[collage + architecture] monograph _ james corner chelsea palmer _ spring 2012

background_ James Corner was born in 1961, and would grow up to be a notable

landscape architect as well as an urban designer, theorist and professor. Corner received his BA from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1983, graduating with class honors. He then continued on to University of Pennsylvania where he completed his Masters of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design three years later in 1986. Shortly after graduating, Corner worked on projects such as the New Jersey Hudson River Waterfront Development, the Royal Docks in London, and helped with the design of the International Garden Festival Park in Liverpool, England. In 1988, Corner began his professorial debut at the University of

Pennsylvania, whence he graduated. He instructed courses on theory, media, as well as design studios within the department of Landscape Architecture. Nearly a decade later, Corner founded his internationally recognized firm, Field Operations, based in New York City and Philadelphia.

notable works_ James Corner is best known for his project on New York Citys elevated

(and abandoned) railway, the High Line. This project is a collaboration between Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The High Line is a prime example of Corners ability to reinterpret the landscape lifted above such a dense, urban fabric. In fact, Corner made landscape out of something that is quite the opposite of landscape itself : industry. By implementing this public park into the city, it has breathed life into and around the neighborhood of Chelsea. Another well known

project out of the Field Operations office is the monumentally scaled Freshkills Park in Staten Island, New York. This park is a projected 30-year restoration of the worlds largest landfill into a desirable landscape.

publications_ Much of this landscape design, its process specifically, can be tied to a

publication that Corner wrote in 1996, entitled, Taking Measures: Across the American Landscape in which a series of aerial photographs spawned a unique analysis of the ground condition. Corner analyzed the way in which we as humans measure the land, saying: [We start with] practical and utilitarian examples of measure (survey, allotment, spacing, precautionary steps, and rules) and we end with instances of measure that reflect the imaginative, symbolic, and intangible aspects of human existence. James corner used the photographs of Alex Maclean as the static basis

for his inspiration, and then expressed the temporality, the experience, the phenomena, and the human index within the map-drawings. This method of mapping something not typically seen in the cartographic realm is where Corners work and expertise lies. This exploration into the American landscape and its results can clearly be seen in the work of Field Operations, such as the High Line and other landscape designs.

map drawings_ Most of the map-drawings are paired with an aerial photo taken by

Maclean from which Corner draws his inspriation. He says the best photographs always entice and capture the imagination of the viewer (in this case, Corner

himself). From these enticing photos, Corner analyzed and explored the poetic narrative engraved into the land by mapping those ideas in layers, dissecting them in a way. For example, in the aerial image titled Football Field Edge Over Baseball Field, Corner did not map the topography or survey the land something thats already been done - but rather he mapped how humans inhabit those fields, human movement, occupation, and presence. In its map-drawing called Games, the description goes to say, Color-coded upon a surface are different lines of territory, possession, limit, and goal. When the rules change, so too must the game. This is a good example of how Corner translates a simple photograph into map then again into an analysis of something deeper, something smaller scale than the photographs themselves suggest. What makes these map-drawings more along the lines of collages, is the

element that is intangible. It is that one element in the photograph that we infer in our own minds, yet cannot actually see. For instance, we know that with a picture of a patchwork farmland, there is a farmer or farmers who groom and shape that landscape, however we cannot see the process in which this is done. It is just one snapshot of a moment. The map-drawing or collage, is what evokes that time and that way of doing something that simply cannot necessarily be explained in words or in a photograph. James Corner also takes it another step, not to stop at these collaged

map-drawings. It is very apparent that the visual quality of these specimens of work are present in our environment, as a tangible thing. A void in the landscape becomes a map of that landscape and the map eventually becomes landscape architecture. It is a process that can be confused with no other practitioner out there. The process of James Corners work is intertwined into his design, and can be mapped, just as he has mapped the far corners of our country.