This thesis explores relationships between the National Mall and the quarries that supported its construction. It focuses on the Washington Monument and its source of material, the Cockeysville Quarry, Maryland. By studying the movement of stone, the thesis begins to understand both sites as landscapes in process. It then examines the sites histories including land forms, immigrated laborers and railways changes associated with quarrying and construction.
It happens that Ian McHarg also studied both sites fifty years ago in Design with Nature. Mcharg's analysis overlooks the potential of the industrial quarry to recharge the Marble Valley aquifer and does not account for the projected sea level rise on the National Mall. It is necessary to examine the two sites again. McHarg's ecological principles and methods are still the basic evaluation criteria for the examination (especially his understanding of landscapes as process.) The design project of this thesis uses shifting hydrologies at both sites to drive new uses,earthwork, urban forest (tree canopies), and axial relationships, inspired by the materials, forms, and historical links between the two landscapes. By looking at the landscapes as a pair, the design recalls the past connections between the sites and constructs new relationships ideologically and physically. / MLA / It is common for there to be a separation between quarries and the buildings and landscape we create from their materials. People rarely realize the materials are the records and links of the history, culture, society and ecology of the paired landscape between construction and material producer. This thesis starts from investigating the origin of building stones used for the memorials on the National Mall. Tracing stone sources links the National Mall landscape and the quarries that supported its construction. It focuses on the Washington Monument and its source of material, the Cockeysville Quarry, Maryland. The thesis examines the geographic, hydrological and physiographic information of the landscape between the National Mall and the Cockeysville Quarry based on ecological methods, especially the understanding of both sites as landscapes in process. It also studies the sites’ histories including landforms, immigrated laborers, and railways changes associated with quarrying and construction. The thesis design project explores the question of how the relationships can be reflected and applied in the intervention of the two landscapes. Within the framework generated by the relationship study, water issues have been identified as the main common problem. Protecting the Marble Valley aquifer and dealing with the thread of the sea level rise on the National Mall is the major consideration. The main strategy of design is to use the anticipated hydrologies to drive the new uses, earthwork, urban forest (tree canopies) at both sites. The second strategy of design is to use history, form and material relationships to inspire new connections between the sites ideologically and physically.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/87709 |
| Date | 15 February 2019 |
| Creators | Zhou, Xiaolan |
| Contributors | Landscape Architecture, Heavers, Nathan, Kelsch, Paul J., Carmichael, Dennis |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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