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Ethan

@ethans.log

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landscape architecture @harvardgsd
also me: @ethan.m.o

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Sidewalk microtopographies of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Contours pulled from 3D photogrammetry reveal the subtle and dramatic ways that street trees, brick pavers, and granite curbs interact in the public right of way. by @ethans.log

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a month ago

Half-baked grading study for three-story apartment buildings on a south-facing slope. To encourage the growth of native chaparral shrubs (which are far less flammable than invasive grasses) the buildings act as retaining walls that create northern exposures where indigenous species are more likely to thrive, particularly as the climate in Southern California becomes drier, hotter, and more erratic. This reversal of slope through cut and fill also results in the formation of large basins where vernal pools emerge and riparian species can thrive, all the while slowing water down and collecting it in underground reservoirs for future deployment during fire emergencies. by @ethans.log

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2 months ago

tree density studies for a linear forest
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Each square room is 10,000 square feet in size, and has twice the number of trees as the preceding one; although the quantity of these trees adheres to this rigid numeric rule, their distribution is not fixed to any formal logic, and is instead completely random. by @ethans.log

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2 months ago

A cistern garden for the chaparral. On the north-facing slopes at the base of Southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains, native shrubland is disappearing due to increased fire frequency, stress from climate change, and urban development. In this hypothetical scenario, a cut-and-fill operation reverses the slope of the landscape, diversifying aspects of sun exposure. Large chaparral species — which have higher survival rates on north-facing slopes — are cultivated, while water is collected in an underground cistern for future use in irrigation or fire prevention. What emerges is a thicket-refuge where the twisting branches of chaparral species and the inverted topography create a space of enclosure and retreat: one that is cooler, wetter, and more obscure than the invasive grasslands that chip away at the beauty and biodiversity of these mountainfront landscapes. by @ethans.log

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2 months ago

Experimenting with urban form to create a series of linear thickets/ designed canyons/ mountain gateways at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Altadena. These speculative designs are a part of a thesis which critiques the solutionist approach of defensible space and managed retreat as answers to the threat posed by fire in communities adjacent to chaparral shrublands. Rather than clearing vegetation or banning people from rebuilding altogether, the project considers a process of “retreat in place,” wherein a community land trust acquires single-family parcels, piece by piece, offering residents ownership in denser, mid-rise housing in exchange. The reduced footprint of rooftop areas decreases the risk of urban conflagrations and opens up space for the reforestation of the chaparral, which is actively managed to reduce the landscape’s flammability.
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@gsd_mla @harvardgsd by @ethans.log

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2 months ago

Winter log: grandma’s front yard.
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It’s been about 3 years since I got rid of the lawn and started planting natives in my grandparents’ yard near Riverside, CA. The whole thing has been quite the experiment — not only in the sense of figuring out what will grow, but also in the process of maintenance when you’re 2500 miles away and can only check on the garden a few times a year.
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Some updates — 1. Many of the shrubs are more compact then they were about a year ago, thanks to an offer by a neighbor to prune them against my knowledge. It was a very kind gesture, but one which resulted in some comically spherical bushes. By the time I got there in December, they’d grown back a bit, but not enough to give the whole space the filled-in look I like. Not too concerned though: things grow back. — 2. Another neighbor, the one who shares the easement, decided to cover the gravel with mulch. I’m unsure of the logistical logic behind this move, but I actually think it looks better and am now wondering if I should blend the mulch and gravel at the front along the street in a similar process. — 3. Speaking of the front gravel strip, I finally had time to expand plantings into this barren patch during the break: a couple native rushes, a buckwheat, some sage. The goal is to have the whole yard — save the easement, the gravel path, and the concrete — dense with a thicket of vegetation. — 4. Although native species are my go-to, we had some asparagus fern, a bougainvillea, and a dwarf olive that were all in desperate need of planting. None have exhibited aggressive tendencies in this area before, so I found places for them in the garden. — 5. There is a prolific amount of poppy and bush sunflower seedlings popping up with the generous rains. — 6. I found some excavated rocks from a construction site, and decided to add them to the front to deter vehicles from encroaching from the street and to help with erosion. — 7. Transplanted sprouts, shoots, and divisions of the buckwheat, wild rose, and clustered field sedges to emptier patches of the yard. — 8. Planted 5 shrubs along the easement to better define the garden edge. — 9. Coppiced the bush sunflower shrubs by @ethans.log

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9 months ago

THE FOREST IN MOTION: Reimagining the Bocage as a Subversive Public Commons
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Half of the land in the canton of Geneva is locked in a state of quiet crisis. What was once a complex mosaic of small farms separated by thick hedgerows, silvopastoral landscapes, and coppiced forests is now an industrialized operation of monocultural production that tightly wraps around the city, and at moments, protrudes into it. Policy at the local and federal levels make rezoning these vast, treeless parcels – either for development or for reforestation – virtually impossible. This project proposes unlocking an agricultural corridor that connects a remnant forest on the edge of the canton with the urban lakefront through the planting of a 14 kilometer hedged path. Persuaded by tax incentives, adjacent property owners allow the hedgerow to envelope their parcels, which over time become frames for a linear system of unique woodlands: a new public commons that appeases zoning requirements through dynamic forms of productive agroforestry while supporting ecological health through the stitching-together of forests with diverse ages and structures. Although traditionally understood as a wall, a barrier, or a boundary, the hedgerow can also act as a conduit: as a corridor for the movement of people, and as a lifeline for the forest. As such, this proposal is not merely about bringing the forest into the city, but also about bringing the people of the city into the forest.
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Created for “After Data: Future Forests for Geneva” @gsd_mla @harvardgsd with special thanks to @hepiageneve @lagarajussy and my instructors: Anita Berrizbeitia, Eric Kramer, and Max Piana. by @ethans.log

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9 months ago

THE FOREST IN MOTION: Reimagining the Bocage as a Subversive Public Commons
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Half of the land in the canton of Geneva is locked in a state of quiet crisis. What was once a complex mosaic of small farms separated by thick hedgerows, silvopastoral landscapes, and coppiced forests is now an industrialized operation of monocultural production that tightly wraps around the city, and at moments, protrudes into it. Policy at the local and federal levels make rezoning these vast, treeless parcels – either for development or for reforestation – virtually impossible. This project proposes unlocking an agricultural corridor that connects a remnant forest on the edge of the canton with the urban lakefront through the planting of a 14 kilometer hedged path. Persuaded by tax incentives, adjacent property owners allow the hedgerow to envelope their parcels, which over time become frames for a linear system of unique woodlands: a new public commons that appeases zoning requirements through dynamic forms of productive agroforestry while supporting ecological health through the stitching-together of forests with diverse ages and structures. Although traditionally understood as a wall, a barrier, or a boundary, the hedgerow can also act as a conduit: as a corridor for the movement of people, and as a lifeline for the forest. As such, this proposal is not merely about bringing the forest into the city, but also about bringing the people of the city into the forest.
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Created for “After Data: Future Forests for Geneva” @gsd_mla @harvardgsd with special thanks to @hepiageneve @lagarajussy and my instructors: Anita Berrizbeitia, Eric Kramer, and Max Piana. by @ethans.log

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10 months ago

THE FOREST IN MOTION: Reimagining the Bocage as a Subversive Public Commons
—
Half of the land in the canton of Geneva is locked in a state of quiet crisis. What was once a complex mosaic of small farms separated by thick hedgerows, silvopastoral landscapes, and coppiced forests is now an industrialized operation of monocultural production that tightly wraps around the city, and at moments, protrudes into it. Policy at the local and federal levels make rezoning these vast, treeless parcels – either for development or for reforestation – virtually impossible. This project proposes unlocking an agricultural corridor that connects a remnant forest on the edge of the canton with the urban lakefront through the planting of a 14 kilometer hedged path. Persuaded by tax incentives, adjacent property owners allow the hedgerow to envelope their parcels, which over time become frames for a linear system of unique woodlands: a new public commons that appeases zoning requirements through dynamic forms of productive agroforestry while supporting ecological health through the stitching-together of forests with diverse ages and structures. Although traditionally understood as a wall, a barrier, or a boundary, the hedgerow can also act as a conduit: as a corridor for the movement of people, and as a lifeline for the forest. As such, this proposal is not merely about bringing the forest into the city, but also about bringing the people of the city into the forest.
—
Created for “After Data: Future Forests for Geneva” @gsd_mla @harvardgsd with special thanks to @hepiageneve @lagarajussy and my instructors: Anita Berrizbeitia, Eric Kramer, and Max Piana. by @ethans.log

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10 months ago

This spiral chronosequence illustrates the effect of decreasing fire intervals on the structure and composition of chaparral landscapes in Southern California. A vertical line demarcates crown fires that burn existing vegetation to the ground. With each turn of the spiral, the length of time between fires shortens. As this happens, obligate seeders (plants that rely on a seed bank for regeneration after fire) become increasingly outcompeted by invasive grassland species that can grow quickly in burn scars. These grasses, which are not adapted to the dryness of Californian summers, prove more flammable than native shrubs, creating a positive feedback loop of ever-shortening fire intervals that erodes the ability of the chaparral ecosystem to recover. The result is a descent from a mosaic of vegetation that is biodiverse and structurally complex towards monolithic carpets of plants such as black mustard (Brassica nigra) and common wild oat (Avena fatua).
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Unlike many native grasses, these introduced species possess shallow roots that make postfire hillsides even more susceptible to the mudslides and debris flows that are characteristic of the region. by @ethans.log

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a year ago

everyone say hello to my thesis site 👋 👋 👋 by @ethans.log

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a year ago

“There’s a garden in the desert — somewhere along that blurry boundary between Mojave and Sonoran, high desert and low. Drive two hours past Joshua Tree (in the former) or two hours past Indio (in the latter), and you won’t see much to enrapture your mind. Unless you’re an artist and your muse is Larrea tridentata, who moonlights as greasewood, or creosote bush, or chaparral, her perfume after a monsoon strong enough to summon spirits from the sand. But the greasewood, the palo verde, the occasional mesquite, barrel cactus, or prickly pear are not the performers that make up this garden I grew up with.
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Instead, it is mostly made of shoes.”
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Wrote about my favorite roadside attraction for an Essaying Architecture class I’m taking this semester and posted it on Substack (link in bio). Sometimes I really miss my wide open spaces. taken in Rice Shoe Tree & Fence by @ethans.log

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a year ago