Time in the Landscape: Designing for Perpetuity

Abstract

Landscape is dynamic. All the elements in the landscape are in a continual process of change. There is growth, expansion, weathering, disintegration, decay and renewal. Change is the very substance of things and it is through these changes that we register the passage of time. This thesis explores the concept of material duration and its application to landscape design. Duration is a complex measure of time. This thesis adapts a definition of duration developed in the field of finance to explore time in the design of an urban cemetery. The design embodies the concept of a cemetery with a "constant duration". This lasting quality of constant duration is a persistence that retains at its core the essence of the landscape while embracing the unavoidable and indispensable material changes. To design with constant duration is to analyze and chart a design as a journey through time.