Landscape Architecture I: First Semester Core Studio

This studio course problematizes issues of orientation and experience, scale and pattern, topographic form, canopy and climatic influences, and varied ecological process that help define urban public space. As the first of a four-term sequence of design studios, the course helps students develop spatial literacy, critical design thinking, and proficiency in diverse modes of representation in landscape architecture. The first studio exercises investigate a set of typological models rooted in historical and contemporary precedents. These undergo sequential transformations aimed at devising hybrid solutions to common conceptual design problems: conditions of stasis, movement, and change over time. Later in the semester, these studies are examined through a specific site program on an urban waterfront site. Two workshops are planned: a one-week engagement of specialized analogue techniques of surface description, and a second week-long focus on conceptualizing coastal vegetative palettes. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on the design studio as a performative venue for conceiving, interrogating, and elaborating concrete ideas about the role of the biophysical landscape in urbanization and urban life.