BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2014 Fall Fieldbook | Page 56

BSLA / TOOLBOX (rethinking) MATERIALS + TECHNOLOGY INTRO BY LIAT MARGOLIS I n their opening introduction to Rethinking Technology (2007), William Braham and Jonathan Hale discuss the shift in the meaning of technology in architecture from its long-standing association with the tools of design and construction techniques, to a matter of interconnected systems. Along the same lines, rethinking technology and landscape architecture in the “age of systems” means rethinking how ecosystems and environmental phenomena at regional scales are expressed at site and detail scales. The challenge is in reversing the design process, such that material properties and their assemblies are investigated for their potential to influence ecological systems and infrastructural networks. The case study examples that the BSLA team gathered here mark this shift. ( re th i n k i n g) t h e G rou n d p lan e Thanks to Stoss STOSS LANDSCAPE URBANISM project name. location. project name. location. 54 BSLA Safe Zone 7th International Gardens Festival Reford Gardens, Grand-Metis Quebec, Canada Sweeney Playground South Boston, Massachusetts