekoma, and the Safeguard Complex.

The stories span from family genealogy to military base swing dancing and vegetable garden chores. Each story leads to one of our 5 making tools and a possible site interpretation.

CONTENTS

P.21 “A Collection of Collections” The Cabinet of Curiosities and the Artifact Gardens

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25

P.29 “The Safeguard Stompers” The Diorama and the Diorama Demonstration Gardens P.37“Potatopia” The Zine and the Safeguard Residency Program.

31

39

38

55

P.45 “Volunteer Tour Guides” The Myriorama and the myriad of ways to explore the Safeguard Complex. The Grounds guide P.55 “Discovery of the Great Prairie Pyramid” The Comic and Alternative Pyramids: Future Discovery

P.71 A final look at our tools and a few of our ideas for using them 71

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ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

“Experimental drawings raise questions, through a making propelled by doubt, by unknowing.

They tolerate divergence, wherein lies new knowledge.�

Catherin Dee To Draw

Landscape architecture representationanalog or digital drawing and rendering, has the power to shutdown or spark conversation and to restrict or swell imagination. Visual communication and storytelling are at the core of our identity as landscape architects.

Sustainable planning requires prioritizing empathetic conversation and playful and optimistic engagement with intimidating issues.

However, drawing in landscape architecture is often regarded as a neutral act, confined to prescribed techniques and repetitive methods. A lack of rich discussion and exploration of drawing limits our ability to engage people and place. The current problem we are facing with representation does not stem from a lack of tools, but their all to often thoughtless implementation.

Landscape architects have a world of artistic practice, computer software, and traditional drawing

tools to turn to for inspiration. We must reimagine traditional drawing strategies, we must combine and experiment with the tools we have to make a more successful model of representation.

More imaginative drawing and better design comes from a collective of voices. We must investigate, experiment, and imagine, we must remain curious and ask questions, we must exercise imagination and welcome disturbance and uncertainty. Most importantly we must share our investigations, experiments, and results with others. Issue 01 is made of a collection of five stories and five methods of interpretation. The journal invites you to tear out the instructional and activity pages, to collect stories and follow questions important to you, and add your own techniques to the collective set. We seek to build a collection of experiments, an inventory of techniques, and a larger table for conversation.

1

LET TER FROM THE EDITOR

1

Narrative + Interpretation Tool kit

Cabinet of Curiosities "Sometimes you have to write, you have to make a film, write a poem, paint, perform, teach...

The more limited your tools of communication, the more limited your capacity to devise new worlds. " Adrienne Maree Brown

deem issue 1

Also known in German as a Wunderkammer. A notable collection of objects, a precursor to the museum.

A container of the celebrated and forgotten, the odd and everyday.

2

Diorama A tool used to reconstruct and realistically stage events, most often a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model. A window into a specific moment of time, a glass showcase, a convincing illusion or a staged vision.

4

Myriorama From the Latin root meaning 10,000.

A set of illustrated cards that you can arrange and re-arrange to form different pictures in which the horizon line always lines up. A landscape kaleidoscope, panorama, endless landscape

3

Zine A zine is a small-circulation selfpublished work of text and images.

Easily made, easy access and distribution. A platform of expression for niche, risquĂŠ, or underground ideas outside of the mainstream.

5

Comic A medium used to express narratives or other ideas through images, usually combined with text. Comics generally take the form of a sequence of panels of images and use speech balloons and captions.

SRM Safeguard Co Russia The Soviet Union

The North Pole

Far north close to target

Far from centers of population

Safe from coastal attack Safeguard Complex

Original safeguard deployment plan

History of The Safeguard Complex Construction began in 1970, after just one year of partial operation and a few days of complete operation the system was shut down in 1976 p.7

Key Points on the Site Tour

The pyramid, the missile field, the 46 Sprint & Spartan residential area and community center, missiles the power plant, and security buildings on site p.13 46 Sprint and Spar

omplex

Built in 1970 at the height of the Cold War, The Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex was an anti-ballistic missile system located in Cavalier County ND

*If ND were a sovereign country it would have been the 3rd most powerful in the world during the cold war

Neighboring Town Langdon, ND Langdon was born in 1884 as the Great Northern Railroad pushed west. Today some 1,200 residents call Langdon home. p.15

tan missiles on site

250 Acres of land in the heart of farming country

46

Sprint & Spartan

On base housing units

Gro und s Gu ide

Diorama demon s t rat ion garden s

Chapel

To L an g don 13 m i

A

Chapel

B

Gy m n a s i u m

C

Community c e n te r

D

R e s i d e n ti a l a re a

E

The P y ra m i d

F

Po n d s

Pot at opia R es iden c y I n s t allat ion s

Community center 50 Years 50 Objec t s A r t ifac t G arden

To Nekoma 1min. away

F alt er n at ive pyramids in s t allat ion

D

E

C

A

Security checkpoint

B

P u blic E n t ran c e Vis it or C en t er To N e ko ma .5mi

Tac t ic al Zon e Loop

To Langdon, 10min. away

Site boundary 430 acres

Missile field

Radar pyramid

Coolant ponds

ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

1950 The beginning of The Cold War. Research and development for the Safeguard Program begins as a response to advancements of Germany and The Soviet Union.

1969

The Safeguard Program is devised by the US government. The plan calls for twelve Safeguard Complexes, which include a radar pyramid and remote missile fields, spread across the country. Construction begins in Montana and North Dakota, however, the ND site is the only location out of the twelve that will come to fruition due to protest and fears of escalating tension.

1975 After merely a few days of being completely operational The Safeguard Program is shut down. 1,00 jobs immediately vanish, forever damaging the economic and social fabric of the greater area. The site was stripped for anything valuable and left in a state of disrepair to slowly crumble.

1960 The Minuteman missile is the precursor to the Safeguard Complex. Throughout The Cold War these missiles were spread throughout the Great Plains, over 1,000 in total.

1970

“The 60 foot missiles were planted amid acres of wheat and barley, concealed beneath amber waves of grain.”

Sharon Coren In Farm Belt, Seeds U.S. Sowed are Being ReapedMissile Silos The Washington Post

2000

In 2002 The Safeguard Complex was added to the list of “excess government property”. The 240 acre site was put up for auction and purchased by a Hutterite colony. The JDA later purchased the 197 acre tactical area in 2017.

Present Construction begins on the Safeguard Complex. The site includes housing for military families, a community center, gymnasium, baseball field, and bowling alley.

Neighboring town Langdon enjoys economic boom, new residents, and infrastructure updates.

9

The Langdon Job Development Authority is currently working on a land use proposal for the Safeguard Complex.

Ultimately, their goal is to lease the pyramid and surrounding buildings out to a large company to use for data storage. The plan also includes interpretation and a site history exhibit.

Highway 1 leads out of town, past fields and wind farms to the Safeguard Complex

The radar pyramid. Each of the four faces is marked with a 12’ diameter radar facing one of four possible targets.

One of two earthen berms on site. Nuclear warheads were armed and stored her before being placed in the missile field

1980

1884 As land in Wisconsin and Iowa filled, farmers moved west and north into the Dakotas. The first train on the Great Northern Railway arrived in Langdon in 1884.

The town was named for Robert Bruce Langdon, a politician and railroad executive.

1970 As construction on the Safeguard Complex began, life in Langdon boomed.

Road improvements, natural gas, and 1,200 new residents promised economic and social prosperity.

1900

Present

One of the most prolific events in Langdon’s history is the tornado of 1909. Dubbed the Vulcan, the tornado killed 9 and injured 30 people.

Stories of the tornado and the wreckage it left behind fill local town journals.

1925 As farming boomed in the area, Langdon became known as the Durum capital of the world.

The NDSU agricultural center was established in the early 1900s. The center supported local farmers, investigating pest control methods and more resilient strains of grain.

Remaining economic momentum from the Safeguard days pulled Langdon through the farm crisis of the 1980s. Farmland value dropped by up to 60% in parts of the mid-west.

Exports fell, grain stockpiles rose, and farm dept for land and equipment soared.

Today, the population of Langdon sits at around 1,200 people. Many residents believe the town population is set to rise as the local wind industry behind to bring people to North Dakota and encourages the next generation to stay.

Life quickly changed when the Safeguard Program was shutdown. Families packed up and left, businesses closed, and property fell into disrepair.

17

The Safeguard Complex is not a bizarre artifact here, it is not anxiety inducing or mysterious.

For people in Langdon it is simply part of their town, something they pass while driving on the highway and even an opportunity for future prosperity.

Safeguard Stories

A Collection of Collections

Interviews with a economic development leader, a retired army officer and a devoted caretaker p.36

The Safeguard Stompers

For most, the idea of a nuclear missile base invokes fear. But for some, it brings pleasant memories of baseball and square dancing. p.36

Potat

Pronounced Po

A story about diggi a method for contin of investigating p.36

topia

o-tay-topia

ing potatoes and nuing a program g and sharing.

6

5 stories and 5 methods of experimental making.

The narratives and interpretation highlight the importance of sharing, of building a collective understanding, and recognizing multiplicities.

Volunteer Tour Guides

The myriad of ways to see, understand, and experience a landscape. p.36

Stories were gathered from site visits, letters, and conversations with family and new friends.

The Great Prairie Pyramid

An adventure underground into the pyramid and visions of future exploration. p.36

ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

Story 1, Cabinet of Curiosities

A Collec tion of Collec tions

21

SAFEGUARD STORIES

Carol Goodman served as the executive director of the Cavalier County Job Development Authority for over 10 years. Her office, housed in the Cavalier County Courthouse, could serve as a museum to the Safeguard Complex on its own. A pile of original technical drawings nearly a foot high sits in the corner. A long brass rectangle with six keys in their keyholes sits on top of a table. The keys, which when all turned initiated launch of a nuclear warhead, were salvaged from the pyramid when it was stripped for parts in 1975. One keyhole is empty, it seems its original protector was not ready to let go.

A COLLECTION OF COLLECTIONS

“ We can understand the museum as a ‘container’ of the celebrated and the forgotten, the odd and the everyday, representative of the dreams and aspirations of the person, culture, or nation that assembled it.”

National Graphic Bio on Richard Barnes

Later that day I visit with another member of the Job Development Authority, Clinton Escklisen. The moment we sit down his devotion to the Safeguard Complex becomes clear. Clint pulls a large binder off of a shelf in the living room, it is the project history of research and development of anti-ballistic missiles at Bell Laboratories. Upstairs, there are boxes of photo slides from the site taken

by Pan America- the company contracted for logistics and documentation. With these photos, Clint has created an hour long documentary of the Safeguard Program that covers everything from development of the missiles, construction of the site, and the closing of its doors. He has written multiple essays and information packets on the Safeguard Complex. Before I go, he offers to scan and send me photos of Langdon and the site also from Pan America.

Clint is enthusiastic to share, distinctly generous and warm. As an active board member of the Job Development Authority, Clint works to revive the site and commemorate

its sophisticated program. However, he is doubtful there will be any official interpretive center or change on site in his lifetime.

Across town, I hear more stories from Duane Otto. Duane frequently visits the site and often runs into tourists hoping to take a closer look. On one particular occasion, Duane recalls talking with a man who drove a few hours from Grand Forks to see the pyramid. The man says he is in North Dakota for a concert at the Alerus center and couldn’t help but check out the abandoned missile base. Duane kindly offers the man a tour and at the end the band mate offers him tickets to his show. Duane and his wife drive down to Grand Forks the next and find themselves sharing food from a backstage buffet with Metallica. Duane’s wife shows us a photo of him behind drums and we all share a laugh and surprise at the coincidence.

The landscape is rich with artifacts, stories, and memories; it is a cabinet of curiosities in its own right.

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TOP: What once was the community center including a cafeteria and gymnasium on base at the Safeguard Complex.

BOTTOM ROW: A Sprint and Spartan missile set up for display; a man monitors mechanical equipment in the pyramid; a device that tells the status of the missiles and allows officers to engage attack

The making method...

Cabinet of Curiosities What is it Also known in German as a Wunderkammer.

A notable collection of objects, a precursor to the museum. A container of the celebrated and forgotten, the odd and everyday.

How can I make one First, select your container or what will hold your selected artifacts...

Suggestions:

an unused shelf

a dresser drawer

your backyard

a table

What is it used for To showcase objects, express curiosities of the curator, establish and uphold societal rank

When was it first used 16th century

Next, collect your curiosities.

There are no rules!

By who Monarchs and merchants

Finally, arrange your curiosities in the container. Try a few themes, sort by color, size, specimen type, or date acquired

Possible LA applications Build an inventory of site stories and artifacts, engage communities in collecting and sharing the identity of place

Now it’s your turn...

Start brainstorming your desired container and curiosities here!

50 Years 50 Objects Artifact Garden

a missile silo is re contextualized above ground

Artifacts are embedded the path and landscape Path connects site and allows visitors to view artifact from new perspective

d in e

Landform provides new experience of object

Landform as pedestal for object

ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

Story 2, The Diorama

The Safeguard Stompers and other visions of the past

29

SAFEGUARD STORIES

Clinton and his wife Joyce live about a minute south of the Safeguard Complex. Clint served in the military for 32 years. His service has taken him to Fort Bliss Texas where he was a Safeguard System Instructor at the Central Training facility. He was assigned to the Missile Site Radar (Safeguard Complex) and Perimeter Acquisition Radar site better known as the Cavalier Air Force Station (still operational today) to assist in evaluation of system performance. At the end missile base’s life, Clint walked out the gates with Colonel Green.

As we (Clint, Joyce, my grandpa, and me) sit and chat at the kitchen table, Clint describes the shutdown and stripping of the missile base as “gut wrenching” and “unconscionable”. The base closed down, the doors were welded shut and that was it, there was no transition, no effort to re-imagine the site, no time to preserve or commemorate what had been created here. His goal is to defend the Safeguard Complex as a historical site. To little surprise, his collection of memorabilia and stories are safeguarding the history of the site on their own.

LEFT: An experimental diorama made for this project. The diorama includes pictures of the Safeguard Site and life in Langdon TOP RIGHT: A man checks the readiness of a missile in the silo; An officer recording notes at the Safeguard Complex BOTTOM ROW: A Sprint missile in its silo; A control center located in the pyramid, An on duty military officer oversees his post

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THE SAFEGUARD STOMPERS

“ The diorama stages human knowl­e dge of the world, not without influ­e ncing and perpet­u­a lly chal­l enging the viewer’s percep­t ion.”

SCHIRN MAG

Reality or Illusion: The SCHIRN presents a major exhibition dedicated to the idea of staged vision.

As I sit at Clint and Joyce’s dining room table, listening to the pair share stories of life on the missing base I come to understand the intensely convoluted identity of this place.

The Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex (SRMSC) operated as a town within a town. There were a total of 430 army personnel on site and 250 family units that lined the paved streets. Clint and Joyce agree that the officer’s club was very nice.

The basketball and baseball teams, bowling lanes, tennis courts, shops, and recreation center envied those of Langdon and attracted neighbors from Nekoma. There was even a square dance club, Safeguard Stompers, that Joyce fondly remembers. Hundreds of cars lined the streets of Nekoma and heavy traffic plagued the highway into Langdon during the workday. The missile base village, Nekoma, and Lagndon boomed and new traditions and social life emerged.

When congress voted to dismantle the site in April of 1976, the loss was much greater than purely economic. Friends packed up and sadly said goodbye to the great plains and family friends. Clint was sent on another

assignment and left the program his career had focused on to be disassembled.

His grief for the closing of the base echoes the tone of stories I hear from my mom and grandparents. My mother was in middle school as the site was under construction, her class remains the largest in Langdon history.

It was an exciting time with new friends, wonderful families, cultural infusion, road improvements, business growth, and wishful thinking of longterm prosperity.

These visions of the Safeguard Complex are foreign to me, but the diorama becomes a medium through which to explore these perceptions. The power of a diorama lies in its ability to embrace the viewer into a staged vision of an alternate reality. The diorama allows me and others to see through a lens unlike our own. I am able to explore the Safeguard Complex as a once bustling hub of scientific and social advancement, a terrific fear-inspiring reminder of the dangers of escalating tension, or a blank canvas for future experiment. By participating in building a diorama we are able to immerse ourselves in another’s world, the past, and the future.

The making method...

Diorama What is it

How can I make one

A tool used to reconstruct and realistically stage events, most often a three-dimensional fullsize or miniature model.

A window into a specific moment of time, a glass showcase, a convincing illusion or a staged vision.

What is it used for Primarily used for education and interpretation of natural history and ecology.

Cut out the shapes and characters you want in your diorama

Make sure you have a range of foreground, middle ground, and background pieces

When was it first used 1822

By who Louis Daguerre

Arrange pieces by foreground, middle ground and background layers.

Construct depth!

Possible LA applications A tool to consider lenses of viewing- how diverse groups of people see, understand, and construct a landscape. A means to compile multiple stories into one “showcase”

Finally, find a frame or shoe box.

Glue pieces in place according to layer and watch your scene come to life!

Now it’s your turn...

Browse your favorite natural history museum websites for inspiration before you get started and think about what kind of story you want to tell and how you’d like to frame it.

Existing garage door frames landscape as an object or showcase

Planters serve as test plots for new species and techniques

Visitors push objects in and out of the frame to create their own staged vision of the past or future

Diorama Demonstration Gardens

Planters and diorama pieces are built on wheels

ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

Story 3, The Zine

Potatopia Pronounced Po-tay-topia

37

SAFEGUARD STORIES

Loam is the official soil of North Dakota. I dug potatoes with Grandma in the garden for the first time this August.

Bare toes and hands deep in the rich black earth. The next day Grandpa and I drive by the Safeguard Complexa defunct anti-ballistic missile base.

A leftover of The Cold War 13 miles south of town. I wonder how many of Grandma’s potatoes it would take to fill the radar pyramid. 450 miles down the interstate at home we’re out for dinner again. I think about how much better my side of potatoes would be if they were dug from the loam of Grandma’s garden.

POTATOPIA

The act of making a zine generates a physical product and a participatory process for recording information, sharing stories, and generating both knowledge and community.

As we drive around the Safeguard Complex in Grandpa’s truck, Duane Otto (self-appointed caretaker and volunteer tour guide) explains what plans the Cavalier County Job Development Authority have in mind for the site. Duane notes that the group hopes to renovate the pyramid for use as a data storage facility.

My mom, however, does not hear “data” from the backseat, but “potato” and laughs at the prospect of a 110,000 square foot pyramid filled with potatoes. Looking at the enormous, out-of-this-world looking prairie pyramid, it’s hard to get the image of potato storage out of my head, and with that, potatopia is born.

A few weeks later I present Potatopia at a critique in the print making department. I pass out the zine with zero explanation and wait to hear reactions before giving any information away.

My peers emphasize the joy they found in being able to relate to a strange place and story they knew nothing about through the vehicle of a very well known thing, a potato.

Each person in the class was able to speak to their own favorite memories, recipes, and varieties of potatoes. The zine was an accessible and playful way into another world, another landscape.

The act of making a zine proposes both a physical product and process for recording information, sharing stories, and generating knowledge and community. This process inspires a program at the Safeguard Complex that can continue these quests for greater investigation and distribution of results. The Safeguard Residency will allow artists, scientists, and community members to “dig potatoes”, to get their hands dirty on site, to uncover more histories and visualize more futures.

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The making method...

Zine What is it A zine is a smallcirculation self-published work of text and imaged.

Easily made, easy access and distribution. A platform of expression for niche, risqué, or underground ideas outside of the mainstream.

How can I make one The following diagrams demonstrate how to fold a one page zine from a sheet of 8.5 x 11” paper.

what is it used for A platform for expression, a format to distribute ideas about issues such as feminism, politics, and art.

When was it first used 1930s

By who Science fiction enthusiasts

Possible LA applications A quick, easily made tool to assemble, condense and share narratives. A format able to engage a wider range of people outside of LA to connect with issues and stories.

Now it’s your turn...

Try your hand at folding a one page zine and storyboard a few narrative ideas. Your zine can include drawing, writing, or a combination of both. It may be an instruction manual, site investigation journal, or design guide, anything you can dream up!

Residents participate in experiments- digging, pilling, planting, and marking. Results are recorded and shared as stories

Safeguard Residency Program

Introduced planting grow and take over the once missile field

A grain silo marks the place of a Spartan Missile silo above ground

ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

Story 4, The Myriorama

Volunteer Tour Guides

On what citizens of Langdon consider a “not so bad” winter day (around -3 degrees Fahrenheit), my grandpa, mother, and I drive about five minutes across town to Duane Otto’s house. We pick up Duane in my grandpa’s just washed Ford pickup and head fifteen minutes straight south of town.

As we cruise by semi trucks hauling grain into Langdon, Duane and my grandpa recall the road improvement projects, rush hour traffic scenes, and snow storm ditch pile ups common while the Safeguard complex was operational.

45

SAFEGUARD STORIES

“ The myriorama can be described as a kind of landscape kaleidoscope. The horizon lines match at the two edges of each ‘card’ so that they can now be laid in any order. The variations are almost infinite”

As we turn off the highway to slowly drive around the perimeter of the complex, Duane’s intimate knowledge of the site becomes increasingly clear. He explains the current split in ownership of the site between the JDA and a Hutterite group from South Dakota and describes the function of each building we pass. Duane continues to share facets of the site's history and present state as we leisurely drive the perimeter. We pull up to the gate and Duane attempts to shovel and push back the entrance fence, but the wind and ice prevail and we retreat to the pickup.

Duane invites us into his home and we sit around the kitchen table with his wife to hear more stories and parse through a pile of photos form the inside of the Safeguard complex buildings. For Duane, and many others, the Safeguard Complex is both a historical artifact that deserves preservation and an economic opportunity prime for reinvestment and rehabilitation.

For others in town, the site is merely a museum. The landscape is in need of nothing

but interpretation and exhibition. For my middle school aged cousin and her friends the land is perfect for biking and four wheeling.

My aunt prefers to imagine the site as anything that will bring more families to town and my grandma envisions a series of public gardens and walking trails.

One point becomes overwhelmingly clear, there are a myriad of ways to understand this place, and endless opportunities to engage with it both now and in the its future.

The myriorama deck suggests this, no matter what order or pattern the cards are placed in, a complete landscape emerges- it is open to my vision just as much as any other.

The myriorama offers itself as a tool for public engagement and imagination activation. However, it also suggests that the present and future of the landscape must include multiplicity, an adventure path for all. The myriorama inspires a site guide that leaves the site open for exploration, recreation, learning, and creating demonstrating the almost infinite possibilities for interaction.

The making method...

Myriorama What is it

How can I make one

From the Latin root meaning 10,000. A set of illustrated cards that you can arrange and re-arrange to form different pictures in which the horizon line always lines up. A landscape kaleidoscope, panorama, endless

what is it used for

First, draw a series of lines across cards. These will be your horizon lines where each layer of your cards will line up

Originally used to entertain children as a game.

When was it first used 1802

Next, sketch a scene on each card making sure to follow your guide lines. Making each card unique will make your deck more exciting

By who Robert Baker

Add color!

Possible LA applications A tool to speculate landscape futures, to quickly iterate additions, subtractions, and alterations to a landscape.

To imagine a myriad of programs and ways to experience a site

Swap! and see new landscapes unfold

Now it’s your turn...

Making a myriorama can be tricky, look up examples online to help you get started and understand how the horizon lines connect.

ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

49

VOLUNTEER TOUR GUIDES

51

G ro u n d s Guide

Diorama demon stration garden s

To La ng d o n 13 mi

A

Ch ape l

B

Gymn as i um

C

Com m un i t y c ent e r

D

R es i d en t i a l area

E

The P yram i d

F

Ponds

Potatopia Residen cy I nstallations

50 Years 50 O bjects A r tifact Garden

F altern ative pyramids in stallation

D

E

C

A B

Pu blic Entran ce Visitor Cen ter To N e ko ma .5mi

53

Tactical Zon e Loop

St a r t he r e .

1

Is this yo u r first time visiting the Sa fe ga u rd Complex ?

6

L o o kin g t o g et yo ur h a n d s d ir t y?

No p e ! J u s t t o p ro m p t 8 S u re ! L o o k t o p ro m p t 7

Ye s! C o nt inue to prompt 2 No p e . Skip t o prompt 3

7

S t o p by t he D io ra m a D em o n s t ra t io n Ga rd en s , exp er im en t w it h m o v in g t he d io ra m a p iec es J u m p t o p ro m p t 9

2

We l come !

Ma ke yo ur fi rst s top the A r tif act Garde n an d le a rn a b o ut t he his tor y of the S af e gu ard C o mp lex

3

C he ck i n with the residency program lo ca te d at the missile field

8

Se e wha t ’s new an d happe n in g no w!The n re a d on to prompt 4

4

In the mo o d to ex plore the past or fu tu re ?

The p a s t . Ju mp to prompt 5 The fut ure . J ump to prompt 6

5

Exp lo ri n g the past. . .

Ha ve n ’t che c ke d ou t the 50 Ye ars 50 O b je ct s in t he ar tif act garde n ? Go n ow !

Did t ha t ? Jump on the diorama walk an d ima g in e life he re in the 1970s

I m a g in e a lt er n a t ive fut ures a t t he F ut ure C o llec t io n s in s t a lla t io n J u m p t o p ro m p t 9

9

B efo re yo u g o exp er im en t w it h t he myr io ra m a d ec k. E xp lo re a la n d s c a p e ka leid es c o p e!

ISSUE 01 SAFEGUARD

Story 5, The Comic

The Great Prairie P yramid

55

SAFEGUARD STORIES

We drive down a concrete ramp to a large garage door and look up to the pyramid looming 90’ over our heads.

With a few pulls the door is up and overhead. A hallway extends before us, large enough for a semi-truck to easily maneuver. Flashlights lead the way down dark corridors and into cavernous rooms wrapped in wires and rusted iron.

I step cautiously and dart the flashlight beam from wall to wall excited by what it might find. I wonder what someone might find here within the nuclear hardened pyramid walls in another 100 years. The sun is minutes from dipping below the horizon as we step aboveground into the glowing snow.

THE GREAT PRAIRIE PYRAMID

ABOVE: Pushing the garage door to the pyramid open FACING: Walking out of the light into the dark tunnel

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THE GREAT PRAIRIE PYRAMID

“Probing is a mode of exploration that informs but does not limit. It is a creative process that involves asking and enacting questions.”

-Karen Lutsky and Sean Burkholder Curious Methods

Our adventures into the pyramid remind me of a cartoon from childhood, we gasp in awe, walk slowly behind the beam of the flashlight, and always feel as if we are on the verge of discovery.

A comic book story captures the excitement, suspense, sights, and sounds of a journey. The comic format allows the storyteller to choose the moment, the frame, the image, the words, and flow. These principles encourage us to consider how an explorer (or just an average site visitor) might feel moving along a boardwalk path or pushing through a dense tangle of plants. The comic gives us a medium with which to explore the future, to ask “what if” and play out potential scenes and decisions.

The comic that follows in the next pages responds to the question, what if someone were to explore this place in another 100 years? What would they find here, what would be their reaction to the pyramid and surrounding landscape? The moments, frames, and images float from the real into the beyond to explore and imagine a possible future.

The story in the comic or the frames themselves may translate quite literally to a proposal. Or, the imaginative ideas that come from their creation, ideas of discovery, adventure, and awe in this case, may lead to other stories, moments, and images. As this story continues, we use part of the current use of the site as farm land to imagine alternative pyramids.

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The making method...

Comic What is it

How can I make one

A medium used to express narratives or other ideas through images, usually combined with text.

Comics generally take the form of a sequence of panels of images and use speech balloons and captions.

what is it used for

First, think of a story idea

Next, practice writing the plot. Pull out key points, actions, and characters

To tell stories and share perspectives.

When was it first used 1837

By who Women like Rose O’neil who used cartoons as a platform to champion women’s rights.

Storyboard your idea, sketch out frames until you find the right format.

Fill frames with drawings.

Add text!

Possible LA applications To imagine fantastical landscape stories, to engage a wider audience and more easily communicate with stakeholders. To construct and share narratives.

Color in your drawings or go over them with pen if desired and you’re done!

Now it’s your turn...

Start by looking at a few of your favorite comics for inspiration. How do the artists tell their stories? Notice the pacing of the story, the frame organization, order of the action, and text.

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“Freeing oneself, to make drawings with no conditions on legitimate subject matter, helps the imagined to migrate towards the actual, and vice versa. The ‘what if?’dimension of landscape architecture is too often subdued in formulaic illustrations in which subject matter and content are predetermined.”

-Catherine Dee To Draw

ALTERNATIVE

A LT ERNAT IVE PY PYRAMIDS

Tending of the garden continues embracing new crops, weather patterns, and purpose

Alternative Pyramids

Common specimen from town gardens fill the pyramid

Soil overtakes structure Insulating and reforming the landscape

Produce storage, seed saving, and a living museum

Safeguard Stories

5 stories and 5 methods of experimental making.

The narratives and interpretation highlight the importance of sharing, of building a collective understanding, and recognizing multiplicities.

Stories were gathered from site visits, letters, and conversations with family and new friends.

Now it’s your turn...

1

Cabinet of Curiosities First, Consider your objects. What artifacts are considered worthy of preservation?

Next, the container. How does it recontextualize the artifacts and their stories. Remember, a container offers comparison, scale, and context.

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Comic Dive into the “what if� of landscape. A comic considers frame, pacing, image, moment, and text, consider each of these a design element as you make a comic based on an imaginary future.

2

Diorama First, identify what lens you view the question or site at hand with. Consider what lens is dominant in the story and construct dioramas to see others.

The diorama immerses us in another world

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3

Zine Create a zine based on site investigation, research, or imaginative site futures. Distribute the zine to stakeholders and the community to include a wider range of perspectives in conversation. Use the zine as a process format- to find and share information.

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4

Myriorama Create a series of cards that include existing landscape features and possible proposed elements. Use cards for public engagement and design iteration.

8

Cut along dotted lines

Thank you.