(Image by Bret C. Wieseler.)

Winners of the ASLA 2007 Student Awards have been announced. Filtered through the jumble of thematic threads on Pruned, one remains.

It's the entry by Bret C. Wieseler, from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He writes: “(In)Security explores a new design vocabulary in direct response to the climate of fear and paranoia that currently drives the program and aesthetic of much contemporary urban design. The project addresses the current and future state of security in and around the Wall Street financial district, creating viable security alternatives while simultaneously questioning our nation’s current philosophy that security = freedom.”


(It's THE TITHING, “a shallow, cor-ten steel” that's a cross between a public sculpture/vaporous fountain and a Medieval moat. Image by Bret C. Wieseler.)

“Four security barricades were conceived. By creating thresholds into and throughout the district, (In)Security sets the tone for the experiences within this walled city. During the design process, archaic and contemporary methods of fortification were researched. Forms were explored as a result of the hybridization of the two. Each barricade is an investigation of both fortification and subversion; designing for the defense of each checkpoint, while simultaneously attempting to undermine it’s perceived raison d'être through a means of confrontation, provocation, or absurdism.”


(It's THE PRONGS, a “tectonic hybrid of tire spikes and medieval Abbatis castle fortifications.” Image by Bret C. Wieseler.)

There are other projects that are equally great and worth mentioning here, but for those, you'll have to visit the ASLA website.

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