Design Goals + Landscaping Approaches

In first approaching the needs of the site and our primary intentions for our intervention, we all decided that our goals are as follows:

1. Finish the Porch

2. Make the Site Safe

3. Make the site inviting and accessible to the community

4. Incorporate Signage and Text to explain the history and transitions of the Keese Barn Site

5. Unite the Scattered Elements of the Project through an Intervention (likely a Landscape Intervention)

I understand the porch as a place where members of the community will gather and remember the Keese Barn for what it was. It is important to understand that these memories are positive and our project will only honor the memories of this gathering place if it successfully engages and draws the community to use the space again. With this in mind, the primary porch will be the main entrance or threshold of the site and we will implement a transition from the primary porch down to the secondary porch area. If the primary porch is a more formal and ceremonial commemoration to the Keese Barn then the secondary space becomes the interactive and engaging area.

In this venette I combined the concepts from our group brainstorming sessions with my own personal ideas.

- Seating built in between the I-Beams (under the painted roof shingles)

- An earth ramp-stair element lanscaped to be a transition from the porch to the lower gathering area. We see this element being a sitting/lounging space that also serves as circulation through the site.

- Trees planted in the lower area of the site and around the perimeter of the Keese Barn plot. The trees will not only lower or lessen the severity of the massive and imposing I-Beams, but they will also work to create a sunken garden in the lower secondary porch area. I am convinced that extensive lanscape and natural elements integrated into the site will make the site more inviting and accessible to the community. I feel that we should consider the Keese Barn Project as a park or backyard for the community.

In this sketch I propose extending the concrete ramp to the edge of the street and possible across the street to connect the Ron Box with the rest of the site. I also propose using the plans for the porch which were developed by previous students: a simple wooden decking with cable guardrails. Because the 4 massive I-Beams are rusted and unsightly (in the respect that they do not relate to the context of the Pendleton community) I propose training a climbing and possibly flowering vine to grow up the Beams. While this may be criticized as a purely aesthetic and arbitrary move, this landscaping will go a long way in building the accessibiltiy of the Keese Barn Park. The vine we choose could also be a heritgage vine or a plant of some significance to the South or African American Culture or even to the town of Pendleton. I also propose covering the existing secondary porch in a similar manner as the intervention on the Clemson Site. The structure for the roof is already in place, our job would be a simple "covering" or canopy.

For the vine I propose Confederate Jasmine (which would be most ideal in my opinion becasuse of its frangrence and beauty), Clematis, or even Morning Glory.