II - Scholarship

Figure 11. The memorial offers virtual access to
national parks by creating an immersive installation
in the L’Enfant Plaza Station of Metro, located close
to the monumental core of Washington, DC.
Figure 13. Full-scale, immersive video expands
access to the national park experience, raising
awareness and creating memories that outlast the
installation itself. Top: A controlled burn in Glacier
National Park. Middle: The migration of bison in
Yellowstone National Park. Below: A view
of Yosemite National Park.
national parks, allowing online visitors
to go on 360-degree virtual hikes in
Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. As
the lead federal agency for historic
preservation in the United States, the
NPS also employs high-definition
laser scanners to record the shape and
size of historically significant objects
and render them in virtual space.
While some of these platforms are
available in real-time and integrated
with environmental sensor data,
they are only available on personal
devices such as phones and laptops,
unable to communicate the experiential
and cultural scales of these
landscapes. Through American Wild,
the immersive environment of the
Metro station expands access to both
phenomenological experience and
ecological understanding of the parks,
creating memories that will outlast
the installation itself. In so doing, the
memorial reinvigorates the ways in
which the public interacts with the
cultural and biological diversity of the
American landscape as a new model
for digital preservation.
In the essay “Preservation Is
Overtaking Us,” Rem Koolhaas
comments that “maybe we can be
the first to actually experience the
moment that preservation is no longer
a retroactive activity but becomes
a prospective activity.”20 Cultural
landscape preservationist Robert
Melnick, on the other hand, argues
that in the face of climate change, the
Figure 12. Existing advertising screens and glass
elevator shafts feature signage for American
Wild, providing details on learning more about the
parks, opportunities for advocacy, and upcoming
legislation. For more specific information, Quick
Response (QR) codes in the displays offer links to
existing national park websites and phone-based
applications.
challenge may be protection rather
than preservation.21 American Wild
finds agency in the act of preservation,
not as reactive but as politically
proactive. Rather than preserving
future buildings, sites, or landscapes
as Koolhaas fears, American Wild
instead creates space for dialogue.
The sights and sounds of American
Wild offer a new sense of place within
the L’Enfant Plaza Station, providing
a range of experiences. At its most
simple, the memorial inspires a sense
of awe, a new memory, or a break
from routine. At its most ambitious,
it is a call to action: simultaneously
memorializing past and current
national parks while petitioning for
their future preservation.
The experience may bond
the memorial viewer to the park,
sparking interest and possible future
investment. The encounter may
inspire a visit to a national park
where one might learn about the
specific challenges that park faces.
A viewer then might draft a letter to
a local congresswoman describing
issues facing that park (Figure 13).
The memorial will be viewed by
thousands of people daily, fostering
new connections to a broad and
diverse audience. Many may have a
newfound commitment to ensuring
the parks’ existence for the next
100 years, an effort accompanied by
NPS’s #100moreyears social media
campaign. A vital aspect of this
future is the public’s commitment to
policy that supports national parks.
The memorial experience offers the
viewer a new appreciation for and
awareness of the American landscape
and its environmental narratives while
contributing to its digital preservation
(Figures 14 and 15).
Author Biographies
Forbes Lipschitz is an assistant
professor of landscape architecture
at the Austin E. Knowlton School
of Architecture at The Ohio State
University. As a faculty affiliate
for the Initiative in Food and
AgriCultural Transformation, her
current research investigates the
potential of design to improve the
social and ecological dynamics of
conventional working landscapes.
She has been awarded teaching
and research grants from the
Louisiana State University Office
of Research and Development,
the Coastal Sustainability Studio,
and the Graham Foundation for
Advanced Studies in Fine Arts.
Her professional experience in
landscape architecture has spanned
a range of public, private, and
infrastructural work, including
a multiyear installation at Les
Jardins de Metis.
Halina Steiner is an assistant
professor of landscape architecture
at the Austin E. Knowlton School
of Architecture at The Ohio State
University (OSU). Her current
research focuses on the visualization
of transboundary hydrologic
and infrastructure systems. Prior to
her appointment at OSU, Steiner
served as the design director for
DLANDstudio Architecture +
Landscape Architecture where she
was the project manager for master
planning, green infrastructure,
temporary installations, and public
design projects. This work included
Paths to Pier 42, a three-year
pop-up park to activate underused
waterfront space impacted by
Superstorm Sandy, Public Media
Commons, The QueensWay Plan,
and HOLD System.
302 American Wild
Lipschitz, Steiner, Doyle, and Holzman
JAE 72:2
303
Shelby Elizabeth Doyle | 85