Mapleton Iowa Tornado Recovery
Team: Adam Mekies + Jihee Chung + Yue Zhao + Young Jae Ahn
The regenerative potential of a site can often be discovered following a major destructive event. The deliberation and method through which the new landscape vessel takes form can be just as important as the form itself, and may become a “blue print” for future recoveries.
Mapleton, Iowa, was razed by a Tornado in 2011. Commercial, residential, and public, properties were left in various degrees of destruction; many were abandoned all together. The town and its 1,300 residents were left with an opportunity to ponder their future as a community, and re-define their identity.
This project has two major goals:
To describe and assist the town of Mapleton in their process of long term recovery. What are now considered remnants and debris of the past evolve into functional, ecological, and esthetic elements of the civic landscape. Moreover, the process of coming together as a community will provide the town with an opportunity to redefine a core identity, heal, and develop.
To devise a method through which to address the development of blighted sites, blighted by natural disasters, neglect, or ecological abuse, using the basic elements of landscape architecture.
