Re: Conceptual Projection

Michael Brian Light

A Thesis Study in The University of Idaho BLA Senior Studio, Spring 2009, Advisor: Professor Elizabeth Graff
 Contents

Case Study Recap v

Bibliography 27
Acknowledgements vi

Foreword vii

Introduction 1

Installation 5

Viewing Stage 5
Projection 8
Layout 8

Conceptualization 15

Art Movement 16
Sacredness of Silos 17
Artist Inspiration 18
Temporary Works 20
Cradle to Cradle 21

Event Result 23

Conclusion 25
 Case Study Recap

The Toronto Music Garden is centralized on the

importance of a meaningful concept in design. My goal was
to showcase a successful landscape designed project that
portrayed an underlying concept. Yo-Yo Ma had a desire to
turn a musical piece into a metaphorical garden. This was his
concept and this was his passion. I chose Yo-Yo’s brilliance
because it was a successfully built garden that displayed
distinctive elements seen in a landscape architecture project.
However, instead of celebrating the aesthetic beauty of the
final product, I focused more on conceptualization in landscape
architecture.
This case study broadened my perspective to diverse
corners of landscape architecture. I learned how the whole
process of a project is more important than the final product.
I discovered how expanding one’s mind to think from different
perceptions can lead to exciting ideas and designs. The music
garden is essentially about creating a concept and seeing it
through the finished project. This theory of conceptual art
and the importance of process lead me into the dialect for my
thesis.

v
 Acknowledgements

I would like to recognize my advisor, Elizabeth Graff, for her

passionate interest on Land Art in relation to Landscape
Architecture. Thank you for helping make this senior thesis
happen.
Thank you John and Miranda Anderson; property
owners of the thesis application site, and College of Art and
Architecture faculty members at the University of Idaho. This
would have been impossible without your enthusiasm and
positivity.
To Abigail Frank, my inspiration, and the best damn
creative assistant. To install a simple, temporary projection is
one thing. However, the complex process that goes into such a
work is a whole other story. Without you Abby, I would still be
lost in the endless ideas and research I come upon. We made it
happen. To me, it’s all thanks to you.

vi
 Foreword

Unlike usual standards, this book begins with revealing

the concept and final design. Traditional forms of senior theses
in landscape architecture celebrate the build up to a final
product. I however, am celebrating concept and process. This
book is laid out in a non habitual format. It begins with the
resulting product and works backwards. The purpose of this
layout is to provide the reader with different perception.

vii
 Introduction

Installation: a work of landscape art that is installed temporarily

to transform a specific site. In One Place After Another, Miwon
Kwon defines site-specific art as “incorporat[ing] the physical
conditions of a particular location as integral to the production,
presentation, and reception of art. (1)”
The process of my thesis began with a realization.
I saw the abandoned grain elevator structure on 6th and
Jackson in Moscow, Idaho, and was immediately drawn to its
massive beauty and locational identity. From there I explored
concept and idea. I applied knowledge from my case study and “project images that
alternative research and started brainstorming what I could do are conducive to re-
with this site. I soon discovered that there was a future plan thinking vernacular
for these abandoned silos. 48 hours from total demolition, elements of the
the silos were saved and currently have a prospective future. landscape”
An ownership committee looks ahead to renovate the grain
elevator into multi-use residential, retail and office space. The
next step of progression went to extensive research where
I found inspiration from various artist fields. I gathered an
abundance of information and began merging my ideas into
one meaningful concept.

My mission statement begins with the desire to make people

aware of their surroundings. The goal is to design and realize
a site-specific landscape art installation inspired by monolithic
structure, where the local and cultural icon that is the grain

Introduction 1

Right: visual illustration displaying the
projection size and overall scene for the
installation.
Below: visual illustration of the viewing stage
and surrounding area.
4
2 Introduction
elevator serves as an integral instrument.
It is important for me to maintain the theme of bringing it
back to the land. Thus, the concept of my thesis celebrates
‘re’— two alphabetical letters providing a different meaning
to the word which they precede. Specifically, the idea is to use
the Jackson St. grain elevator’s concrete surface as a three-
dimensional screen to project images that are conducive to
re-thinking vernacular elements of the landscape. Together,
the installation and the silos will function as a shared cultural
experience and will become something well beyond the
intention of their original purpose.
5
3
6
 Installation

For the first essential piece of my installation, I took to the

streets with a sign. About one month before the actual show,
I stood at the intersection of 6th and Jackson holding a sign
that read: WHAT DO THE SILOS MEAN TO YOU? The goal was
to challenge people to begin re-thinking about the native
landscape surrounding us. I was not protesting or surveying.
I was simply putting myself in the open public stimulating
people’s minds. This experiment helped with my design process
because I found exciting, real answers. I discovered that, to
some people, the silos mean something more than just grain
storage.
For my work, I wanted to involve the grain elevator as an
essential implement without physically working on it. Projecting
images on to the authentic concrete surface is how this is
achieved. As my installation was a one night only event, it is
important for me to immerse users into the raw, existing site
and experience it as is. After distinguishing the projection, I
needed to find a way for viewers to feel comfortable in the
existing, dirty site.

Viewing Stage

Part of my installation includes a viewing platform

made of crushed cardboard. Corrugated cardboard is the Above: images from sign holding day
perfect component because it was an everyday, readily

INSTALLATION 5
 Above: process of making the sign

6 INSTALLATION
available product that can be secured into the ground.
Cardboard was chosen because it can be found anywhere;
whether in dumpsters, recycle bins, or stacked behind shopping
centres. Compared to milk jugs, bottles, tin cans, plastic bags
and other recyclable or garbage material, cardboard can be
easily flattened into a comfortable surface. The important thing
is that I will reuse this product so that it maintains its original
form and quality. Although cardboard is the main material, I
envision people entering the site and reusing its current form
as way of finding comfort for my show. Some would transform
milk crates into easy seating. Others would see a stack of
plywood boxes as theatre seating. One or two or more would
Above: viewers on the cardboard stage
simply stand during the presentation—staring upward at the
Bottom Left: image projected onto the silo
monolithic structure. Maybe some people would be brave Bottom Right: awaiting dusk and testing the
enough to sit on the rough, dirty ground and re-think what this projection
landscape could become if reused. Or, as mentioned already,
cardboard found on site could be used to create a large rug for
viewers.

INSTALLATION 7

Above: schematic layout of viewing stage and
main circulation access points.
Below: site analysis plan displaying existing
conditions.
8 InSTALLATIon
Projection
A primary component of my concept is to challenge people’s
minds by projecting images of re-thinking the systems of
our land. The projected slideshow will be a collaborative of
numerous messages. Part of my work is visual appeal. I find
that images can reach people in ways words can’t. Thus, the
slideshow includes real life photographs; visual illustrations;
and clear words. The photographs display strong color. Clear,
visual appearance is very important when projecting onto
a rustic-concrete surface. Some photographs celebrate the
existing scene of the silos on 6th and Jackson. For these
specific pictures, we shot as much of the raw site as we could;
highlighting its existing beauty. Other images display a global
view of abandoned industrial structures. The visual illustrations
present my interpretation of words from McDonough’s and
Braungart’s Cradle to Cradle, which I will explore later in this
text. Briefly, the illustrations portray positive visions of what
our world could become.
Altogether, the projection will be supported by musical
background. The reason for including music is meant to provide
serenity, calmness, security and happiness.
Layout
The site layout of my installation is formed from my
desire to promote awareness. I mentioned the importance of
bringing users into the raw site. With that, I explored feasibility
studies; analyzing multiple areas and structure surfaces for my
installation. The performance takes place in the ‘front yard’ of
the site. This is the best feasible area because it is most visible
to bystanders and is the safest. parking is easily accessible and
pedestrian circulation will not concern any constraints. Overall,
the installation layout is simple, feasible and non-destructive to
the site.

The following pages are used to illustrate a sample

of pieces from the actual projection. The next chapter leaves
the final product dialect and discusses conceptualization— its
Below: circulation map illustrating all
importance and its process in this project.
possible access points into the site.

InSTALLATIon 9
what might the human-built word look
like if a cherry tree had produced it?
what if new buildings imitated trees?
providing nutrition, energy, and habitat.

what if we produced more energy than we consume?

 Conceptualization

The goal of this thesis study is to re-explore

conceptualization in landscape architecture. Essentially,
concept is the first step to creating one’s work and is the most
important aspect of one’s work. Landscape architecture uses
the term concept plan in replacement of what is appropriately
called a schematic plan. My argument against concept plan
is that it’s not a concept, it’s a schematic. The concept is the
artist’s main, strong statement. Formed by idea generation,
concept is the big idea—connecting directly to everything
done during a work’s process. Schematic is a plan representing
program elements such as layout and circulation. Although this
misinterpretation may appear as little importance, it can lead
to a great lack of strength in one’s work. The importance of
creating a clear idea is that concept gives meaning to things.
Instead of just giving the viewer something nice to look at,
concept fills that missing piece and strengthens one’s final
product.
Particularly in landscape architecture, conceptualization
is the founding phase for design development. As learned from
Julie Moir Messervy, the process of any project is integral to the
final product. All questions and decisions made during design
development must answer back to the one clear, visionary Above: preliminary sketch of a grand piano
inside a hallow grain silo.
concept.
This chapter explores my process of research. Included
are discussions on art movements, specific artists, sacred

ConCEpTUALIzATIon 15
 spaces, temporary works, and new beginnings—all part of my

“conceptualization is inspiration.

the founding phase for

design development.” Art Movement

The minimalistic art movements of the 1960’s and early 1970’s

Below: diagram of related art movements.
Exploring relationship to landscape
architectural conceptualization, design process,
materiality, and experience.
opened the floodgates to endless possibilities. Artists began
seeing beyond societal and political boundaries and produced
new movements. Through inspiration from these movements,
I came to the idea of interpreting the vernacular landscape via

16 ConCEpTUALIzATIon
installation. Within two decades, artists explored new forms
from extremely complex work to purely simple work. Beginning
with the urge to disconnect from abstract expressionism,
minimalism was the true foundation to the ensuing movements
of conceptual art, installation art, land art, and site-specific
art. Other influencing groups were Cubism, De-Stijl, and
environmental art. This brings the vision of grain elevators as
art rather than agricultural structures.

Sacredness of Silos

In Grain Elevators, Lisa Mahar-Keplinger poetically announces

that many silos appear as cathedrals. At the turn of the century,
European architects Erich Mendelsohn and Le Corbusier first
noticed grain silos as a form of art. Following this, American
artists and designers began studying beyond these industrial
objects and pointed out the connectedness of silos and
landscape. By the 1920’s, artists were influenced by Cubism
–drawn to breaking down objects into geometric shapes and
reassembling the object in an abstracted form. In 1931, Charles
Sheeler painted his Classic Landscape piece which celebrated
the togetherness of the grain elevator and its immediate
surrounding landscape. When the Great Depression hit in the
mid-1930’s, photographers hit the main stage. The icon of the
grain silo was then seen as a recording of social matter and
human struggle. In other words, the elevator at this time was
used to expose the lives of the people who used them. Jumping
ahead to the 1960’s, Aldo Rossi noted that grain elevators can
be seen as representing a way of life –collecting memories of
a certain place. By the mid 1970’s to the present day, grain

Top and Bottom Right: images of abandoned

silos from Becher & Bernd’s Grain Elevators.

conceptualization 17
 elevators have shown age and are most often considered as
signs of abandonment. Austrian artist, Walter Pichler, illustrates
in his drawing of re-using silos that they are sacred objects
portraying an intimate connection to Mother Nature and life’s
daily customs. Grain elevators symbolize cathedrals because
of their physical massiveness overlooking the surrounding
vernacular landscape. In a religious context, cathedrals act as
“many silos appear as places of gathering, and sacredness –symbolizing the relation
cathedrals.” to daily lifestyle and religious beliefs. Similarily, grain elevators
also act as places of gathering and sacredness –symbolizing the
relation to industry, landscape, and people. Keplinger states
that artists working with silos have successfully reminded us
“that the honesty and simplicity of these vernacular structures
continue to teach and to inspire (Keplinger, 8).” This teaching
and motivation relates to the Jackson St silos because people
were inspired to reuse the cultural structure as new home
while maintaining its sacred space.

As mentioned previously, my initial draw arose

from the ambition to make people more conscious of their
Below: Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Umbrellas surroundings. The best way to elaborate on this intuition is to
(2009, official website.) acknowledge artists who put the above awareness into their
work.

Artist Inspiration

“Impermanence is part of the beauty (Christo and

Jeanne-Claude Official Website, 2009).” Christo and Jeanne-
Claude express their work through large scaled temporary
outdoor installations. Their work is inspiring because it
displays powerful concept, process, and aesthetic beauty. The
art is minimal—completely wrapping existing structures or
landscapes with fabric to display a statement that nothing is

18 conceptualization
permanent. De-installation plays a major part of their work. The
goal is to leave the application site exactly how it was when the
artists began working on the site. In other words, restore and
return the land. From studying this couple’s work, I was inspired
to create a meaningful concept for my own use.

Maya Lin stresses the importance of responsiveness in

design. She makes clear that her work is about the people not
the politics. In the film A Strong Clear Vision, Lin hammers on
“de-installation [is to]
how the concept can never be altered or changed by someone
other than the artist. The concept is the strong clear vision of
return the land”
the artist and if it’s manipulated by others, indifference could
be the result. This is important when viewers perceive one’s
work. In Lin’s Vietnam Memorial design, there were many
arguments and controversies against her work. The design
did not appear as a tradition of the classic war monuments.
However, through thorough explanation of her concept, people
realized the meaning behind her design and acknowledged
it. Lin’s thoughts relate to my work because I discovered the

Left: park(ing) day (2009,

official website).

conceptualization 19
 importance of an artist’s sole idea seen through an entire
project. I was inspired to explore how simplicity can be
imperative with any project as long as it maintains a strong,
simple context.

Temporary Works

San Francisco is the center of a global public parks event titled

Above: The tobacco warehouse being reused for a
company social retreat (2009, Brooklyn Bridge
Park Conservancy).
PARK(ing) Day. This form of temporary landscape displays a
unique idea of converting metered parking stalls into green
spaces. The event inspired me because of its desire to be
creative and promote eco-friendly transportation by removing
vehicular parking spaces and replacing them with social
landscape gathering spaces. In general, users and viewers are
exposed to awareness of rethinking about public transportation
(PARK(ing) Day Official Website, 2009).

The waterfront of Brooklyn, New York, encompasses a historic

tobacco warehouse. Built in 1870 and saved from total
destruction in 1998, this unique open space is continuously
reused for purposes well beyond its original intent (2009,
Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy). The warehouse is
overlooked by the massive Brookyln Bridge and opens up to
Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park. This place brought forth ideas
and inspiration for one, its industrial abandonment; and two,
its new uses. The park holds outdoor movies projected onto a
“promote eco-friendly freestanding screen. The warehouse itself hosts art shows from
transportation” local galleries and artists. Altogether, this locational identity
brings users to a historic vernacular space that re-engages the
mind toward the existing human-built world.

20 conceptualization
Cradle to Cradle

William McDonough and Michael Braungart published
Cradle to Cradle with the strong concept of waste equals
food. The authors describe the current view of recycling as
more so downcycling—recycling products to an extent where
they continue losing their original quality and eventually end
up as waste anyways. The book also describes the concept
of eco-efficiency as only an efficient short term strategy and
not an effective long term strategy. Efficiency means using
less, wasting less, or more precisely, reduction. However, as
McDonough states, “reduction…does not halt depletion and
destruction¬—it only slows them down, allowing them to take
“waste equals food”
place in smaller increments over a longer period of time (54).”
Eco-effectiveness presents a fresh, exciting vision toward a new
future. When applying eco-effectiveness, people want to more
of it. The aim is to re-make our human-built world where waste,
emissions, and ecological footprint are nonexistent. In other
words, to re-design a system that wants more of something
good rather than less of something bad. Cradle to cradle
attempts to not only get away from the one way cradle to grave
model, but completely erase it.
McDonough and Braungart’s vision relates to my
concept because they are applying ‘re’. Previously, I discussed
some artists and works that stress awareness of surroundings,
strong concepts and re-engaging the mind. The cradle to cradle
theory is a more extreme approach to re-thinking in the context
that it challenges completely remaking things where waste
equals food.

conceptualization 21
 Event Result

As planned, the installation began with retrieving

material for the viewing stage. A quick trip to the local recycling
depot resulted in a truck full of large crushed cardboard. The
stage was built effectively with minimal damage to the site.
The show began and its conceptual imagery was amplified by a
collaboration of Pink Floyd and Moby song tracks. Viewers used “the installation as a
this experience as an opportunity to explore the monolithic whole was beautiful”
structure by viewing the projection from different angles.
Users also found comfort in the cardboard stage; realizing the
beauty of reusing materials. The installation as a whole was
beautiful. As people approached the silo itself, the projection
appeared as if it was actually wrapping around the structure.
Alternatively, as people stood further away from the structure,
the projection simply looked like a picture pasted on the
wall. The slideshow was clear in color and the rusty surface
remained visible. A meaningful component to this work was de- “the site was
installation. Myself and helping friends packed up the electrical returned”
and audio equipment; returned a plywood box (used for a
platform supporting the projector) to its abandoned corner on
site; returned a school desk (used for the amplifier and audio
equipment) to its useless state on site; removed the nails from
the ground and returned the cardboard to a recycling location
so it could be sooner used for something that would maintain
its high-quality. The installation closed with a speech and social
gathering, and the site was returned.

event result 23
 Conclusion

I began this book by sharing how my thesis started with a realization: I saw the abandoned grain elevator
structure on 6th and Jackson in Moscow, Idaho, and was immediately drawn to its massive beauty and locational
identity. From there I explored concept and idea. During my thesis study, I read a foreword by John Dixon Hunt
in Udo Weilacher’s Between Landscape Architecture and Land Art. Hunt describes landscape architecture as a
“conceptually barren field.” This phrase inspired me to prove otherwise. Creating a strong, clear concept is imperative
for landscape architects. Professional practice and specifically design-build-process in landscape architecture portrays
conceptualization on an everyday basis. The aim of this thesis as a whole is to break free from traditional landscape
architectural work where the final product is the main component. Precisely, I want to highlight and celebrate the
process of idea generation. By doing so, I created my own unique idea where users attending my installation engaged
their minds into re-thinking a human-built system that is conformable with nature. In order to advance into an eco-
effective world, the one human created must essentially be part of nature’s status quo. Albert Einstein stated that “the
world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that created the situation.”
I used the Jackson St. grain elevator as a three-dimensional screen to project images that are conducive to
re-thinking vernacular elements of the landscape. The installation was successful. Together, projection and the grain
elevator functioned as a shared cultural experience and became something well beyond the intention of their original
purpose.

conclusion 25
 Bibliography

Braungart, Michael and McDonough, William. Cradle to Cradle. North Point Press, New York, NY. 2002

Fineberg, Jonathan. Art Since 1940 Strategies of Being: Second Edition. Prentice Hall, N.J. 2000

Hester, Randolph T. Design for Ecological Democracy. The MIT Press. Cambridge, MA. 2006

Kwon, Miwon. One Place After Another. The MIT Press. Cambridge, MA. 2002

Mahar-Keplinger, Lisa. Grain Elevators. Princeton Architectural Press, New York, NY. 1993

Weilacher, Udo. Between Landscape Architecture and Land Art. Birkhauser, Basel, Switzerland. 1996

26 bibliography