Two strip mall plazas Edison, New Jersey
Author
Koh Smith, Caroline
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Koh Smith, Caroline. 2024. Two strip mall plazas Edison, New Jersey. Master's thesis, Harvard Graduate School of Design.Abstract
Through a suburban counter-ethnobotany, this project examines how plantand human migrations land in two strip mall plazas in Edison, New Jersey.
Edison became home to large communities of immigrants from East and South
Asia after the 1965 Immigration Act; these communities had culturally
specific needs which they fulfilled through the appropriation of the strip
mall plaza. Plants also inhabit this peripheral asphalt world, both
within the mall and around. Brought by historically complicated global
mechanics, their presence, like that of the people around, is politicized.
As local plant migrations increase due to changes in climate and the
built environment, this project responds by proposing a choreography of
stripping asphalt from the road and parking lot, facilitating planting.
After de-paving, the material and program inside is brought outside and
the spontaneous growth of the back end brought to the front, and the plaza
becomes a garden in migration.
Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAACitable link to this page
https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37378625
Collections
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)