The Salt Mountain Disturbance

DRAFT The former Pennsylvania railroad yard at 20th street in Columbus, Ohio is a landscape of ruderal meadows and woodlands. A stockpile of road salt anchors the western edge of the site, a landmark on the horizon of visible to motorists approaching Columbus from the east.
Saline runoff from the stockpile precipitates on the black asphalt at the toe of the slope in feathered gradients of color. New crystal gardens form as rainwater evaporates. The concentrated saline runoff flows into the city stormwater system through a ditch on the western edge of the site.
This sublime landscape, and its topographic Over a period of a few weeks in the fall of 2009, I created a series of drawings interpreting the site and surroundings. These observations of vegetation and finely detailed saline precipitation patterns led to a turn in my thinking about how a landscape architect might approach material surpluses site hazards: rather than efficiently divert the saline runoff from the storm sewer, I proposed re-grading the site into a series of subtle slopes to create saline precipitation gardens, visible at two speeds: site visitors on foot and passing motorists.

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