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.
Recommended Citation
Kahn, Chloe, "Revealing Watery Geologies: Softening the Mississippi River Bluffs in Saint Paul, Minnesota" (2025). Masters Theses. 1433.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1433
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Geology Commons, Geomorphology Commons, Landscape Architecture Commons, Sedimentology Commons, Stratigraphy Commons