While studying the Wissahickon transect, my project partner
and I faced the difficult task of climbing a steep slope to
triangulate our trees and create an accurate land survey
of the site. A thick layer of deciduous leaves covered the
forest floor, and as we sidestepped up the hill, our footsteps
pushed the leaves downsward, revealing lightly colored dirt, indicative that at least the top layer of soil on our site’s hill
was quite dry. As I crawled up a particularly steep part of the
hill, the very soil gave out, triggering a personal landslide,
and I skidded down the hill.
This moment, while comical, came with the realization that the hill was unstable. If it cannot handle my body, what
would happen if there was a significant weather event or
fallen tree? Might the entire slope be at risk of eroding?
Thus, the scope of my design intervention narrowed into an
inquisition into the use of sustainable landscape operations
to keep people off of vulnerable ground, and reconstruct
the slope to properly sustain moisture and build structural integrity.
The design uses Hugelkultur, a technique of creating ‘hill cultures’ of layered organic matter, to stabilize
and moisten the eroding slope. In tandem, understory
vegetation - which currently consists of invasives that block
human sightlines and eliminate oppurtunites for diverse
groundcover - is removed in three areas. A retaining wall
of logs is implemented to hold the slope in place, and the
slope is adjusted to be shallower. The site's parallel paths are
subtly raised by just one foot to encourage visitors to stay
on the trail while preserving current landscape use cases,
and recycled log seating is added to enjoy the improved viewpoints throughtout the site.
Wissahickon Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania