Contemporary Landscape Architecture Research Articles

The practice and potential of the SITES v2 rating system for the sustainable design of a landscape: A case study of Chicago’s Navy Pier

The landscape is a synthesis of cultural and natural processes in a place that can be designed and maintained to improve and regenerate the natural benefits and services of ecosystems. The Sustainable Sites Initiative has developed a rating system that identifies and advances best practices for landscape architecture. The SITES v2 Rating System was produced through a multi-year iterative process and incentives sustainable landscape practices by using an ecosystem services framework. Opportunities for continuing research on how SITES v2 encourages the creation of a landscape sustainability system and drives more sustainable land development will become apparent as it expands in application, scope, and impact. To illustrate the practice and potential of SITES v2 for sustainable landscape design, this research is primarily a literature review with the specific context of the SITES gold-certified project, Navy Pier in Chicago. The results show that SITES v2 is an important tool for transforming theory into the implementation of ecosystem services and guiding design decisions towards sustainable outcomes. It also promotes the entire project's accountability to a higher standard of best practices and results in a more sustainable site. In the context of contemporary landscape architecture practices, SITES v2 may lead to the transformation of sustainable landscape design. This study can promote the ongoing application of SITES v2 and the creation of a better sustainable landscape through design. It holds the potential to highlight how the methodology on which SITES has been created can be linked with the development of future cities and the management of urban landscapes.

The Relationship between the Color Landscape Characteristics of Autumn Plant Communities and Public Aesthetics in Urban Parks in Changsha, China

Contemporary landscape architecture studies have paid close attention to the interactions between public aesthetic preferences and the landscape environment. Scenic beauty has become an important evaluation indicator of landscape quality. The quality of the plant color landscape is an important factor affecting scenic beauty. Exploring the relationship between the composition rules and internal properties of autumn plant color landscapes in urban parks and public aesthetic preferences can provide new ideas for the evaluation and design of plant community color landscapes. Taking 12 parks in Changsha City, Hunan Province, China, as the study area and 85 plant communities as the sample plots, scenic beauty estimation (SBE) was used to evaluate the autumn plant color landscape of urban parks. ColorImpact software was used to extract the color values of each plant community. Fifteen original color element indicators were determined, and the data were statistically analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), one-way ANOVA, multiple comparison analysis and systematic cluster analysis. Four principal components were extracted to construct the characteristic indices and a comprehensive model of the color landscape quality of autumn plant communities. The four characteristic indices showed significant or extremely significant differences among the five SBE grades. From the overall trend, the SBE grades showed a positive correlation with PC1 (primary and adjunctive color index), PC2 (color structure and property index) and PC3 (autumn-color-leafed index) and a negative correlation with PC4 (intersperse color index). RPH (ratio of primary hue), RP (ratio of primary color), RC (color-leafed index), RWC (ratio of warm and cool colors), and NC (number of colors) were the key factors affecting the SBE grade. Overall, RPH, RP, RC, and RWC positively influenced the SBE values, while NC negatively influenced the SBE values, and five to seven colors were more moderate. The quality of the color landscape can be improved by creating plant communities with three types of color composition: warm-toned dominant type, warm- and cold-toned contrast type, and multicolor harmonic type. The results provide a reference for the evaluation, design and construction of autumn plant color landscapes in urban parks.

An Analysis of The Utilization of Yunnan Minority Totems in Contemporary Landscape Architecture

This paper explores the utilization of Yunnan minority totems in contemporary landscape architecture and its cultural significance. By analyzing the historical development and current practices of Yunnan minority communities, this study provides insights into the integration of cultural heritage and modern design. The research identifies the potential of totems as a valuable resource for sustainable and culturally sensitive design. Through the case studies of interior design in tall buildings, this paper demonstrates how traditional practices can be adapted and incorporated into contemporary design. The findings contribute to the discourse on the role of cultural heritage in shaping the built environment and provide practical implications for landscape architects and designers working in multicultural contexts.

A qualitative study on how Danish landscape architectural firms understand and work with accessibility

PurposeDuring the past decade, Danish policies and legislation have increasingly focused on accessibility, which, by virtue of adopting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, has spurred new demands for the expertise of Danish landscape architects. Surveys indicate as much as 27% of the Danish population have a physical disability. Therefore, landscape architectural firms play an important role in designing accessible, public and green spaces, which could reduce the number of people who experience disability in their everyday life arising from inaccessible designs. Despite this, peer-reviewed research has not attempted to qualitatively understand how landscape architects approach accessibility in their daily practice.Design/methodology/approachBased on a grounded theory analysis of 15 semi-structured qualitative interviews with randomly selected landscape architectural firms, this study aims to describe how landscape architectural firms approach and perceive accessibility.FindingsThe results of the study show a complex understanding of accessibility among practising landscape architects, with firms focusing on the role of Danish building regulations, the programming of accessibility and professional aesthetic dilemmas. Moreover, accessibility is perceived with some frustration as an element that takes valuable space from green areas due to clients' lack of willingness to provide resources for integrated solutions, landscape architects' own limited expertise and knowledge of integrated accessibility solutions and insufficient regulatory leeway.Originality/valueAs accessibility is a major element of the tasks within contemporary landscape architecture, graduates need additional training in accessibility, which, in turn, necessitates additional research into accessible design solutions.

Corpo a corpo


 
 
 
 Bodies make immaterial, impermanent, and impregnable urban geographies, and thereby affirm and claim the open spaces of the city as fields of opportunity, repositories of not pacified and controversial rituals, therefore fruitful. Bodies have an explicit design value; they are cognitive as well as configurative tools. When we put bodies at the center of the project, we outline performative landscapes in both environmental and aesthetic, emotional and behavioral terms. At the same time, we male authentically erotic landscapes, which are opportunities for mixing, commingling, generating situations pulsating with life. We make landscape of great sensualism, in the very sense of expansion and amplification of sensibilities attentive to contextual interactions, both present and eventual. This paper investigates some of declinations of this statement, going through different scales and fields, from urban history to art history, and then dwells on some notable examples of contemporary landscape architecture.
 
 
 

Terrain-Specific: Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Canada

The Canadian landscape has typically captured a global imaginary of a pristine wild, but how might its urban designed landscapes be distinctly understood? Foregrounded by the landscape transformations accelerated by climate change, the book <i>Innate Terrain: Canadian Landscape Architecture</i>, edited by Professor Alissa North from the University of Toronto, highlights landscape architecture projects situated on the unique Canadian terrain. Providing further provocation on Canadian landscape architecture, <i>Innate Terrain</i> seeks to fill the literary gap on contemporary landscape perspectives, distinguishing Canadian landscape architecture from global practice, and particularly, its well-documented American counterpart. Landscape architecture in the Canadian context has evolved and established its own distinct identity, one imbued with national and local sensitivities. Informed by diverse environmental and cultural contexts, Canadian-designed landscapes reflect and refer to the prevailing ecosystems of Canada’s innate terrain. Contrary to the preceding International Style, landscape architecture projects in Canada have adopted the ethos of Critical Regionalism in the second half of the 20th century. Contemporary Canadian practitioners are designing landscapes that are deeply informed by their surrounding geographical context while emphasizing cultural specificity. Central to this cultural specificity, addressed by a new generation of landscape architects, is the increasing recognition of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge within the discipline. Canadian landscape architects have collaborated with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, including the keepers of this knowledge, to develop land management strategies and design landscape interventions.

Landscape Design toward Urban Resilience: Bridging Science and Physical Design Coupling Sociohydrological Modeling and Design Process

Given that evolving urban systems require ever more sophisticated and creative solutions to deal with uncertainty, designing for resilience in contemporary landscape architecture represents a cross-disciplinary endeavor. While there is a breadth of research on landscape resilience within the academy, the findings of this research are seldom making their way into physical practice. There are existent gaps between the objective, scientific method of scientists and the more intuitive qualitative language of designers and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to help bridge these gaps and ultimately support an endemic process for more resilient landscape design creation. This paper proposes a framework that integrates analytic research (i.e., modeling and examination) and design creation (i.e., place-making) using processes that incorporate feedback to help adaptively achieve resilient design solutions. Concepts of Geodesign and Planning Support Systems (PSSs) are adapted as part of the framework to emphasize the importance of modeling, assessment, and quantification as part of processes for generating information useful to designers. This paper tests the suggested framework by conducting a pilot study using a coupled sociohydrological model. The relationships between runoff and associated design factors are examined. Questions on how analytic outcomes can be translated into information for landscape design are addressed along with some ideas on how key variables in the model can be translated into useful design information. The framework and pilot study support the notion that the creation of resilient communities would be greatly enhanced by having a navigable bridge between science and practice.

Inspirative geology -the influence of natural geological formations and patterns on contemporary landscape design

Throughout the history of landscape design, we have witnessed many examples where natural features were used as symbolic elements of manmade landscapes and gardens. This influence of landscape geology had its impact on contemporary landscape architecture, resulting in diverse and innovative applications, which are the main topic of our discussion. The article is intended to demonstrate the trend of drawing inspiration from natural landscape features in contemporary landscape architecture in a new and complex way, focusing particularly on the influence of geology, geomorphology and tectonics. A study was conducted on twelve available, published contemporary landscape projects from the last two decades analysing the imitation of nature in the designs, with photo documentation and description. The aim is to identify how ‘native geology’ can influence today’s landscape architecture, which formations are inspirative, where and how they are integrated to the contemporary artistic design. Furthermore, in order to develop a complex understanding on how these references applied to the sites enhance the experience of the space. The selected projects are compared according to pairs of contrasting qualities that are related to measurable characteristics of a space. This will finally lead to identifying some common trends of today’s landscape architecture in applying this geology-inspired design approach.

Designing Aesthetic Experiences for the Cultural Sustainability of Ecological Health

Ensuring human wellbeing and promoting ecological health are two central objectives in contemporary landscape architecture practice and adaption to climate change. Cognitive sciences recognize that affect and emotion play a critical role in human decision-making. This article describes how aesthetic experiences could affect decisions that support or undermine ecological health. While the wellbeing benefits of pleasant landscape experiences have been demonstrated empirically, aesthetic experiences may or may not promote ecological health. The question of how to better align the two remains under debate and investigation. Building on the concept of cultural sustainability, this article elucidates how aesthetic experiences can be used in design tactics to encourage societal acceptance for highly functioning ecosystems that otherwise may be destroyed or resisted for their unappealing or unfamiliar appearance. With examples from China and the United States, this article illuminates how fine-scale, immediately noticeable landscape characteristics, such as “cues to care,” can change perceptual and affective responses to promote ecological health. This article invites readers to reflect on what role aesthetic experiences may play in conserving, restoring, and creating ecologically sound landscapes as we face new challenges in the urban era of climate change, and how design can help construct aesthetic experiences with immediately noticeable landscape characteristics.

Role of Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Public Spaces in Terms of Shaping Architectural Education and Recreation - Selected Examples from China

In full respect of the original, historical, cultural and natural conditions of the original site, contemporary Landscape Architecture can help to convert the site into public space characterised with a full range of functionalities. Extending the social offer of given sites with leisure and recreation options, the landscape architecture contributes to reshape public spaces into better and more sustainable places. Referring to three different case studies exemplifying the transformation of abandoned sites into functional public space during urban and rural regeneration in China, the paper focuses on the research of regeneration of sites converted into public space intended to provide recreation, leisure and educational opportunities to local communities. Through the application of a variety of forms and techniques, the contemporary Landscape Architecture can increase the appeal of public space and its vitality. This paper aims to present the results of the analysis of three different modern landscape designs implemented in abandoned areas. The referred to examples clearly testify for the fact that the contemporary landscape architecture can effectively promote the integration of education and leisure to create open space compliant with the ecological principles of sustainable development, i.e. where identification and assessment of the relationship between Landscape Architecture and the surroundings, identification and assessment of the diversity and attractiveness of public space and possible Landscape Architecture solutions can turn into direct benefits for the space users.

ECOLOGICAL OR NATURALISTIC:A BRIEF REVIEW AND SEVERAL THOUGHTS ON CONTEMPORARY PLANTING DESIGN

<i>Nature</i> is a cultural construct, and a symbolic form to our cultural landscape. It plays a critical role in the profession of Landscape Architecture, shaping both the practice in the constructed environment as well as the conception of landscape in Pedagogy. This article evaluates contemporary landscape architecture practice in the U.S. through the lens of planting design and ecological design approaches. This retrospect situates selected individuals and their practices in the field of landscape architecture in the past two decades, in parallel with the evolving ecological understanding. These individuals and their works demonstrate the changes in planting design and ecological thinking in the professional practice, and most importantly how these changes contribute to current ecological design methodologies, landscape aesthetics, and public perception of landscape. In addition, the article aims to illustrate a shifting conception of <i>Nature</i> over time and in different cultural context, in which different conceptions of Nature facilitate various approaches to addressing environmental issues. By situating in such context, the article hopes to provide a critical view of contemporary American landscape architecture practice and the current ecological agenda, in order to enable discussions regarding the professional practice in the future.

Application of the Semantic Network Method to Sightline Compensation Analysis of the Humble Administrator’s Garden

Traditional Chinese private gardens (TCPGs) are a special type of seventeenth century landscaped architectural space that exhibit high levels of spatial complexity and variety, which are attributed to its patterns of spatial organisation. Sightline designs in these gardens are unique and ingenious. To date, only a few theories have tried to explain their spatial qualities from the perspective of visual analysis. However, there is a lack of formal mathematical analysis of sightline design in relation to the spatial organisation in TCPGs. To achieve this, the paper presents a study of sightline compensation analysis for a typical TCPG (the Humble Administrator’s Garden) using the semantic network method. The semantic network model is established on two levels—spatial accessibility and superimposed sightline. Results of this study suggests that sightline compensation forms the circular spatial structure that spreads outwards from core spaces, and composes the mathematically key spatial sequence of the Humble Administrator’s Garden. The effect of sightline compensation also expands and composes the spatial structure of the garden, which creates the effect of endless views within the garden. This study provides a new method for analysing and understanding contemporary landscape architecture design, which potentially benefits landscape architecture practitioners, students and educators.

Landscape Strategies in Architecture

The central question and purpose of the thesis is to understand how landscape as a design concept is changing our understanding of architecture. It explores the ways in which landscape is relevant for design strategies in architecture. Buildings that have been designed like landscapes have become a topic in contemporary architecture and in the recent literature about it. The apparent distinction between architecture and landscape is questioned in exemplary theoretical works and building designs with increasing interest in landscape as a phenomenon of contemporary architecture. To understand this phenomenon this thesis first explores the term of landscape and its design. The introduction focuses on the exploration of the idea of landscape and how it is applicable in architectural design. Strategies of landscape design as they are discussed in contemporary landscape architecture are defined and illustrated with specific examples. This view is contrasted with the idea of nature in architecture. Architecture's concepts of nature reveal some crucial problems that lead to the polarity of 'wild' nature and 'human' architecture. With a critique of these common architectural theories and within the methodological differentiation the thesis reveals the necessity of research through analysis of landscape spatial composition in architecture. The core of this thesis is three case studies of architectural designs that approach a building like a landscape. A selection of analytical techniques is applied to key cases in three central chapters. The main analytical model for landscape architectural composition that Steenbergen and Reh (2003) developed for the European Gardens of the Renaissance, Baroque and Enlightenment is applied as a drawing analysis of the formal composition of three selected contemporary architectural projects in a period from 1992 to 2015. Each of the three building designs is studied with the same four-layer method of design analysis. In conjunction with this comparative analysis, a project specific method that reveals unique aspects of each design has been developed. The first case is OMA's unbuilt Jussieu design for two university libraries in Paris. In 1992 Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his collaborators at OMA proposed the Jussieu project at a turning point of the discipline, where new forms of architecture with landscape design strategies were being explored. Though this project has not been realised, this thesis makes it possible to describe the building in a guided walk-through. This visualisation of the design as it could have looked if built is also the specific analytical method chosen for this example. The second case, the Rolex Learning Centre at EPF Lausanne, has been clearly declared 'landscape' as architecture by its designers. This competition winning design from 2004 and opened in 2010 is the largest scale international building of Japanese Architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA). The specific analytical method used for this case is a visual space analysis of the project using 3D-isovists. The third case is the of of Galicia in Santiago de Compostela by American architect Peter Eisenman. This project was initially designed in 1999 in a process of layering - in principle, similar to the layer model analysis of this thesis. However, the four tenets of the thesis layer model - ground form, spatial form, metaphorical form and programmatic form - will alter the reading of this project. This execution of the giant public project of City of Culture was interrupted half-way in 2015, with great political difficulties fo Galicia. The specific analytical method used for this case is an experiment that uses the ruins of unbuilt architecture as the base for a landscape architectural design. This design of a temporary garden mimics the design principles of architect Peter Eisenman. This experiment shows that landscape strategies developed for the design of a building can be applied in reverse for designed landscapes. In conclusion, this thesis will compare the three case studies of architectural designs with each other. While some design instruments, strategies and methods are specific, others are commonly applied in several or all of the projects. In a broader scope, the analysis is transposed into the greater societal and theoretical realm to explore whether landscape design strategies change architecture. For the discipline of architecture in general, the thesis explores how far landscape could lead the profession further as a new concept to build a sustainable human environment. Evoking potential applications and the reach of landscape in architecture in the perspective of future development, the thesis ultimately discusses unexplored potentials for landscape design strategies in the architectural discipline.

Landscape Strategies in Architecture

The central question and purpose of the thesis is to understand how landscape as a design concept is changing our understanding of architecture. It explores the ways in which landscape is relevant for design strategies in architecture. Buildings that have been designed like landscapes have become a topic in contemporary architecture and in the recent literature about it. The apparent distinction between architecture and landscape is questioned in exemplary theoretical works and building designs with increasing interest in landscape as a phenomenon of contemporary architecture. To understand this phenomenon this thesis first explores the term of landscape and its design. The introduction focuses on the exploration of the idea of landscape and how it is applicable in architectural design. Strategies of landscape design as they are discussed in contemporary landscape architecture are defined and illustrated with specific examples. This view is contrasted with the idea of nature in architecture. Architecture's concepts of nature reveal some crucial problems that lead to the polarity of 'wild' nature and 'human' architecture. With a critique of these common architectural theories and within the methodological differentiation the thesis reveals the necessity of research through analysis of landscape spatial composition in architecture. The core of this thesis is three case studies of architectural designs that approach a building like a landscape. A selection of analytical techniques is applied to key cases in three central chapters. The main analytical model for landscape architectural composition that Steenbergen and Reh (2003) developed for the European Gardens of the Renaissance, Baroque and Enlightenment is applied as a drawing analysis of the formal composition of three selected contemporary architectural projects in a period from 1992 to 2015. Each of the three building designs is studied with the same four-layer method of design analysis. In conjunction with this comparative analysis, a project specific method that reveals unique aspects of each design has been developed. The first case is OMA's unbuilt Jussieu design for two university libraries in Paris. In 1992 Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his collaborators at OMA proposed the Jussieu project at a turning point of the discipline, where new forms of architecture with landscape design strategies were being explored. Though this project has not been realised, this thesis makes it possible to describe the building in a guided walk-through. This visualisation of the design as it could have looked if built is also the specific analytical method chosen for this example. The second case, the Rolex Learning Centre at EPF Lausanne, has been clearly declared 'landscape' as architecture by its designers. This competition winning design from 2004 and opened in 2010 is the largest scale international building of Japanese Architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA). The specific analytical method used for this case is a visual space analysis of the project using 3D-isovists. The third case is the City of Culture of Galicia in Santiago de Compostela by American architect Peter Eisenman. This project was initially designed in 1999 in a process of layering - in principle, similar to the layer model analysis of this thesis. However, the four tenets of the thesis layer model - ground form, spatial form, metaphorical form and programmatic form - will alter the reading of this project. This execution of the giant public project of "City of Culture" was interrupted half-way in 2015, with great political difficulties fo Galicia. The specific analytical method used for this case is an experiment that uses the ruins of unbuilt architecture as the base for a landscape architectural design. This design of a temporary garden mimics the design principles of architect Peter Eisenman. This experiment shows that landscape strategies developed for the design of a building can be applied in reverse for designed landscapes. In conclusion, this thesis will compare the three case studies of architectural designs with each other. While some design instruments, strategies and methods are specific, others are commonly applied in several or all of the projects. In a broader scope, the analysis is transposed into the greater societal and theoretical realm to explore whether landscape design strategies change architecture. For the discipline of architecture in general, the thesis explores how far landscape could lead the profession further as a new concept to build a sustainable human environment. Evoking potential applications and the reach of landscape in architecture in the perspective of future development, the thesis ultimately discusses unexplored potentials for landscape design strategies in the architectural discipline.

THE SPARK OF CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE CREATIVITY &#8212; THE FOUNDATION LANDSCAPE DESIGN STUDIO IN THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Traditional landscape design studio training starts with the learning of a classic or prominent landscape project, may it be through site observation or a trace-over / imitation exercise. Foundation year students in a landscape program typically take the landscape precedent project as a study ground, to learn about the landscape master’s design through the mimicking process in the trace-over exercise, or to learn about the articulation of spatial design through site observation. Landscape Architecture, afterall, is a creative endeavor. Thus, an alternative approach is to start the fundamental training with the study of artistic processes, to foster appreciation in art and design, innovative concept development, and articulation in craftsmanship. Also, the contemporary discourse of Landscape Architecture is no longer simply about spatial design, but has transformed to require understanding of process, operation, step-by-step mechanism, movement, and how a system works. The performative and dynamic aspects of landscape are being valued nowadays. Such ways of seeing landscapes require a different set of observation and representation methods and skills. In this article, the author shares how the pedagogical content and developments of the foundation year landscape design studio in the HKU Bachelor of Arts in Landscape Studies BA(LS) Program help train students with such new interpretations to contemporary Landscape Architecture.

The Shifting Position of Animals in Landscape Theory

Landscape architecture is unique as a design practice in its engagement with living nonhumans as instrumental media. However, contemporary landscape architecture theory has struggled to integrate fauna as components of the designed landscape beyond calls to provide and preserve habitat and address the philosophical implications of such a gesture. Animals and other mobile entities, when recognized as integral components of landscapes rather than occasional inhabitants, challenge static notions of landscapes as passive spaces and instead invigorate them as lively events. Some early writings on landscape practice and theory, dating back to the picturesque movement, acknowledge the presence of animals in the landscape. More recently, some landscape designers have imagined new roles for animals. No longer are they passive objects or visitors or inhabitants, blindly providing ecosystem services. Increasingly, these designers have explored the role of animals as active agents shaping the landscape, in ways that reimagine interspecies relationships and subjectivities. Provocations for “animal-aided design” are emblematic of this novel take on the animal in the landscape. Using animacy as a tool for revealing various relational qualities of landscapes, this article joins with calls to attend to the liveliness of other beings as productive and creative agents.

VERBAL DRAWINGS: MAPPING LANDSCAPE IDEAS

Verbal drawings, as a particular drawing category of drawings, are discussed in this paper about its history, qualities, and what kind of role they could play in the design communication of contemporary landscape architecture. The definition of verbal drawings arises from the observation and reading of Rupestrian art and its process in making drawings and paintings. Rupestrian art was the first human written communication prior to the emergence of words and spoken communication. For this reason, Rupestrian art drawings and paintings are not just images to be seen; above all, they are texts to be read. They are written drawings using pictograms, ideograms, and psycho-ideograms to compose images with a specific grammar and syntax. These written images have three qualities: a sense of immediacy, a sense of beauty, and a sense of lightness. Representing human activities in particular environments, Rupestrian art drawings are not only the first landscape representations but also the early representations of the act of mapping, opening a connection between the art of cartography and the art of verbal drawings. Using examples, this paper explains the importance of ancient and modern mapping arts in connection with the discourse of contemporary landscape architecture by demonstrating how the senses of immediacy, beauty, and lightness help contemporary verbal drawings compete with the neutral, beautiful, quickly produced and consumed digital representations nowadays. In the end, the text proposes a confrontation between Umberto Eco’s concept of “open work” and verbal drawings — Verbal drawings might be intended more like “open frameworks” than “open works.” It is a concept that considers verbal drawings able to accept new ideas for extending their meanings and significance throughout the design process.

Surface Design Operations in Landscape Architecture

This article investigates contemporary landscape architecture through a cross-case evaluation of design projects that focus on <i>surface design operations</i> (SDO). The SDO concept was developed to evaluate how designers apply design tactics and strategies to the ground surface, with a particular focus on how they transform urban sites (such as paved, fallow, and abandoned ground). Toward that end, this article defines surface and medium for the research context and focuses on the constructive purpose and meaning of design operations. Among 24 projects, five categories of SDO are identified and discussed in depth: <i>deconstruction/reconstruction</i> (D/R), <i>geologic matters</i> (GM), <i>modular-hybridity</i> (H-M), <i>constructed-layered ground</i> (C-L), and <i>transitional/anticipatory</i> (T/A). Explanations of each category focus on one project example. The article concludes with a discussion regarding how SDOs are useful for landscape architecture pedagogy and professional practice and suggests pathways for continued research and application.

Practice Teaching of Landscape Survey Course Based on eCognition Remote Sensing Image Interpretation* Technology

With the rapid development of modern 3S technology (Remote Sensing, Geography Information Systems, and Global Positioning Systems) and the rise of the digital landscape research globally, it has become the inevitable development trend for the landscape architecture teaching to make full use of Remote Sensing (RS) interpretation technology, improve the landscape survey digital platform, enrich the landscape analysis of objective data, find the inherent law of natural and man-made environment, and stimulate the scientific and technological progress of landscape architecture. To this end, based on the application status of RS image interpretation technology in the field of contemporary landscape architecture, this paper studies the application of eCognition RS image interpretation technology in the practice teaching of landscape survey. Firstly, through comparison of related technologies, the advantages and its teaching application possibility of eCognition image interpretation technology were stated. Secondly, various stages of eCognition RS image interpretation technology in assisting landscape design were analysed, highlighting the teaching application in landscape survey; besides, specific examples were taken to explain and verify how to carry out the practice teaching of landscape survey. Finally, the application characteristics of eCognition RS image interpretation technology and the future development trend of landscape RS teaching were summarized. The application results show that the introduction of eCognition RS image interpretation technology into practice teaching of landscape architecture can effectively improve teaching efficiency and learning effects, and promote the simultaneous development of students’ practical ability, analytical ability and judgment ability. Moreover, it has broad application prospects in the teaching parts of landscape survey, assessment, design and performance. The research findings are of great significance to promote the application of RS image interpretation technology in landscape teaching.

Christine Dalnoky. El ritmo pausado del paisaje

This paper is displayed like a journey across the work of Christine Dalnoky, key referent for contemporary landscape architecture. Taking part of the critical movement towards a new landscape architecture focused on memory recovering of the site –in contrast with architectonical theories focused on program–, the analysis is presented as a crossing between ideological positions, spatial dialectic and prevalence or rhythms, in coherence with her personal evolution. Christine Dalnoky biography is divided in two periods: first settled in Paris and identified with her association from 1988 with Michel Desvignes; second moved to a little town in Provence, where she founded a new practices with Patrick Solvet. This radical removal from metropolis is shown in parallel with her projects development, in special with this of Parque del Agua in Zaragoza, where slow rhythm of landscape is imposed definitely over urban agitation.