Site Visit to the Salt Flats (ARCH 3010-001)

For an architecture studio project with a site on the western edge of the Silver Island Mountains, the Major 1 students began the design process by exploring the stark landscape. A two-hour afternoon walk from the mountains through the mud flats to the Salt Flats revealed subtle changes in the topography, vegetation, wildlife, and surface textures of the land. The return walk emphasized the variations in the landscape and the relationship between visual and physical distances. After spending the night on the dry mud flats, students were greeted with a striking sunrise across the Salt Flats.