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Designed Necessities

“…the signs of human presence are the only elements of the landscape that have any moral or aesthetic significance at all.”¹

Humans are responsible for the beauty, utility, and effects of the technology we use to create the industrial landscape. Infrastructure — the common sights of the built environment— forms the critical yet often reviled or overlooked elements of the urban ecosystem. These key elements include the methods, means, and structures that support the creation and transmission of power, the management and distribution of water, mechanisms of communication, and the myriad forms of transportation.

This exhibit uses original sketches, photographs, drawings, and books provided by the Environmental Design Archives and Environmental Design Library to illustrate the technical structures and facilities necessary for our society to function. As elements in the designed landscape, power sources, clean water, streets, roads, bridges, and various methods of transportation have all felt the hand of the architect and landscape architect. These elements of the industrial ecosystem provide the structural framework to respond to societal demand and the physical world.

[1] Hayes, Brian. Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape. New York, W.W. Norton, 2005