Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

This thesis explores constructed water landscapes and the
attitudes creating them in the Salton Sea area, which is
located in the converge of the Mojave and the Sonoran
Deserts in southeast California. With the focus on water
constructions the thesis embraces the method of the
Deviant Transect, under development by the landscape
architect researchers Gini Lee and Lisa Diedrich, with
Ellen Braae. The method aims at enabling designers to
capture qualities that can only be perceived on site, such
as dynamics, relationships and atmospheres, in order to
support site-specific transformation of sites.
This thesis challenges Antropocentrism, inspired by
writings of Dirk Sijmons (2014) and Saskia Sassen (2014).
Amongst others, Carol J. Burns and Andrea Kahn’s (2005)
theories on site and site specificity, are studied, along
with literature on grass root movements and societal
change suggested by Grace Lee Boggs (2011) .
This work examines water constructions in the Salton
Sea area, acknowledging them in two ways: as land
colonization with themes such as water systems, industrial
scaled farming, and sub-urban settlements, and as oppositions
to conventional land use practices, with themes
of the desert as a garden, local food, and the culture of
mobile homes.
The resulting findings are the basis for a design proposal
that acknowledges what is already in place by introducing
a network of test sites. The aim is to use landscape
architectural skills in order to engage in a speculative
form of regional design, enabling visionary organizing
rather than providing finished blueprints.