This project focuses on how fantasy, imagination, and autonomy can be channeled via relational landscape experiences to assist in understanding and healing trauma. We propose a system of minimal site interventions that highlight the natural wonder of the Willamette Valley landscape while also serving as an armature for imaginative play and personal self discovery. By exercising decision making in the safety of the Parrott Creek landscape, the youth will be better prepared for the transition back into their home-lives. Work by: Skyler Smith (MLA II 2023) + Kat Wyatt (MLA I 2023)

Bond with the Land constructs a relationship of mutual healing between the self and the landscape, using the natural forces of fire and water experienced through daily, seasonal, and geological time scales to connect the Parrott Creek youth to themselves, the site, and the region. The reconfiguration of the architecture allows for view corridors that actively engage with the landscape while providing dedicated spaces for classrooms, therapy, dormitories, administration, and community activities. Work by: Enrique Cavelier (MLA I AP 2023) + Cristian Umana (MLA II 2023)

The water and fire program matrices and the corresponding badge cards reveal how elements across the site can be activated at various scales, from intimate to public, allowing for flexibility in adapting to the individual journeys of the youth, nurturing places for comfort and aspirations for progress and growth.

An accessible woodland trail unlocks the potential of the 80-acre site, inviting the youth to experience daily weather in the rain garden and dynamic sunsets at the firepit, witness seasonal fluctuations in flora and fauna at the wetland and controlled burn sites, and take in the natural processes that shaped the valley from the fire tower.

Our concept is based on different types of brainwaves to propose two trails with different natural rhythms to trigger richer emotional responses and experiences for Parrott Creek youth: one is the low-frequency rhythm trail for healing and recovery, and the other one is a high-frequency trail for energetic space. Work by: Shuyue Liu (MLA I AP 2023) + Melody Zhao (MLA II 2023)

Play is not only having fun, it is also a tool in which youth can practice agency and be a part of a shared identity and community. Our project, titled healing through play, aims to make Parrott Creek a place that provides all youth with the opportunity to “be a kid again.” Work by: Meghan Gutknecht (MLA I 2023) + Yingchen Lang (MLA I AP 2023)

This project intertwines human and non-human healing. As healthy fire ecology is returned to Parrott Creek, the youths’ personal healing journeys are supported through the experience of watching and helping the landscape grow stronger after disturbance. Work by: Zina Fraser (MLA I 2023)