Thesis Site Search

I’ve been biking along the Charles River towards Watertown / Newton looking for potential sites for my thesis (images).  There are some nice pockets of land along each side of the river.  Some of the areas are already designated as city park, and some are probably part of the Charles River Conservancy.

One of the negative aspects of these sites is that they are tightly bound between the river and the busy streets that are located alongside it (Soldiers Field Road, Nonantum Road, Memorial Drive, Greenough Blvd., Charles River Road, etc.).

Thesis Prep Final Posters

Final Thesis Prep posters for the public review.

An approach to the sublime of death:

Crane’s Beach

Patterns in the sand from my visit to Crane’s Beach this weekend.

Coming back to the edge theme… border, mediation, crossing… the space between land and sea.

Site for Thesis

I’m still struggling to pick a site for my thesis project.  I’m looking to put the cemetery/crematorium in a site that’s unexpected.  I think it will be an urban, or semi-urban space that’s fairly compact, as I’m not looking to make a late eighteenth/early nineteenth centuy picturesque cemetery landscape.

I thought about one of the dry docks at Massport, where I did my photo project last fall.  I also looked at the other projects throughout the years to find some interesting places around Boston… Alewife, Maxpak, Calf Pasture, Fort Point, Thompson Island, Quincy Nary Yard, etc.  Site like those remind me of the cemetery by Miralles in Igualada, Catalonia, because it was constructed in a former quarry.

Thesis Research: Hietaniemi Cemetery

I visited the Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki while on my studio trip to Finland (Set 10).  It’s a short walk from the city center, and overlooks the ocean.  There is one main axial pathway that cuts through the center of the cemetery (which is lined with trees), while smaller paths cut across the site transversely.  The system of pathways divides the cemetery into small areas to which there are rows of gravestones.  A small chapel, tower, and crematorium comprise the majority of buildings on the grounds.  Even though I was there during a blizzard, the cemetery was calm and serene.  The main pathway seems to extend to the infinite in both directions, and had a very protective feel to it.