Engaging The Post-Industrial Frontier: Revealing the Inherent Nature of the Manufactured Landscape Through the Processes of its Reclamation

Abstract

This thesis investigates the nature of horror and fascination experienced when confronted with manufactured landscapes. The inherent qualities found at these radically manipulated and altered places are often comparable to those found in the “natural” landscapes - places that we are drawn to and seek to preserve. This proposal aims to challenge our negative perception of manufactured landscapes and offers a new approach for how we may engage with, and better understand these hauntingly beautiful and often restricted places. This study focuses on large scale abandoned mining operations found throughout the American West. The proposal will reuse current and decommissioned infrastructure to support environmental clean-up efforts and promote new programmatic uses to renew public awareness of these manufactured sites, provide interactive experiences, and grow a new economic basis for these current wastescapes.