EDRA45 - Environmental Design Research Association
Paper Presentation
THE RURAL POST-INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT AS SITE OF AESTHETIC ENGAGEMENT AND TRANSFORMATION
EDRA45 NEW ORLEANS
5/30/14 - THE FUNCTION OF AESTHETIC EXPERIENCES IN ADAPTATION
Chair – Kristina Hill
Kevin S. Lair
In very powerful ways, we are shrouded and entrapped within the paradigms that we accept – and this acceptance is often an unconscious act. Reigning cultural paradigms can be passed from generation to generation, and if they aren’t challenged they are simply accepted as truth. To change one’s paradigm is perhaps the most difficult of challenges, because it often means turning one’s world inside out
Tom Wessel
The opening quote by Tom Wessel outlines the scope of the challenge we face if we are to attempt to bring about transformative change for our most pressing environmental concerns. The challenge begins with the difficulty of recognizing the paradigms we use which may be cocooned in our unconscious and relied upon without reflection. Design is critical to enabling change: it helps us to reflect upon the tools and methods we use to ascribe meaning and value to the world. Therefore, as designers we must be versed in multiple ways of knowing the world and be capable of synthesizing knowledge from art, science and culture into creative work and further acts of discovery. I will describe a process of creative inquiry and aesthetic interpretation that is intended to expose entrenched paradigms and address concerns for rural culture and ecology. The work presented in this paper is an exploration of the creative potential in the post-industrial rural environment. One of the creative explorations in development is a program of controlled or prescribed burns in which the fire is used to promote biodiversity. Fire is essential to the ecosystem renewal in Midwest rural ecology and used in pre-settlement and early settlement farming practices but has been mostly eliminated by industrial agricultural methods during the early part of the past century. Through a deeper appreciation of the role of fire in natural systems a restorative, community-based prescribed burn program may foster cultural vibrancy, ecological awareness and environmental health.
THE RURAL POST-INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT AS SITE OF AESTHETIC ENGAGEMENT AND TRANSFORMATION
EDRA45 NEW ORLEANS
5/30/14 - THE FUNCTION OF AESTHETIC EXPERIENCES IN ADAPTATION
Chair – Kristina Hill
Kevin S. Lair
In very powerful ways, we are shrouded and entrapped within the paradigms that we accept – and this acceptance is often an unconscious act. Reigning cultural paradigms can be passed from generation to generation, and if they aren’t challenged they are simply accepted as truth. To change one’s paradigm is perhaps the most difficult of challenges, because it often means turning one’s world inside out
Tom Wessel
The opening quote by Tom Wessel outlines the scope of the challenge we face if we are to attempt to bring about transformative change for our most pressing environmental concerns. The challenge begins with the difficulty of recognizing the paradigms we use which may be cocooned in our unconscious and relied upon without reflection. Design is critical to enabling change: it helps us to reflect upon the tools and methods we use to ascribe meaning and value to the world. Therefore, as designers we must be versed in multiple ways of knowing the world and be capable of synthesizing knowledge from art, science and culture into creative work and further acts of discovery. I will describe a process of creative inquiry and aesthetic interpretation that is intended to expose entrenched paradigms and address concerns for rural culture and ecology. The work presented in this paper is an exploration of the creative potential in the post-industrial rural environment. One of the creative explorations in development is a program of controlled or prescribed burns in which the fire is used to promote biodiversity. Fire is essential to the ecosystem renewal in Midwest rural ecology and used in pre-settlement and early settlement farming practices but has been mostly eliminated by industrial agricultural methods during the early part of the past century. Through a deeper appreciation of the role of fire in natural systems a restorative, community-based prescribed burn program may foster cultural vibrancy, ecological awareness and environmental health.
Conference tour (unofficial)
EDRA45 was held in New Orleans. I was afforded two tours of the city including one by Tulane Professor, Byron Muoton (also a WAS artist from 1996) . There is amazing work going on New Orleans and the projects executed by the UrbanBUILD program are inspirational to say the least. UrbanBUILD was selected by the Make it Right Foundation to build one of the new homes in the lower 9th ward. I have considerable experience in community based projects and efforts to create design build projects in architecture programs. These are no easy tasks and what Tulane has accomplished with the UrbanBUILD program is highly commendable. Some images from my tour of New Orleans during EDRA45:
EDRA45 was held in New Orleans. I was afforded two tours of the city including one by Tulane Professor, Byron Muoton (also a WAS artist from 1996) . There is amazing work going on New Orleans and the projects executed by the UrbanBUILD program are inspirational to say the least. UrbanBUILD was selected by the Make it Right Foundation to build one of the new homes in the lower 9th ward. I have considerable experience in community based projects and efforts to create design build projects in architecture programs. These are no easy tasks and what Tulane has accomplished with the UrbanBUILD program is highly commendable. Some images from my tour of New Orleans during EDRA45:
