Timothy Yiu
ARCH-4980.1 | Chris Perry, Assistant Professor
LOGISTICAL LANDSCAPES
Providing and Restoring Territories
TIMOTHY YIU
Situated along the Hudson River, the project investigates issues concerned with industrialization and regional decline. Where the degradation of the industrial period resulted in the accumulation of abandoned wastelands, polluted waterways, deforestation, along with more recent recessions leading to decreasing farmlands, there exist programs geared towards remediation and catalysts to revitalization. Plans include Hudson River dredging to remove PCBs, preservation and waterfront remediation by Scenic Hudson, and trends including the growing support for farmer’s markets and locally harvested food. As potential expands for the reclamation of undesirable or degraded spaces, this thesis aims to provide the framework to accelerate the process.
Deriving characteristics from postwar military aircraft, the project explores the logistical nature of diversified machines capable of adjusting to shifting demands and deploying themselves from location to location. Their ultimate purpose was to address issues of territory and is a key link between this thesis and the plans to revitalize the Hudson River. Not unlike the territorial battle to claim land in preparation for military advancement and occupation, the Hudson River faces a growing intiative to re-territorialize and reclaim its expanses for future use. The project’s intent is to face the Hudson River territory, deploy a series of logistical entities, reclaim as well as activate new spaces, and ultimately act as an economic stimulus to the communities.
Employing a mobilized and modular fleet of barges, the system functions as an artificial landscape providing economic, recreational, as well as environmental program. Able to restructure waterfronts and formulate new land, the units may reorganize and relocate responding to shifting demands and pressures. Driven under a company supplying the diverse inventory of mixed-use barges, the goal is to stimulate local activities and produce new locations for growth. As a means to restore degraded territories, LandUfacture products will be offered for sale or rental, carrying out operations to offset economic deficiencies and environmental decline.