RETHINKING THE AMERICAN FRONT YARD

WORKSHOPS AND LECTURES GIVEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON, THE MACHINALOCI SPACE, AND CONFERENCES OF THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION

We are continually exploring how to rethink the ubiquitous American front yard and how others are actively rethinking this space. Historically, the American front yard has served as merely a space for display, the origins of which can be traced back to the Georgian rowhouse in London. However, given changes in climate, culture, and the relative scarcity or presence of natural resources, the space really needs a rethink. As such, we lead explorations of the history of the front yard, how it is changing, and also lead people through design and sensory-based exercises in which we actually mock-up redesigned front-yard spaces. These explorations are frequently done in collaboration with James Rojas, some of whose work explores how Latino immigrants frquently transform their front yards into plazas. Our landscape projects also frquently work to transform the front yard into a learning space and a generator of layers of discovery. To read more about those, you can explore the Irrigation-Free Landscape Minnesota and the Irrigation-Free Landscape Oakland.