ARCH 293
Design Studio
About
SPRING 2022
2B Design Studio
Teaching Team:
Lola Sheppard
Jane Hutton
Tracey Winton
Scott Sorli
Sonia Ramundi
Di Tang
The site for the studio’s investigation was the Escarpment of the City of Hamilton, which runs through the entire city and bifurcates it dramatically into an upper and lower town. In many ways, the Escarpment defines the city physically, forming a green dividing “wall.” TThe Escarpment is part of the larger Niagara Escarpment which runs 1050 km. Within Hamilton the Escarpment is approximately 11 km long and represents a 100m elevation difference within the city.
While the Escarpment forms a critical green space in the city, activated by well used trails, stairs, look outs, and abutted by parks both in the lower town and in the upper town, it also acts as a divider of the city, amplified by adjacent rail line and high speed roads which bifurcate it. Moving from the lower town to the upper and back only happens at sporadic points along the 13km length of the escarpment and typically with perfunctory metal stairs. Historically, and still today populated by industry, water reservoirs, sanitoriums, asylums, hospitals, golf courses, parks and other infrastructures, the escarpment acts as an “Other Landscape” in the city, defined by unique but often overlooked histories. Ecological communities have largely been The opportunity to transform the Escarpment from spatial divider to connective tissue and locus of the city’s urban and cultural imaginary is an untapped opportunity. How can design bring even more people to the escarpment, experience it as an active landscape, without compromising its ecology? How can one “thicken” the escarpment by better integrating adjacent open spaces and envisioning new programs? How can the city redirect itself to celebrate its unique natural asset?
Student Projects
