Date of Award

Spring 5-31-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)

Department

Landscape Architecture

First Advisor

Jacob Mitchell

Second Advisor

Andrea Johnson

Abstract

How is a place shaped by the geologies beneath it? In Saint Paul, Minnesota, the geologic ground tells the story of the different forces and processes that shaped it through time, but in the most recent geologic period of the anthropocene, industrialization and urban development have covered up these stories. On the edge of downtown, where the city meets the Mississippi River, an eighty foot concrete wall replaces the natural form of the bluff shaped by glacial and riverine activity. This thesis peels back the anthropogenic materials we encounter every day and explores Saint Paul through deep time– exploring how geologic processes and materiality are made apparent through landscape design, ultimately fostering a deeper connection to place. By building a visual understanding of layered time, careful site analysis, material experimentation, and site design, this thesis rebuilds a lost connection to ground, engaging viewers with the layered strata deep beneath the city and the erosive processes that occur on the surface while revealing the agency of the Mississippi River today. As landscape architecture continues to contribute to the formation of anthropogenic layers, this thesis argues for a design practice rooted in an understanding of deep time, materiality, and ongoing geologic processes.

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