Goals include learning to experience and record the landscape, to design in response to the site, to think creatively, to generate design ideas and understand design as a process, to gain knowledge of design precedents and principles, and to learn tools and techniques of visual expression. Students will learn through in-class exercises, reading assignments, and design projects. Class time is divided between lectures, field trips, studio design work, desk critiques, pin-ups and presentations. The emphasis is n the media of landform, water, plants, and structures as the defining agents of human space in the garden and landscape. The form and character of the space is further determined by the context of the site, the nature of spatial geometry with studies of form, pattern, texture, tone, and color.
Students engage drawing, collage, sculptural relief, and scale models of the landscape.
Application of spatial theory and design process to a specific site context. Work will develop map reading skills at various scales, strengthen drawing, lettering, and cross- section representation skills. Emphasis on landform design in a public park setting. Introduction to landscape analysis, assessment, and planning with focus on ecological and visual landscape issues. The studio explores landscape planning from regional to local levels.