Class_Notes_(various_weeks)

Week 1 CREATEDATE 9/4/11 10:27 AM Eddie George Landscape architecture Everything outside the walls of a building ? balance between the two Landscape Architects Hit the Streets Nationwide Urban master planning, parks, bike paths, marketplaces Pathing patterns, lights, enjoyment visually Lecture: Landscape Design Process 3 key aspects of designs: space, functions, meanings design tools and principles and the design process graphic communication tools Reading: ?Landscape Architecture: The least Visible and Most Pervasive Profession? Thomas Fisher Work ranges from region land uses and trail system to gardens and parks ?What should be our relationship to nature?? we?ve gone from seeing land and water as things we depend on, to seeing them as responsibilities and things to take care of concern for fate of the earth Lecture: The Outdoor Room What do landscape architects do? Design 3D spaces similar to ones in buildings created by architects/interior designers Palette differs from rooms in buildings Human-made materials (walls) Natural/living materials (plants) What makes a room a room? Floor Wall Indoor: ceilings Doors/entrances Windows ? give view of what?s on the other side of the window Outdoor Room Doors/entrances: gates, opening in wall, opening in hedges Windows: space between vegetation, ornamental windows in gardens Room Composition San Antonio amphitheatre Warmer colors, grass near seating, rougher texture (stone, vegetation) University of Indianapolis Crisp, clean Waterfront NYC Less formal, warm tones, rougher texture (stone, vegetation) Design elements: line, form, color, texture, pattern, mass, light/shadow Design principles: scale, balance, unity/harmony, contrast, proportion, rhythm, hierarchy Open Floor Plan Many uses in the same space Uses defined by supporting facilities (i.e. stairs, bus stop, lawns, seating, etc.) Lecture: The Functional Landscape Lecture: The Design Process design process: logic followed by landscape architects to design the landscape several scales: regional, local several types of projects: conservation (arboretum), recreation (jogging paths, camp grounds, parks), land use planning (where to have farm land, housing, railroads), neighborhoods TH2 Design, Doug Hadley Ask customer what they want/don?t want Walk around yard and take measurements/eye up the yard Measure where things are in the yard (how far away from house/fence/etc.) Back at office: determine relationships between elements in the yard (bubble diagrams), go over notes make preliminary design make construction documents and drawings for the client meet with client a second time show drawings commonality of design process define problem ideate implement evaluate Goal-oriented design process Outline for process Problem statement (purpose, goals, objectives) Site inventory and analysis Formulation of alternative solutions Choice of solution Implementation Project evaluation Lecture: Creating the Design Program Design program : design statement and program elements Program elements: pieces of design Accommodate activities Create and experience Evoke emotions Protect the environment Uses and Supporting facilities Uses and supporting facilities together describe behavior settings: physical locations that are encoded with stimuli that, upon decoding, promote certain behavior Uses include: Activities Mental, physical, resource-based, non-resource-based, motorized, non-motorized Experience Wilderness, social, solitary, intimate, public, relaxing, energizing Supporting facilities Space: outdoor rooms that can be open, semi-canopied, or canopied Buildings and utilities Lighting design Circulation systems Made with universal design in mind: practice of making design accessible to people of all abilities Environmental infrastructure Storm water management: way of helping to reduce runoff from storm events from getting into lakes/streams too rapidly Rain barrel Porous pavement Species conservation Rain garden (also a storm water management): holds water for a period of time Many kinds of materials used to implement design programs Plants Wood Stone Pavers Water Where does design program come from? Discussion with client Public Precedents Your design creativity Sue Thering: Participatory Approach to Program Development Public participation levels As required by law Reflects the community?s needs, desires, and values Understand collective values, needs, goals, hopes, and aspirations Ideal relationship diagrams use bubbles to represent behavior settings or other design elements Explore how functions of the site work together Site inventory (determine what is present) and analysis (determine the opportunities and constraints of the site) Guiding principle: design with the natural and cultural resources of a site Reading the landscape Sources of information: maps, descriptions, data, aerial photographs, ground photographs, site visit Determine landscape position (is the site lower or higher than its surroundings) Determine interactions between the site and its surroundings (what flows to and from the site?) What about the views? Reasons to do formal site inventory Create a good match between site and proposed design activities Avoid unnecessary damage to site resources Site inventory tools: tape measure, graph paper, yard sticks, compass, water bottle, level, water hose or bucket, shovel/spade/trowel, rags or wipes, camera Start with a base map (2D representation of map) Property lines Outlines of buildings Location of sidewalks, travel routes, drives Sun/shade patterns Wing (seasonal directions, typical velocities) Existing vegetation Cultural features (structures, places) Views: on/off site Current uses Landform (topography) is important Contour lines: link spots of equal elevation Water systems: source, destination, soil drainage Drainage: can find information from NRCS soil survey Runoff patterns: look for ponding and erosion channels Soils: particularly interested in soil texture, nutrients Sand: >70% sand by weight Clay: 35% clay by weight Loam: 7-27% clay, 28-50% silt, <52% sand Lecture: Design Concept Metaphor/theme Big idea that underlies a design Usually stated in one or two words: ?formal garden? ?old Chicago? ?New urbnanism? Design layout, form, imagery follows the concept Where do they come from? Design program Site characteristics (flat, rocky, etc.) Ideas about people, the world, art (cultural expectations) Precedents What does it do? Shapes the spatial framework Chooses the design materials Determines the aesthetic expression (balance, symmetry, liveliness) Influences program elements and functional elements (close together, far apart) Design concept examples Central park, NY Feeling of being in nature in the middle of a large city People felt that it was essential for heath to be outdoors with plants Try at least 3 big ideas with every project before selecting one Prairie school of design Not meant to completely imitate something but to take ideas and articulate them in the context of the site you?re designing Frank Lloyd Wright Uses natural stone and colors from the landscape Natural forms translated into stained glass Prairie stained glass, saguaro glass (Arizona cactus) Design concept: style Formal, informal, post-modern, natural style provides organizational principles that are recognized by the culture and act as behavior settings Enter formal design: place where you are supposed to behave in a more serious way Design concept: site/feature interplay Organizational principles: building dominant on site, building blending into site, facilities hidden from entrance Lecture: Human Use of Space Universal design: quietly meet the needs of all users Principles of universal design Equitable use Same means of use (people in wheelchairs and walking people) Avoid segregating users Equitable privacy, security, and safety Design is appealing to all users Flexibility in use Choice in use Blend form, function, beauty for all users Facilitate users accuracy Provide adaptability to user?s pace Simple and intuitive use Easy to understand Provides effective prompting or sequential actions Clear entrance and exit Easy to negotiate Perceptible information Tolerance for error Minimize hazards Provide failsafe features Provide warning of hazards Minimize the consequences of error in navigation Low physical effort Neutral body positions Use reasonable operating force Minimize repetitive actions Minimize sustained physical effort Size and space for approach and use Clear line of sight for seating and standing users Comfortable reach Adequate space for devices Adequate space for personal assistance Americans with Disabilities Act Overt socializing Friends come together to a park Group socializing Design for overt socialiazing Meeting places easy to describe Behavior settings support meeting/socializing Seating and flat surfaces (tables) Attractive circulation A diversity of spaces to ?claim? Covert socializing Coming to a park to watch people, but not interact Design for covert socializing Places for elderly Places of safety from which to watch activities (prospect and refuge) Places near paths and nodes Looped walking circuits Benches with backs Activity spaces PLUS spaces for spectators Movable chairs*** Designing Environments for Everybody Taking part process Move into an environment, experience it together, and discuss how you feel At wheelchair level it?s difficult to notice garbage cans and ramps Design Communications: Presentation, Construction Documents and Specifications 3 Main Questions about Design Communication Two whom are you to communicate with? Client ? patrons and users of design Single person/family Multiple clients or groups Contractors ? people responsible for constructing design One or more contractors what information needs to be communicated clients: illustrative ? conveys design intent organization of program elements appearance character and qualities concept and general feeling contractors ? technical, how to build the design clear, accurate, and easy to use easily reproducible Easily distributed Explaining specifics of locations, seizes, shapes, materials processes, methods How do you communicate the design? Verbal, written, and graphic Verbal: architects being comfortable speaking with one or two people or small groups or large groups Written: developing reports which integrate written information and graphics. Well organized reports and good writing skills Graphic Illustrative: drawings and sketching (diagrams, plans, sections, perspectives), three dimensional models Technical: drawings (dimensions and materials, grading, planting plans, construction details Traditional hand methods: drafting films, pencil or ink, markers, color pencils, cardboard, wire Electronic/digital: computer aided drafting (allow designers to accurately draw in computer environment ? tools for lines and editing), image processing software (rendering, graphic layout, presentation), geographic information systems (GIS) (computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing, and displaying data related to positions on the earth?s surface; overlay spatial data with varying formats from different sources; information about what is shown ? i.e. trees and information about the trees shown) Technical drawings: layout and location, grading, planting plans, construction details The Landscape Architecture Profession Frederick Law Olmsted Credited with naming profession (when creating central park) Profession: a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation Characteristics self-governing organization: set standards of membership (training requirements ? educational certification, professional practice, continuing education requirement, testing/examinations), set standards of professional conduct (ethics, business practices) specialized knowledge training: skills based on theoretical knowledge (apply theory to practice), special training (continued training requirements, certified educational program ? curricula/knowledge areas) legal recognition ( necessity for having professions ? lay people cannot effectively evaluate the effectiveness of practice, significant impact to the general public from incompetent practice mutual exchange of definable conditions of value between government and a recognizable group government grants exclusive rights of performance in a specific field professional licensing/registration right to self-govern Profession guarantees that public is protected from incompetence, untrustworthiness, extortion, etc. Standards for membership Profession of Landscape Architecture Self-governing organization/associations American Society of Landscape Architects (1899) Specialized knowledge/training 66 accredited landscape architecture programs in 40 states (1st at Harvard in 1900) Legal recognitions 49 of 50 states have licensing for landscape architects Society of Landscape Architects Mission: to lead, educate, and participate in the careful stewardship, wise planning, and artful design of our cultural and natural environments Wisconsin Chapter Governance: webpage that shows how the profession is set up (bylaws, forming committees, code of ethics) Code of ethics: dedication to public welfare (act with honesty, dignity, etc.) Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board Educational standards Specialized knowledge Licensing/Registration laws Practice act: Prohibit unqualified individuals from calling themselves Landscape Architects as well as prohibiting them from providing landscape architecture services Title acts: only limits the use of the title Landscape Architect to those persons that are qualified based on specified standards. However, doesn?t limit who can provide landscape architectural services Sections on the Landscape Architecture Registration Exam (L.A.R.E.) A ? Project and consultation administration B ? Inventory, analysis and program development C ? Site Design D ? Design and construction documentation E ? Grading drainage and stormwater management How A Professional Landscape Architects? Office Operates Lecture: Landscape Architecture in the United States U.S. landscape architects Andrew Jackson Downing (1830s ? 1852) Horticulturalist Writer Architect Landscape gardener Reformer All American should have their own homes because they are powerful means for civilization, homes promote positive social values, and the moral influence of a home is a reflection of the owner 1st nationally and internationally known landscape designer in U.S. Influenced by English landscape design Romantic style designer Based on emotion, adventure, imagination Design philosophy All design should be judged on: Fitness of usefulness (are the needs of the user addressed) Expression of purpose (how well does it do what it was intended to do) Expression of style (does it express beauty) Executed using the following: Principle of unity Controlling idea; determined by physical characteristics of the site, as well as some ground or leading features which the others should be merely subordinate? All parts of design working toward one expression Principle of Variety Details when employed properly produced intricacy and a thousand points of beauty Principle of harmony The principle presiding over variety and which prevented it from becoming discordant; because harmony restrained variety within a unified composition it was deemed the more important principle Worked with Alexander Jackson Davis and Calvert Vaux Vaux became partnered with Olmstead Bracketted cottages Ornamentation, latticework, bay windows Downing?s romantic residential landscapes As much lawn as possible Conceal barriers with threes and shrubs Do not block any fine views or vistas Take advantage of site opportunities, especially natural features A few gently curving walks, paths, drives Simplicity, masses of flowers of one or two colors Planting in masses but allowing occasional specimen to develop Screening ? needing to look natural Example: Springside - Mathew Vassar Estate Major contributions Called for creation of public parks National reformer Landscape Design pattern books Frederick Law Olmsted (1860s ? 1890s) Worked many different jobs Influenced by English Landscape Garden School Traveled to British Isles and Influenced by Transcendentalism New approach to literature, religion, and culture, asserted that the ideal spiritual state transcended the physical and empirical works could only be realized through individual intuition, not through established religious doctrine Always concerned with the betterment of the United States society Jens Jensen (1890s ? 1940s) Thomas Church (1930s ? 1970s) Kevin Lynch: The Image of the City Contents of city images classified into five types of elements Paths Channels along which the observer moves (streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads) People observe city while moving along these Edges Linear elements not used or considered as paths by the observer Boundaries between phases ? shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls Lateral references Can be barriers or seams Hold together generalized areas Districts Medium-to-large sections of the city Two-dimensional; observer mentally enters ?inside of? Always identifiable from the inside Nodes Points, the strategic spots in a city into which an observer can enter, and are the intensive foci to and from which they are traveling Primarily junctions, places of break in transportation, crossing or convergence of paths, and/or moments of shift from one structure to another Can simply be concentrations (street-corner hangout or enclosed square) Some can be the focus of a district (cores) Landmarks Type of point-reference, but observer doesn?t enter within them Usually a simply defined physical object (building, sign, store, or mountain) Can symbolize a constant direction (towers, domes, big hills) Some are primarily local and visible only in restricted localities and from certain viewpoints (signs, store fronts, trees, etc.) Memorials, Prof. Arnold R. Alanen Memorial: something that is intended to serve as a reminder of a person, a group of persons, or an event Monument something designed and built as a lasting tribute to a person, a group of people, or an event A site, structure or object that is preserved because of its historical, cultural, or aesthetic importance Native Americans ? transformed nature into culture Totem poles Europe Parthenon: honored Athena (wisdom) Romans ? Sacred Way: temples to Gods and victorious emperors (commemorating reign) 1600?s: King Louis 14th ? commemorating himself at Versailles (thought he was the sun god) entrance to massive garden Cruciform pattern of water Apollo riding horses out of fountain Man on horseback very common Eiffel Tower ? main focal point of Paris exposition (world?s fair) Memorials to cultural icons/events Finland ? commemorates composer Graveyards of those who died in war crosses: all same height, we are all equal in death Martin Luther King Jr. Tomb in a tranquil pool of water Preservation district, not just the tomb (house where he live, church where he preached) Arlington Cemetery ? military personnel JFK?s grave Eternal flame Tomb to the unknown Andrew Jackson Downing Urn Washington DC Cruciform pattern Washington monument middle of cruciform pattern Shows the relationship to the past (ancient Egypt obelisk used often as a memorial) Jefferson Monument Vietnam Veterans Memorial Designed by Maya Lin Boomerang shape Goes into the Earth, becomes part of it in many ways Opposed by traditional groups Shows faces of those looking at the memorial, but also shows faces etched into the stone Arranged names chronologically, shows time of death People leave mementos in memory of those who died Korean War Memorial Realistic soldiers in field FDR Memorial Lawrence Halprin ?Create a system of environmental experiences? Many things to look at Used water ? grew up by water, wanted to cure polio using water Also commemorates people in his life (Eleanor and dog) Figures that commemorate the economic depression NYC Central Park ? Apartment complex where John Lennon lived (killed at doorway), made Strawberry Field World Trade Center Memorial Wells (fountains) New building ? plays with light and fluidity