We will look at collapsing time along this geologic feature, the Detroit River, to find patterns of political,
economic, geologic, environmental and cultural shifts. The first goal of the semester will be to produce a field
guide to living beyond the here & now, re-telling the story of the river. This will be an exercise in exploring time
and space and we will start by asking many questions:
Can we re-orient our viewpoints and shift the colonizer narrative to the periphery?
Can we establish an alternative set of social relations along this international waterway? We are in the age of the Anthropocene.
How does this awareness effect our relationship to the planet? And for architecture to the site?
How do we as practitioners adapt to investigating at larger time scales?
The second goal will be to put forth design proposals. Experimenting with representations of time, time scale,
language, history, and land use, students will conceptualize alternative futures for a specific point in space
and time along the waterway; To establish an alternate perspective for creating spaces of radical cultural
practice; To project, “imaginations from present land use back into geologic time and forward into speculative
geo- and bio-futures” as a form of design remediation.” Thinking in terms of not just what has come before us, but how our ideas and actions change the trajectory of what is next.
