The Contemporary Role of Post-Industrial Ruins in the Midwest - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Design

Mingo Junction steel mill’s relationship to downtown. Photo by Uwe Niggemeier.

The architectural landscape must have continuity. “The understanding and interpretation of a landscape are linked to the preservation of its material landmarks, the irreplaceable artifacts of memory” (Bergeron 238). If sites are treated as palimpsests rich with layers of history and information, the landscape is more legible as a continuity of time and memory.

Every drawing was created with the idea of the palimpsest in mind- using layers of historic maps and photographs helped to identify layers of existing, subtraction, recollection, and addition which must take place in order to create the design. Thus, layers of time are not only preserved but are used as part of the design method.

Ultimately, the design became about the intersections of the different layers of time on the site. Where do they meet? How do they meet? Are they differentiated through materiality, orientation, joints between them, or all of the above? I wanted to preserve some of the ambiguity inherent in ruinous landscapes, so when I had to stop the design phase and begin documentation, I knew that ultimately, the design would go towards exploring these intersections. An initial exploration of this idea can be seen in the isometric drawings presented in this chapter.

Preservation Strategy: Layers of Time