Paula Guerrero

Soft Edges

This thesis repositions Mount Wilson Observatory from a site of singular celestial observation to a dual-orienting landscape, where looking down to Earth’s surface becomes as necessary and meaningful as looking toward the stars. In response to increasing wildfire risk, the project proposes a system of garden terraces that aim to harden the site's edge to protect, while softening to expand on the existing atmospheric depth of the site.

At the heart of this thesis is an exploration of a multiplicity of edges: cosmic, geographical, perceptual, and virtual. Inspired by Mark Rothko’s paintings, where softened, diffused edges activate spatial depth and invite inward reflection, this project considers how architecture might similarly define and activate thresholds. In Rothko’s work, the edge is not a limit, but an atmospheric transition that expands experience.

Mount Wilson embodies multitudes of layered edges. Both a site of scientific legacy, where telescopes once expanded our understanding of the universe’s scale, and a site of fragility where wildfires pose ongoing risk, the garden terraces aim to protect by implementing

low-flammability species. Working in harmony with the landscape, the terraces serve as both fire-mitigating infrastructure and architectural intervention, with stepped, ground-attuned expressions that respond to the site's existing contours.

Through calibrated planting, atmospheric design, and a methodology that moves between quantitative notations and qualitative descriptions, this project proposes a new kind of architecture whose edge activates and extends beyond physical walls and fixed definitions of space, protects through softness, and reveals space through perception.