Yellowcake Fields

Abstract

The project is located along the Colorado River in Moab, Utah; formerly home to the nation's largest Uranium mill. Through its architecture and land art interventions, the project seeks to reflect upon and memorialize certain aspects of the site, while simultaneously erasing the effects of destructive industrial practices. Memorialization takes form in four architectural pieces which tell four stories: the history of Moab and the site, the story of Charles Steen (Uranium King of Moab), the impact of the Uranium mining and milling process, and the larger role of this site in our Nation's atomic age. Erasure of negative environmental impacts is facilitated by a massive land art intervention, which collects and focuses seasonal flood waters of the Colorado River to promote regrowth of native vegetation and life. Over time, what was once the most destroyed part of the landscape will become the most alive again. Festival space is designed to celebrate this returning of the site to the natural world. The project's goal is to teach visitors of the destructive nature of our industrial practices, while contrastingly showing that their impacts can be erased over time through careful designs which promote nature and amplify naturally occurring cycles and events.