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<br /> shared Avis o rt. q y % c_
<br /> 1
<br /> nfrastructure is destiny for land- a
<br /> I
<br /> n i. , .
<br /> scape architects, says William f4t 4� lai -
<br /> . .
<br /> ,
<br /> Morrish, PASTA, "the key con- „� - f r
<br /> cept in redefining professional t , g r '' r i
<br /> rot,`;
<br /> design and practice." He believes his �; �" �`s`�� �, �, "�
<br /> view of infrastructure can change the iL F ' ,* *g �" .. . .'i 4*
<br /> ,; . 3, ,
<br /> prism through which we view land- II'.,, ' t ,s' ; �, 1s �'-`-
<br /> scape architecture and can create new # -
<br /> work opportunities. i U
<br /> Morrish, the Elwood R. Quesada ' r
<br /> t -
<br /> professor of architecture, landscape x.'f ,, r k ,�-
<br /> architecture,and urban and environ- ' t a T '" '
<br /> a -
<br /> mental planning at the University of i ti... ,�.,g
<br /> Virginia, honed his ideas about in- .` � ,,,a = '� -- .rr^ it
<br /> ,
<br /> ftastruaure as he designed some 29 a �� ,,' #tom -
<br /> demonstration projects and urban r `'z ar ', t °'
<br /> design studies while directing the a.t , � �
<br /> Design Center for American Urban 4 ` y '^ 47 "t
<br /> Landscape at the University of Min a t ' �h _�' ,,'
<br /> nesota's College of Architecture and ¢ ;w A
<br /> Landscape Architecture. He found ?, ' ek ..
<br /> ed the center in 1988 with his late �t , p t z',[ , t'r 4 x
<br /> wife, planner Catherine Brown, to „„,,....: __- ` v > '.
<br /> „=.2"."‘;„‘„;; s . = M
<br /> educate decision makers and the - � 4 ;r x,. � ��,w,a,,
<br /> public about design's economic and ,,.... p ” " "»,--
<br /> social value.
<br /> His view of infrastructure has lit- ."4111.
<br /> de in common with prevalent post - , $
<br /> war concepts,which are rooted in the '"""' -- Y .s.‘c;
<br /> ideas of Le Corbusier, who equated
<br /> infrastructure with unsightly,prefer _,.,.:,-.;---;--
<br /> I
<br /> ably hidden, gray-colored utilities
<br /> and, says Morrish, "edited it out of
<br /> his urban utopia," the Radiant City Expressing the Infrastructure
<br /> of 1933.The influential architect de-
<br /> picted foliage draped over messy For William Morrish, potentially beautiful infrastructure
<br /> electrical lines, water mains, power
<br /> plants, and the like, or drew them connects and gives form to landscapes.
<br /> below the picture frame. Morrish
<br /> says more contemporary U.S. urban BY ANDREA OPPENHEIMER DEAN
<br /> planners similarly"regard infrastruc-
<br /> ture as a utility to be placed out of sight and separated from the water-and sewage-treatment and disposal facilities—conceal-
<br /> landscapes that nurture us spiritually as well as economically." ment of infrastructure has become increasingly impractical,if not
<br /> Urban planners separated the utilitarian sphere,which supplied impossible. The concept of infrastructure as detritus has left us
<br /> services,from the natural sphere,where people lived,raised their with abundant ugliness.
<br /> children,shopped,and went to church. Look at it a different way,Morrish urges.
<br /> "The idea was that you could escape ugly ur Morrish, here in his office Rather than being visual trash,infrastructure"ties
<br /> ban infrastructure by moving away from it," at the University of Virgin- everything together. It is the visible underpinning
<br /> Morrish ventures.This separation helped create ia's College of Architec- of civic lite.It provides our quality of life,our abil-
<br /> sprawl, of course, and worked only as long as ture and Landscape ity to communicate and connect and be commu-
<br /> there was enough undeveloped land to buffer Architecture, sees work nity animals."For him,as for the noted historian
<br /> subdivisions.With the population explosion and opportunities for landscape of landscape John BrinckerhoffJackson,infra-
<br /> proliferation of infrastructure—highways,Gran- architects who view infra- structure and landscape are inseparable.Morrish
<br /> sit stations,water mains,pumping stations,and structure in a new light. cites Jackson's essay,"The Word Itself,"in which
<br /> Landscape A rchetecture 1 92 I 9000ST 2003
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