Measuring the Immeasurable

Masters of Landscape Architecture Thesis
Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto
2013 - 2014

This project explores how a designed landscape can reveal the hidden tensions between simultaneous and contradictory forces that determine how we value a place: for resource extraction, for ecotourism, or as the locus of unique cultural practices and traditions. All of these forces collide on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland: a topography of smouldering craters, bubbling fumaroles, and razor-sharp plains of volcanic glass. Steeped in generations of mythology and folklore, the Reykjanes Peninsula is scheduled to become Iceland’s second UNESCO Global Geopark and a centrepiece of the country’s burgeoning ecotourism industry. This designation coincides with increasing international pressure to develop the Reykjanes as a global nexus of geothermal energy production.

Existing sites of geothermal tourism often conflate narratives of industrial development with natural geologic processes, resulting in a contrived experience of the Icelandic landscape. This project proposes a new form of geotourism which couples sites of geothermal power with programs and amenities that reveal patterns of globalized neoliberal capital. By co-opting the spatial logics of geothermal energy production, this project illuminates the hidden forces shaping the Icelandic landscape and imagines new strategies for economic growth and cultural expression.