Built form and regional identity: eco-tourist resort in Moab, Utah
Creators: name: Schindewolf, Jeff
Publisher: name: University of Utah
Year: 2012
Subjects: Tourism--Utah
Southern Utah

description: There is a fundamental relationship between formal attributes,  experience of place, and regional identity. Architecture  should be designed through the understanding  of these relationships, which can be further divided into  built form, natural form, social interaction, and cognitive  processes. In this way an authentic sense of architecture  and regional identity can be revealed. The Eco-tourist resort  is an exploration of this idea. It will meet the growing  niche of the educated tourist seeking truth in experience  as an alternative to the "Disneyland" atmosphere of the  west created by early twentieth century predecessors. It  equates built form and natural form with formal attributes,  social interaction with program and path, and cognitive  processes with elements of perception. The social interaction  between the local and the tourist will inevitably  change how each views their identity and the program  will address this through the examination of the needs of  the eco-tourist culture and local identity. This examination  also impacts the site choice, which in turn will have a  reciprocal effect on the program and on the built form as  well.  The culture and architecture of twentieth century tourism  has helped define the national view of the west as a region  and as a myth. The view of the west was largely idealized  and simulacrum architecture was used to help convey  this ideal to the consumer. During the early nineteenth  century, tourism of the West developed as an elite pastime  in the United States due to "the growth of a leisure ethic,  the emergence of adequate modes of transportation, and  the establishment of unique attractions" (Shaffer, 123). In  1905, the slogan "See America First" was conceived, and  in 1906, the See America First Conference held in Salt  Lake City, Utah began to establish a new propaganda of  the West, where "true" Americans appreciated the natural  wonders, ancient ruins, and scenic landscapes of the West.  In 1910, the Great Northern Railway adopted this slogan for their own multimedia advertising campaign aimed  at attracting tourists to Glacier National Park, selling this  natural attraction as the preferred "American" alternative  to European travel. The Railway reconstructed and packaged  the park with an emphasis on an idealized version of  the American frontier and thereby set "a sense of western  identity grounded in the intersection between the West  as region and the West as myth" (Shaffer, 125). Instead of  responding to the true environment, they created a representation  of western wilderness intertwined with European  architecture; Blackfoot Indian décor combined with  Swiss chalet sensibility. "In this way, tourism reshaped the  built environment of the United States and transformed  the symbolic value of American landscape and in the process,  influenced the way in which people defined themselves  as American " (Shaffer, 123).  Today a new leisure ethic is evolving where vacationers  have a different interest in outdoor pursuits. The traveler  has the desire to experience the west and its cultures in  an authentic state. Ecotourism is a postmodern version  of tourism, which consists of responsible travel to an undisturbed  environment with the objective of studying  and admiring the scenery, flora and fauna, as well as the  indigenous culture (Sheller and Urry, 32)". This culture  attempt to set themselves apart from the common tourist  by choosing destinations and activities that involve  education and self-improvement, by creating self-identity  through play versus occupation, and by switching from  mass tourism to more independent forms of experiencing  place.  The program reconciles the relationship between the  identity of the chosen local culture, Moab Utah, and an  imported one, the tourist. Truth and fragmentation of  identity are implicit in the new western identity as it both  conserves the natural environment and turns it into a  commodity.