Thursday, December 4, 2008

Landscape Phenomenon: Autumn Leaves, Rain and Material

Oh yeah, And I'm BACK! I got a new computer. debt inducing... but nice!
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So, amazingly the same day I lost my laptop I was able to see some amazing sights with some help from the same autumn season and rain that had destroyed my beloved computer. This photo was taken at the Center for Regenerative Studies at school. A common phenomenon of the landscape is the falling of deciduous leaves (like the flowering of flowers). This phenomenon however was accentuated by the rain and the material that it fell upon. The cedar wood panels under the leaves are usually a paler grey then they were this day. This added contrast increased the beauty that I was luckily able to witness. These leaves are california grapes and the hues of the deciduous fallen leaves of this grape are beautiful paler colors that look great on the background of darkened wet cedar.

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Another phenomenon I witnessed at the center was the fallen deciduous leaves of a Jujube Tree (that's the asian date) laying on top of Urbanite (broken concrete) This Urbanite retaining wall would normally be a darker grey when wet but because the way the pieces are lain there are dry areas on the sides with Jujube leaves laying on the tops. The wet leaves add a glossy yellow brightness that normally wouldn't be seen without the rain.

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And another, I'm sure by now you can figure out what I'm trying to communicate. I hope you see something beautiful and I hope now you know why.

What makes this great is that these phenomena are created. Sure the leaves are going to fall naturally, BUT, would they fall on these particular materials providing the level of contrast and mixture of colors that make them so vibrant? The materials which these leaves fall on was chosen by someone. Was it intentional that these particular leaves would fall on these particular materials on a particular day after a night of rain? Maybe, maybe not. But for Landscape Architects I think these kinds of phenomena are just one of the many but important things that we strive for. How to create phenomena? How to enhance existing phenomena in the built environment? Not just with leaves, but with angles of the sun in the sky, cloudy days, bright blue skies, the existence of Wildlife, The other day I say a flock of hundreds of birds flying in one pack and then splitting into two and converging again, it was amazing and it looked like mercury droplets converging and separating in slow motion. These things all happen in the landscape.

How can we harness these phenomena?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Danm good pictures andy my grape vine is going threw the same trip but hey your camera takes great pictures but its the eye of the holder of the camera which counts.keep up the good work and it was cool to meet you at the Bunnie Gunner see yea.one more thing were going to meet at dba sunday just to shoot the bull.