Bio.
About Resume
Architecture.
Spring 2024 to Present.Tansu: Vessels of Value
Cold War Missile Silos
Onion
By Hand.
Fall 2024Bench
Ink Drawing
About
Resume
Spring 2024 to Present.
Tansu: Vessels of Value
Cold War Missile Silos
Onion
Fall 2024
Bench
Ink Drawing
Cold War Missile Silos:
Scars of Mass Destruction, Seeds, and Renewal
Studio: Advanced Studio
Professor(s): Clark Thenhaus
Our research focuses on understanding the rural landscape of the Great Plains, specifically the ranch lands of Montana, where more than 150 ICBM missile silos were buried beneath the surface. This project examines a nationwide stockpiling of nuclear warheads designed to deter external threats during the Cold War. In total, 1,000 ICBM missile silos were constructed across the Great Plains of the United States.
From 1961 to 1970, three models of Minuteman missiles were activated and placed on leased land. The government often acquired these sites from ranchers, farmers, and civilians who owned large acreages. Each missile site occupied approximately two acres, housing an underground launch control room and an adjacent silo, buried between 60 and 300 feet below the surface. While these sites blend into the landscape unless one knows what to look for, the U.S. military deliberately chose the Great Plains because it lacked major cities—ensuring that if an incoming Soviet missile targeted an ICBM, no urban center would be in immediate danger.