Destination Dam Removal: designing historical narratives into post-industrial landscapes
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Date
2021-06-13
Authors
Corl, Carolyn
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Abstract
In recent decades, dam removals on American rivers
have accelerated due to environmental concerns for
stream ecology coinciding with the obsolescence of dam
infrastructure built in the early 20th century. In some cases,
parts of a dam’s structure are left behind to minimize
riverbank disturbance or to appease community members
who oppose dam removal for its cultural significance.
Like other post-industrial landscapes, the traces and ruins
associated with dam infrastructure tell a story of the
site before, during and after the infrastructure severely
altered the landscape. At dam removal sites specifically,
acknowledging this narrative of landscape change and
recovery is a unique design opportunity that cannot be
addressed through restoration or preservation alone. But
through literature review and case study analyses, this
project builds a design framework for engaging with the
traces left behind by dam removal. By examining how
landscape architects have previously worked with other
types of post-industrial landscape remnants to elicit a site’s
narrative through design, a decision-making procedure
for proposing design interventions for historic remnants
and how to make them compatible with an overall
design concept was developed. The design intervention
framework is then exemplified through a proposed site
design at the former Savage Rapids Dam on the Rogue
River in Southern Oregon.
Description
125 pages. Committee chair: Mark Eischeid
Keywords
historic landscapes, cultural landscapes, cultural landscapes, Rogue River, Oregon, post-industrial landscapes