2022; Thesis Proposal
Approaching the Chapel—Old Valmeyer, IL
II. Old Valmeyer—The Sacrificial Village—The Chapel
After the levee was intentionally breeched during the flood of 1993, residents decided to rebuild the town atop the bluffs. The street grid remains in Old Valmeyer, but crops are planted on the empty lots where houses once stood.
The bluffs which divide the old and new towns were mined with the room-and-pillar method in the late nineteenth century, leaving over two hundred million cubic feet of scarred voids in the earth.
[Early Morning]
Arrive in Old Valmeyer. Observe the empty plots, where crops have replaced homes. Note the remaining street grids.
Follow the road toward the quarries in the bluffs.
Approach the Chapel from the trail-head. Observe the scars left behind by the mines.
Enter the Chapel and move toward the light at the back of the space. Sit and reflect on the space.
Visualize the amount of earth that has been removed against the traces of the grid.
Feel the rock along the exit path. Exit and follow Bluff Road toward East St. Louis.
[Intention]
A three-dimensional grid and a composition referencing Old and New Valmeyer are inserted into the landscape, bringing a formal structure to the absence of earth. The composition rests delicately upon plots of shallow water. One half of the bifurcated facade attempts to rise above the reflecting pool, while the other descends into it.
Materialize absence (scars in the earth).
Signify infiniteness of space against presence of rock.
Facilitate reflection on the force of order (humankind) against earth (nature).
The Chapel—Physical Model [Plaster, Wood, Wire, Paper, Foam, Gauze]
Site Context—Old Valmeyer, IL
The Chapel—Physical Model [Plaster, Wood, Wire, Paper, Foam, Gauze]
Tracing Le Chemin du Rois
Le Chemin du Rois: A Self-Reflexive Procession through the American Bottomland—Installation View