Structures in Landscape Architecture, Joint & Detail

This class will study the design form and constructional detail of the landscape pavilion and the pedestrian bridge. This work will be focused through the lens of a visual understanding of structural principles and their associated material and detail languages. The class will explore legible detail design in landscape architecture.

In a changing climate the landscape pavilion type affords shade, rain and wind protection, and provides a locus for social interaction within a particular landscape space. The pedestrian bridge is a key component of the organization of movement within and over landscape topography. It can also be a place of meetings and interpersonal exchange.

The class is lecture/workshop based. Existing structures will be analyzed in terms of structural principle deployed, materials used, and detail vocabulary developed for each individual structure. The case studies will also examine the structural design implications of sustainability. How material choice, structural logic, carbon content, and aesthetics interact in the design and making of the pergola and the pedestrian bridge.

Learning Objectives
The learning objectives of this class are:
1. Understand and be able to apply structural principles to design work
2. Understand develop and apply structurally based, three-dimensional detail in design work
3. Develop and personal practice of detail design that translates structural understanding into a coherent poetics of a material landscape architecture

Method of Evaluation
1. Weekly in class workshops completed in class time and submitted at the end of the class. 25%
2. Semester project – the design of a small pedestrian bridge OR the design of a small landscape pavilion that is related to a current or previous studio project/thesis. The design of this detail element will be accompanied by the study of a structural president for the bridge or pavilion that informs the project design. 55%
3. Review of student’s sketchbook. The sketchbook will be a record of the working out of the design and will show how observation, analysis and iterative detail design development leads to the final design form of the project. 15%
4. Class attendance and participation. 5%

Prerequisites
SCI 6242 or equivalent. Class is open to all students in all departments. Students enrolled in GSD ETT IV can take this class concurrently.