Studying coastal communities and their preparedness for inevitable hazards

‘Memory Landscapes’ is a conceptual project exploring the power of collective memory in designing for certain futures resulting from natural disaster. Focusing on two distant yet interconnected regions—eastern coastal Japan, devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and rural coastal communities in the U.S.’s Pacific Northwest, which are reckoning with inevitable similar events—the project considers how lessons learned in the act of remembrance in one community can inform the process of future construction in another. Through a close photographic study of existing sociological, geological, and constructed conditions, ‘Memory Landscapes’ will propose a series of parafictional architectural proposals for emergency infrastructure in coastal communities facing inevitable disaster. Hutchison’s research in Japan in 2023 as a U.S./Japan Creative Fellow will establish the foundation for the design portion of the project, which will culminate in exhibitions and installations in the U.S. and Japan, complemented by a book publication.

Project Timeline:

- Japan Fellowship (Photography): March-July 2023
- Design: August 2023 - June 2024
- Exhibition (Seattle): June 2024
- Production for Publication: Summer 2024 - Summer 2025
- Publication: Summer/Fall 2025
- Exhibition (Japan): Fall 2025