TIERRA SAJAMA: Process--Participants

Studio Methods

"Tierra Sajama" was a multi-disciplinary studio-seminar course offered in the Spring of 2003 as a joint-venture between the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning and Department of Anthropology. (The course also included participants from the Department of City and Regional Planning.) The course was organized as a series of weekly plenary sessions, discussions, and critiques addressing the meaning and protection of a cultural landscape in western Bolivia. As such, participants were able to attend additional lectures, film screenings, and field trips to the University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to learn more about Andean culture and history. The participants themselves were organized like a small, professional office, with the students bearing responsibility not only for generating plans and drawings, but also for directing the work, setting meeting and production schedules, managing the class budget, and interacting with clients.

At the semester's start, students self-organized into five groups, each with a distinct research focus. The Report Group explored archaeological, historical, ethnographic, and natural history literature. The Science Group identified the location of cultural features and developed hypotheses about the lines in relation to cultural, topographic, and celestial features. The Mapping Group created a Sajama-based Geographic Information System (GIS) - a computer database of maps and pertinent information about the lines, local vegetation, topography, built features, etc. The Planning Group analyzed site conditions and studied examples of other nations' major parks and World Heritage sites in order to create a mission statement as well as a series of goals and objectives. The Pitch Group explored possibilities for presenting and marketing the final proposals and documents using various print and electronic media.

A number of challenges arose. The students struggled to identify suitable scale for their inquiry, due in part to the relatively large area of distribution of the Sajama lines. Technical difficulties also surfaced regarding the construction of the GIS, much of which was done "from scratch." As GIS datasets were generated (and refined), they were integrated into a series of planning and design criteria. A hierarchy of zones emerged that suggested areas for protection or special interaction. This process enabled the studio-seminar participants to become closely acquainted with the landscape without ever visiting it.

Ethical questions about degrees of intervention and change permissible on the site with respect to local culture also caused some heated discussions. Suggestions ranged from leaving the land as is to adding large infrastructural devices. These issues were considered within the context of a landscape that is considered "sacred".

At mid-term, the class presented its work to an audience of Landscape Architecture and Anthropology faculty members. By this time, the studio-seminar had been named Tierra Sajama to emphasize both the region and for easy recognition in English and Spanish. While the presentation included a very thorough analysis of the site, the group was not able to graphically convey the full magnitude of the lines' coverage area to the audience.

During the second part of the semester, a small study area was selected to include Mt. Sajama and the regions directly to the south and southwest of it. The participants reevaluated their goals and objectives and began to test specific design interventions and planning strategies in the landscape with respect to line conservation and tourism development. Further GIS work with the lines revealed high density areas of radial centers, as well as preliminary alignments with astronomical events, cultural features, and topographic elements in the landscape - exciting early results that aided in design and planning efforts.

An analysis of climate and environmental conditions inspired some students to create special natural-area-protection maps, and to design proposals that would minimize human impact on the site. Others devised strategies to increase the economic potential of the area and draw attention to Tierra Sajama as a destination for visitors from around the world. The possibilities for individual experience on or near the lines generated additional design ideas.

The studio was an academic exercise, which produced a new body of knowledge about this site. Although the group did not produce a unified vision for the future of Sajama, it was able to propose a number of recommendations that represent the participants' understanding of this unique region and the importance of preserving it. The University of Pennsylvania team sincerely hopes that other scholars, planners, and designers will find this inquiry of value, and that they will use it to protect and promote Tierra Sajama as a sacred cultural landscape.