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Matthew Story, RA

Matthew Story, RA

Detroit, MI, US

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Fourth Landscape


An extension of Gilles Clement’s Third Landscape through his pupil and internationally recognized landscape architect Christophe Ponceau, Fourth Landscape as practiced on Oaklnad Avenue in Detroit is such a perfect tellectural fit for the vacant land in the North End. Third/Fourth Landscapes positions vacant land not as a return to nature. but rather an emergent landscape as another layer upon neglected land. 

In Detroit, this means that the continguous stretches of non-buildings are not a return to a primordial prairie or some type of indivisible nature. They are instead an accumulation that can be designed and curated. Yet, what distinguishes Third/Fourth Landscape practices is the cultivation of emergence. The plant life that has found its way to the site has inherent value and can be facilitated, designed. It is, however, not precious, which distinguishes it from remedial “return to nature” discourse and hyperformalism.

Put simply, it is undeniable that what is there(in Detroit) is beautiful and by using design, a hybrid of emergent aesthetics and formal ones can turn an empty green space into a public one. Through mowing, trimming, weeding, and shaping passage down an overgrown alley, ONE Mile has transformed abandoned land into public space with minimal effort.

 
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Status: Built
Location: Detroit, MI, US
My Role: Designer
Additional Credits: Christophe Ponceau of Rue de Repos (Project Manager), AKOAKI, MODCaR