I want to introduce a cast of architects that shaped this landscape. They created and carved space from the scale of a single seedling, to a quilt of fields that drape an entire region. These architects were farmers, railroad tycoons, surveyors, explorers of all kinds. And they gathered a kit of tools for getting lost, and finding place. They erased the places they didn’t see or didn’t understand, and plotted new grounds for dwelling and uncovering the unknown. When I visit her this summer, I’ll ask my grandmother to stand on the front porch of the old house that looked across the road at their wheat field, and tell me the stories of all the things and places she knows, as far as the eye can see.
Space and Architecture reach from the scale of the intimate to that of the infinite, and all scales make up our perception of the world. An outsider in the prairies is engulfed by the weight of the unknown, while an insider is surrounded by all those things that compile their sense of place. They couldn’t possibly find themselves lost in this field of familiar landmarks.
Humans instinctually shift from exploration to dwelling, from near to far. To explore is to seek out the unknown, the “blue of distance” as Rebecca Solnit would call it. And to dwell is to pause in the realm of the unknown for long enough for it to become familiar. The dwelling creates our sense of place from which to then depart and search for new unknowns. Solnit presents the “Blue of Distance” as the thin band of color that falls on the horizon. You can never reach it because it always recedes into the distance. But arguably, its human nature to try.
The Prairies have seen a great many explorers seek out the blue of distance. Perhaps it’s the absolution of the horizon that defines its Genus Loci: the tension between staying and going.
It was so empty that two strangers could feel they had a common bond simply because they were encircled by the same horizon.
-Jonathan Raban
The Horizon is the boundary of this place, creating a sense of belonging for everything within it. Yet every boundary is also a passage, the place where you move from inside to outside. It’s a constant reminder of all that is still unknown. Whether you are a nomad or a drifter, the Prairie and its horizon are the epitome of the exchange between exploration and dwelling. This exchange is how we create place.
