Case, Trace, Displace: Dialogue Between River and City

3 units

This seminar will explore methods of sensing, recording, interpreting, translating, and visualizing environment data with particular emphasis on experience at the human scale. The focus topic will be on the relationship between river and city. In the first phase of the seminar, students will begin by researching precedent projects, technologies, and techniques for sensing and gathering data from the environment. These may include, but are not limited to, GIS techniques, DIY devices, and processing methods. A combination of analog/digital and traditional/innovative explorations is encouraged. In the second phase, students will develop a strategy to record, interpret and translate environment data for the purpose of analyzing relationships between the landscape and human experience. In the final stage, students will test their ideas and develop a method to express these relationships through prototypes that can be deployed into the landscape. The course will consist of lecture/discussion sessions, field research, and working sessions. Students will be expected to conduct and document research based on the information presented in class, to create theoretical proposals, develop simulations and visual documentation, and craft prototypes inspired by a site at the St. Louis riverfront.