This book examines the social, political, and cultural factors that
have and continue to influence the evolution of the urban waterfront as
seen through production created from art and design practices. Reaching
beyond the disciplines of architecture and urban design, Occupation:
Boundary distills the dual roles art and culture have played in relation
to the urban waterfront, as mediums that have recorded and instigated
change at the threshold between the city and the sea.
At the moment in time that demands innovative approaches to the
transformation of urban waterfronts, and strategies to foster of
resilient boundaries, architect Cathy Simon recounts her career building
at and around the water's edge and in service of the public realm. In so
doing, the work of contemporary architects is presented, while the
origins and principles of a guiding design philosophy are located in
meditations on art and observations on coastal cities around the world.
The port cities of New York and San Francisco emerge as case studies
that structure the reflections and mediate a narrative that is at once a
professional and personal memoir, richly illustrated with images and
drawings.
Comprising three parts, the first two corresponding parts of Occupation:
Boundary draw connections between the past and present by tracing the
rise and fall of urban, industrial ports and providing context--in the
forms of textual and visual media--for their recent transformations.
Such reinterpretations, achieved via design, often serve the public
through environmentally conscious strategies realized through inventive
approaches to cultural and recreational programs. The work of visual
artists, both historical and contemporary, appears alongside
architecture, poetry, and literary references that illustrate and draw
connections between each of these sections. The third section features
select architectural work by the author, framed by critic John King and
the architect and urbanist Justine Shapiro-Kline. Introduced with a
foreword by the prominent landscape architect Laurie Olin, Occupation:
Boundary draws on artistic and cultural intuitions and the experience of
an architect whose practice negotiates the boundary between urban
contexts and the bodies of water that sustain them. Together, the
instincts, reflections, and architectural production collected here
evidence the role of art and design in the creation of an equitable and
inviting public realm.
