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Designer, activist, academic,
and author of Lo—TEK,
Design by Radical Indigenism.
A leading expert of Lo—TEK nature-based technologies for climate-resilience.
Her eponymously named studio brings creative and conceptual, interdisciplinary thinking to urban projects and corporate clients interested in systemic and sustainable change. Julia regularly teaches urban design at Harvard and Columbia University.
Covered Bridge Landing at Beaverkill Campground in Catskills New York
Date: 2015 - 2016
Location: Roscoe, NY
Project Team: Julia Watson + W Architecture + NYS Department of Environmental Conservation + 40 Local Residents + Green Shield Ecology + VJ Cost Estimating
Client: Open Space Institute
Julia was the cultural landscape expert and interpretive designer on the historic restoration of the Covered Bridge Landing at Beaverkill Campground, one of the oldest state campgrounds in the Catskills and New York State.
It is located in the heart of the Beaverkill Valley, a renowned trout fishing destination that has been delighting anglers since the 19th Century. While several New York State Departments undertook a major restoration of the Beaverkill Covered Bridge, the landscape team was brought together to develop a conceptual historic restoration and interpretive plan. This plan highlights four themes: the industrial/commercial history of the Landing; trout fishing on the Beaverkill; the Civilian Conservation Corps; and the conservation work of the Open Space Institute and its partners.
The project focus area encompasses the day use areas at the covered bridge landing and the island. This picnic, fishing and swimming area features historic stone walls and wooden railings, a set of historic structures and bathhouses, and many signs of settlement history from the previous centuries.
The Beaverkill site already provides a beautiful setting. The proposed design intervention focuses on access, circulation, preservation, editing, interpretation, safety, and ways to improve land stewardship. The proposed landscape plan improves connectivity and accessibility by suggesting local and regional trail connections. It also increases picnic areas, highlights the history and legacy of the site by restoring the work to its original condition, and suggests an interpretive landscape plan for the cultural and ecological history of this landscape. Additionally, the proposal repurposes existing buildings so that they might serve user groups more effectively.
The Covered Bridge Landing site is blessed to be at a focal point of the living water system of the Beaverkill River and the larger Delaware River Watershed, so proposed work also includes restoration of the Covered Bridge landing grounds. The Beaverkill River is the centerpiece of the cultural landscape conceptual master plan, and shall continue to serve cultural and ecological needs.
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