BEFORE & AFTER

Core II - Ecology of Place

YSOA | Joeb Moore | MATERIAL UTOPIA | Spring 2021

Understanding the site as not bounded by the embankment, but as a continuous flow of water that originates from the Farmington River. The canal transitioned in history from the flow of water to combustion and the flow of the railroad system.

Tracing the flows, we find an intersection nod in which the railroad bridge crosses over the Farmington River in the city of Windsor. Historically, the Native Americans living on the site were migrators and hunter-gatherers; migrating to the site and using its resources on land and water until they are scarce. If we analyze this utopia in relation to the brief, it seems to be a linear or hierarchical utopia, with humans on the top. A rhetorical question that reflects this utopia would be which came first; The chicken or the egg.

“The Ecology of Place, Timothy Beatley and Kristy Manning describe a world in which land is consumed sparingly, cities and towns are vibrant and green, local economies thrive, and citizens work together to create places of eduring value.”
- Timothy Beatly and Kristen Manning

Map highlighting the intervention site as the crossing between Farmington River and the Farmington Railroad

Illustrations depicting the ecology of the site (Windsor), under the use of Native Americans

The Project proposes a chronological projection where the present is a dystopian condition in between a future that would have a nontranslational symmetry with the past. With respect to all these findings, this utopia becomes a circular or egalitarian society. Where animals, vegetation, geological specimen, and humans are interrelated. As a response to the previous rhetorical questions; The chicken is actually just an egg trying to make another egg.

Diagram illustrating the ecology of site in the past

Diagram illustrating the intersection of ecological systems as the proposed utopia

Previously, the site and its ecosystems were interacting and creating a balance. However, with the river Ecosystem being depleted from its wildlife, the interrelation is broken. This project argues that it is in between the intersections of the ecosystems that the utopia occurs. More specifically, starting with Oysters as an in-between node. The oysters feed off of the algae grass, which is food for plankton which are in turn eaten by salmon etc...Research has found that one of the main reasons for the absence of wildlife in the river, is because of nitrous oxide, a toxic gas to both fish and humans. In return, Oysters purify water from the gas and produce oxygen, which boosts river wildlife and humans. Here we start to understand the interrelation between the elements of the utopia and the ecosystem.