Curricula
Curricular development is one example of the systems thinking INTJ’s excel at and like to do. Here are three of my course sequences in Landscape Design and Landscape Architecture, intended for upperclass undergraduates, graduate students and amateur/hobbyists.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN [for Continuing Education adults]
Course Description
Landscape Design I
Create a unique landscape plan for a place of your choosing. This course focuses on the conceptual, spatial, and temporal aspects of landscape design, relying on site knowledge, people + landscape research, and architectural principles. Students will use art-making techniques (drawing, collage, 3D modeling) throughout the design process, as they develop a conceptual, responsive vision into a detailed site-specific design. Historical, environmental, and horticultural topics will be introduced as time allows. Out-of-class work is required.
This is not a garden design course, although gardeners are welcome. Student projects will be small scale, e.g. residential properties. My focus is on developing spatial, analytic, and conceptual skills that are the foundation of great place-making, layering in programmatic, environmental, and decorative aspects as appropriate. Important ideas are architectural elements and features of landscape design; scale; color – especially in a temporal sense; how people perceive and navigate landscape, and deeply knowing a site and its context. Landscape is never a blank canvas and I like to emphasize that constraints (of site, program, budget etc) foster creativity. This is how design differs from art, in that it is a problem-solving discipline.
Course format: I like to start my classes with a sharing/review of out-of-class assignments, then introduce a new topic followed by in-class exploratory exercises. I rely on art-making throughout my design process and encourage this in my students, letting them choose media they are comfortable with or wish to try. I don’t intend formal art products (although beautiful pieces often result), rather visioning or (site) interpretive works like collage, painting and mixed media, and sketch models and drawings for design exploration. Really, anything goes!
l Introduction to Landscape Design
Turning a vision into a plan is the designer’s first challenge. Learn how to analyze existing landscapes and formulate the programmatic and functional requirements of a design project. Translate these into schematic design solutions. Take part in class discussions and critiques, and present projects. This is the first of four successive studio courses. Extensive out-of-class design homework is required.
ll Design Development
Apply basic design concepts to site-specific problems, focusing on the process of design development. Start with a conceptual design, then progress through the schematic phase, leading to a preliminary design solution. Examine the relationships of landscape elements and materials to the design process.
lll Planting Design
Through a series of design assignments, learn how to create planting plans for a variety of projects. Explore the significance of site conditions as well as plant form, texture, color, and ecological associations. Learn to develop plans that are practical, appropriate, and aesthetically satisfying.
See the complete Curriculum: Landscape Design I
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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE COMMUNITY DESIGN
[for graduate students and upperclass undergraduates]
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Considering Public History in Planning and Design
Public history is an important component of community identity, and a repository for present day values and concerns. As such it serves as an indicator and resource for designers, planners, educators, and students engaged in dialogue with communities about public space, planning, and environmental needs. It is also a source of content and meaning for resulting urban and landscape designs, and master plans. This course surveys writings from the fields of landscape architecture, geography, anthropology, history, art and architecture, and proposes methodological applications and design approaches especially relevant for community design. Research methods that emphasize inclusive community authorship, emergent place-making, and responsive design are featured. Methodological skills are taught in a workshop environment. Independent public history research projects can be undertaken for additional course credit. Open to graduate students of design, planning, art, history, anthropology, and geography.
The course has five components:
Theoretical foundations
Methods of discovery – traditional and appropriated techniques
Case study review
Open narrative design strategies
Skill acquisition – workshop
Participatory Art Practices for Community Design
This course surveys interventional and relational art methods appropriate for use in community design settings, focusing on techniques that foster engagement and inclusive, emergent place-making. Open space experiments and co-created small actions will be conducted in community design workshop settings. Open to graduate students of design, planning, history and art.
This course has four modules:
Theoretical foundations
Methodologies
Case study review
Experiments
See the complete Curriculum: Innovation in Design
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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE DESIGN THEORY
Spatial Cognition – Implications for Design
[for graduate students and upperclass undergraduates]
The evidence in evidence-based design can come from fields outside the architectural design disciplines. Spatial cognition research, new understandings of visual intelligence, and findings of environmental psychology illuminate human capacities for spatial experience, with many implications for designers. This course explains pertinent research findings and offers design
strategies that consider and accommodate user preferences and abilities.
The course is organized into four parts:
I. Environmental Psychology findings + appropriate design strategies
II. Cognitive Science findings + appropriate design strategies
III. Case studies
Implications and strategies for the representation of spatial, dynamic systems
See the complete Curriculum: Spatial Cognition – Implications for Design
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