T H E C O N T I N U U M
farming, stewardship, spirituality


GSAPP ADVANCED 4 STUDIO SPRING 2021

CRITIC             JEROME HAFERD
PARTNER        TAKASHI HONZAWA, DANIELLE NIR
SITE                 DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK
SOFTWARE    RHINO + ENSCAPE + AI + PS

The Continuum of Farming, Stewardship, and Spirituality is a sequence of multi-purpose spaces that exist along a 1.5-mile circular path connecting three farms, a monastery, and a community center in the Hudson Valley of New York. Acknowledging the breadth of programs that exist on-site, the project seeks to provide a platform on which the three programs of farming, stewardship, and spirituality can hybridize to bring about a spatial and institutional model that introduces new modes of practice between existing stakeholders. The programmatic hybridity is translated through a combined architectural language of wood, corten steel, and rammed earth along the sequence of spaces.

In the pre-1600s, the land was originally inhabited by the Native Mohican tribe where they lived as stewards of the land, honoring and respecting nature, also living in tandem with the different seasons harmoniously. However, the site was occupied by iron mining establishments in the late 1800s where the land was disrespected and destroyed. The invasive process of iron mining, from drilling into the earth, and then blasting it with explosives to dig huge pits causes significant damage to the vegetation, soil, and waterways, while also exposing humans to highly toxic pollutants.

After absorbing all the history, and understanding the current stakeholders of the site, we want to propose an intervention that will respect and connect with the indigenous ancestry through farming, act as stewards of the land by remediating the soil and waters, and create safe spaces for healing and spiritual connection for the stakeholders.

Our aim is to create a new hybridity of spaces to blend farming, stewardship, and spiritual practices, through a continuum of spaces that serve as a collective amenity to practice farming, soil and water remediation, and spirituality and consequently creating a living memorial of indigenous stewardship practices. Our proposal designates a circular band that unifies the multiple stakeholder sites, along which multipurpose structures are built for different activities while maintaining a constant sense of the surrounding environment.

1. Collective farming spaces - to cultivate
2. Soil and water remediation stewardship - to purify
3. Spiritual refuge - to reflect

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