For the observational and annotation site visit, I chose a vantage point adjacent to an abandoned industrial building at the corner of Chartres St. and Montegut St. This location was chosen because I am focusing my attention on how the industrial presence of the neighborhood leaves more of a scar on the landscape than just the mere empty building. In addition, I focused my attention for the first project on how the openness of a space can have a bearing on a person’s feeling through the space. This location was also chosen due to the fact it was located next to a rail yard and had a different feel from other areas within the neighborhood.
I felt that this observation exercise was interesting as it gave me a small glimpse at what types of temporal conditions exist at a site like this but, I quickly discovered that the short time that I spent observing was not sufficient to gain a full understanding of the site. Had I been able to view the site for say a 24 hour period, I believe that I would have a broader understanding of the site. In addition, this 24 hour observation done several times a year to document seasonal change would be the most optimal documentation and allow the viewer the fullest understanding of the site.
This micro scale observation is important to fully understanding a site but could give a false reading of the landscape when applied to the macro scale of the same site. For this reason, it is necessary to look at a site on both levels. The site I chose is a unique space within the larger context of the neighborhood and, to label the entire site based on observations of a small portion would give false data.
I believe that these types of temporal recordings are useful to a designer to evaluate how a site changes over time. It is very important to understand that the landscape is not a static creation but a continually changing system constantly in flux.
