Temporary Landscapes
All landscapes are temporary; everything around us is. Some landscapes are temporary by design: the viewing fence around Ground Zero, which will be removed when the construction planned for the site is completed, for example; or the temporary landscape built on a derelict site in Brooklyn, until the site is used for another, more permanent, project.
We see great value in temporary landscapes for cities. They can serve to try things out, change the character of the place, fast: the Garden That Climbs the Stairs in Bilbao was designed and built in three months. Temporary projects are also often low-budget interventions allowing for ideas to be tested. Realizing Robert Smithson Floating Island to Travel Around Manhattan Island showed us the potential for the floating typology to occupy and negotiate shifting landscapes such as a river.