Biointranet

Landscape as Software

2017
Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, KY

Guided by Joao Almeida and Jenny Sabin at Cornell University.



This project proposes a new ecological infrastructure for Shaker Village that treats landscape as a form of software—an adaptive, legible system of inputs and outputs. Inspired by Shaker simplicity and architectural typologies, a timber cooling tower, forebay wetland, and seed-saving gardens recode the site’s heat, runoff, and karst vulnerabilities into opportunities for public ecological literacy. 

By rendering cooling, filtering, and stewardship visibly and simply—like the Shakers’ own functional architectures—the project transforms a vulnerable karst landscape into a living laboratory where heritage, ecology, and curiosity operate as one coherent program of repair.


The scheme reframes the site as “landscape as software”—a system that can be debugged, patched, and iterated through design interventions. The ecological issues become inputs, the tower + wetlands form the processing layer, and the landscape and public experience become the output, generating ecological clarity and public literacy. Thus, the landscape is not a fixed historic artifact but a programmable interface for ongoing stewardship.



The prevalance of monocrop agriculture robs the landscape of tools to self maintain by requiring the use of disruptive chemical fertilizers. The runoff of these agrochemicals creates more acidic conditions in the soil and groundwater, which accelerates dissolution of the delicate limestone karst geology underlying the site.

Part of the solution draws on Shaker attitudes toward land management and conservation, involving the tradition of seed-saving and cultivation, including of native plant species which provide habitat and necessary biodiversity within the landscape. Riparian boundaries are especially vulnerable, as streams and ponds connect to a network of sinkholes and caves.



Landscape Software Schematic
Drawing from Shaker simplicity, vernacular craft, and the ventilated geometries of tobacco barns, the project proposes a new vernacular-inspired cooling tower along the stream path between ponds. This tower—operating through evaporation, shading, microbial trickling, and nutrient capture—functions as a didactic, visible “machine for stewardship.” It pairs with lined forebay wetlands, seed-saving gardens, and sinkhole buffers to create a legible ecological loop that cools water, filters pollutants, and teaches visitors how landscapes can be tuned, adjusted, and repaired. The contoured wooden slats direct airflow over the stream flowing through it while a helical stone canal maximizes surface area and potential for oxygenation through agitation.



East Brothers Dwelling





Barn Activation


Sinkhole Legibility



Riparian Cooling Tower

Tower Cooling Diagram 








Liam Martin



Design, Research, Visualisation at Superinfra and Formaverity.