Contemporary Landscape Design Research Articles

Incorporation mechanism of traditional Chinese garden elements in modern urban landscape design: an exploratory analysis based on grounded theory

ABSTRACT Following China’s reform and opening up in 1978, the image of European and American city construction has shaped China’s modern urban environment, but the creation of Chinese cities’ original intrinsic cultural landscape has been neglected. This leads to a break in the inheritance of garden culture in contemporary public and open urban landscape design. This study investigates the process of integrating traditional Chinese gardens into contemporary landscapes using grounded theory. In this study, In Vivo Coding is utilized to conduct a thorough analysis of textual materials through a three-step process: Open Coding, Axial Coding, and Selective Coding saturation test. The identified data are meticulously coded and summarized, culminating in the construction of a theoretical model. The study revealed that the incorporation of traditional Chinese garden elements in contemporary urban landscape design involves several key aspects: firstly, employing the traditional layout and spatial form of the entire design site; secondly, integrating modern public landscape design scenes with traditional garden design concepts to evoke a distinct Chinese ambiance; furthermore, utilizing both modern technology and materials alongside traditional techniques to create multi-dimensional elements within the site. The present study systematically synthesizes and examines the incorporation of traditional Chinese garden elements in contemporary urban design across six dimensions. This research offers a theoretical framework for the preservation of traditional garden culture and its integration into modern landscape, as well as furnishing mechanisms and methodologies for integrating traditional culture into contemporary landscape design practice. This research provides a valuable reference for preserving and practically implementing traditional garden elements in contemporary urban landscapes.

The trajectivity of Persian gardens. A study to rethink contemporary landscape design

This article seeks to shed new light on the reality of Persian gardens by examining them as a trajective reality, being formed through a set of continuous and ongoing exchanges with various human and natural elements constituting its environment. More particularly, it aims to highlight the process of reciprocal engendering that existed between the garden and the worldview of traditional Iranian society. In this way, it shows how the Persian garden is not only the imprint of the cosmology of the Iranian people but also, insofar as it unfolds a certain world, reciprocally its matrix. A content analysis as well as the study of several cases have allowed the identification of three types of relationship between the garden and the world of the ancient Persians through which they co-construct one another. These are: analogy, enrichment and complementarity. Finally, this study explores the importance of the building of such relationships in contemporary landscape design.

Landscape Appreciation of Leonardo Da Vincis Artwork

Nowadays, people pay more and more attention to landscape beauty, and the comfort and beauty of the living environment are considered important. Urban construction is gradually transforming into an environmentally friendly society. In order to promote the transformation of contemporary landscape design from mechanical design to humanized and natural design, this paper studies three works created in the Renaissance period under the guidance of humanistic thoughts, and analyzes the landscape expression in these works. The author adopts the method of case analysis. The Virgin of the Rocks, The Annunciation, and The Adoration of the Magi are selected. Through observation and analysis of the painting background, the expression of content and characteristics of each work, appreciating landscape reflected in Leonardo da Vincis artwork during Renaissance. The study aims to summarize the common characteristic and explore the reference significance for the present art landscape and promote the healthy development of urban construction. Renaissance gardens inspire contemporary landscape architects to pay attention to human feelings and primitive nature in their designs.

Shaping Possibilities of Traditions and Innovation in China Contemporary Landscape Design: A Case Study of Changsha Hunan Province

Shaping Possibilities of Traditions and Innovation in China Contemporary Landscape Design: A Case Study of Changsha Hunan Province

Discussion on the Application Research of CROSSFIT Site in Contemporary Landscape Design

Discussion on the Application Research of CROSSFIT Site in Contemporary Landscape Design

The Influence and Significance of Contemporary Art Trends on Modernist Landscape Design

Landscape design has developed very rapidly in recent years, and has made a lot of achievements in our current practical life and teaching practice, but as a relatively independent discipline, landscape design has gradually revealed a lot of problems that we have not paid attention to in the process of development and creation, and these problems need to be further researched and explored. Through analyzing the influence of contemporary art trends on the creation of modernist landscape designers, we hope to solve some of the current problems encountered in Chinese contemporary landscape design, as well as the influence and significance of contemporary art trends on modernist landscape design.

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.

Application of traditional water conservancy wisdom in the landscape of Suzhou Grand Canal

China has a long history of shipping and an extremely rich cultural heritage of the Grand Canal, traditional water conservancy is an important part of it. As a section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Suzhou Grand Canal has a profound impact on the historical development of Suzhou. In the context of the revitalization and activation of the historical heritage of the Grand Canal, this paper follows the superior planning of the Suzhou High-tech Zone Planning Branch, takes the nodes along the Suzhou Grand Canal from Hengtang to Fengqiao as the base of creation to sort out the Suzhou Canal culture and traditional water conservancy’s technology. The purpose of this article is, from the perspective of the application of water conservancy facilities in the design of modern waterfront landscapes, to explore the possibility and reference of the combination of historical and cultural heritage rejuvenation with contemporary urban life, traditional wisdom reuse and contemporary landscape design.

Aesthetic Consciousness of Literati Painting and its Application in Urban Planning

In order to find a way to combine traditional culture with modern living needs, taking “Chinese painting” as the breakthrough point, through the study of the development process and artistic characteristics of Chinese painting, four aspects of classical philosophy, natural landscape image, brush and ink composition artistic conception, and abstract aesthetic conception contained in Chinese painting are summed up. The results of the study provide enlightenment for contemporary residential landscape design, and summarize the methods of creating Chinese paintings in residential landscape design. Thus, a residential landscape model with the characteristics of “Chinese painting” is found out.

Application of New Materials in Contemporary Landscape Design

Throughout history, people’s pursuit of “beauty” has never stopped. From the natural beauty of the past to all kinds of novel beauty, the new generation of landscape architects have tried many new design techniques and new applications. As a result, the development of new materials and technologies has received increasing attention. The new material is an indispensable and important factor in landscape design. It witnessed the urban development process and appeared more frequently with a new face. This study mainly explains the impact of different materials on the development of different eras, introduces the current status of new materials, summarizes the characteristics of new materials, and summarizes the ways in which new materials are used in contemporary landscapes. Finally, the future development trend of the new materials is prospected. It is hoped that this research will provide some suggestions for the current domestic landscape design practice to a certain extent, and build a bridge between design theory and practice.

Provisional thoughts on criticism in China’s landscape design

In the past few decades, one of the ironic paradoxes in China’s contemporary landscape design has been the incongruity between massive, aggressive landscape construction and barren critical insight...

Beauty in the flow? Unravelling the messy design process of an urban stream

In ‘Sustaining Beauty: The Performance of Appearance’ (2008), and the later ‘Beyond “Sustaining Beauty”: Musings on a Manifesto’ (2015), Elizabeth Meyer advocates for the consideration of aesthetics as a performative factor in landscape, capable of transmitting environmental values and notions of sustainability. They should therefore, she claims, be reintegrated as a central factor in the design of sustainable landscapes. Meyer’s call to action seems to rely on the capacity of landscape designers to translate a coherent set of values into landscape. However, contemporary landscape design processes tend to be messy and take place in multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder arenas where actors may hold vastly divergent definitions of values and where the landscape designer is far from having exclusivity on spatial intentions. Through an exploration of the recent landscape design process for the daylighting of the Molenbeek stream in Brussels, Belgium, this paper discusses the profound effects such processes can have on the aesthetic experience of the resulting landscapes. It claims that a deeper and more nuanced understanding of these messy design processes is crucial for aesthetic theories to find application in future practice.

LA PKU’S RESEARCH ON CHINA’S TRADITIONAL ECO-WISDOM AND RELATED APPLICATION IN CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE PLANNING AND DESIGN

Since 1997, LA PKU has conducted a series of studies on China’s traditional ecological wisdom and related application in contemporary landscape planning and design. This paper first reviews the background and the course of LA PKU’s research: In early years, they studied on Feng-shui and vernacular landscapes that stemmed from their understanding and response to local natural and human processes in planning and design practice; In 2006, Kongjian Yu proposed the concept that Landscape Architecture is a discipline concentrating on the art of survival, which has greatly promoted the study and revival of traditional eco-wisdom, not only providing a historical base for the modern development of Landscape Architecture, but also applying the research results in responding to contemporary environmental and ecological problems; In 2014, developed upon the achievement on the art of survival, LA PKU further explored the deep form of China’s traditional landscapes by studying local spatial forms and design strategies on micro- and site-scales and translating such ecological solutions into China’s contemporary landscape design. The paper also reviews on LA PKU’s important research results over the past two decades, including traditional agricultural landscapes, vernacular settlements, and traditional water-adaptive landscapes.

The role of construction materials in modern landscape design

The article deals with the peculiarities of application, along with traditional, new building materials and products in the landscape design of the urban environment. The techniques and perspectives of their use in contemporary landscape design and compositions are highlighted and examples are given.

A spatial analysis of the pond design to create Okufukasa, a sense of depth: a case study of Katsura Imperial Villa

This study examined the visual structures of five highly regarded views at Katsura Imperial Villa to clarify the pond spatial characteristics of Okufukasa (a sense of depth) in Japanese stroll gardens. Analysing the layout and visibility of both the water surface and the islands in the pond view, we found that Okufukasa is created through a combination of features, such as the visual depth and width of the water surface with the vista and perspective, overlapping island layers, and the concealment of shorelines and their scenic end points. Two types of outlines were used to determine how layout affects Okufukasa. Directional outlines, distributed along the sides of the visual path, contribute to vista and perspective by mimicking the orientation of the furthest visible water surface. Meanwhile, stratificational outlines, distributed along the centre islands and convex sections of the surrounding islands, create overlap in the scenic layers. Clarifying this area of tacit knowledge in traditional Japanese gardening can contribute to the application of Okufukasa in contemporary landscape design.

Stereotype Shackles Creativity: The Conservatism in China’s Contemporary Landscape Design

This paper starts with criticizing the design tide of Neo Chinese-style in China’s contemporary landscape design, where it argues that the indiscriminate use of Chinese elements in landscape design has terribly deadened design uniqueness and diversity, and points out that the popularity of Neo Chinese-style mirrors the narrow conservatism prevalent in China’s contemporary design industry. The article also explores the topic of how to celebrate the Chinese culture in contemporary landscape design by reviewing the levels and dimensions of landscape culture and Chinese culture, with an argument that designers ought to have a broader horizon with a greater social responsibility.

Importance of Humane Design for Sustainable Landscape

Realizing the environmental threats, real or potential, to the quality of life, environmental movements have begun in virtually all sectors of industrialized countries, including business, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and architecture. Sustainable landscape architecture is one of the most incredible fields of design at contemporary topics. Important problem that will be resolved in this research is finding standard spots and positions in urban landscape for coming to sustainable landscape. The main purpose of this article is investigation of humane factors for better design in all scales of landscape architecture, into special consideration to sustainability. The research method of this paper is Descriptive Study, with two strategies: definition of keywords and discussion about them to receiving useful alternatives. Basic subjects had defined and then major objects had analyzed. Pay attention to new approach of sustainability and valuable position sustainable architectural research in contemporary landscape design is important result of this written.

Explore the Commercial and Residential Area of Contemporary Landscape Design Problems

With the development of economy, the rapid commercial and residential development of China's domestic. In the contemporary Chinese, many problems have designed many new residential areas. There are imitation, lack of style characteristics alone, poorly designed, designers and builders out of line and other issues. Through correlation analysis of Residential Landscape Design, presented various solutions.

Synthetic patterns: Fabricating landscapes in the age of ‘green’

This paper considers the efficacy of pattern in contemporary landscape design; in particular, it highlights projects that use pattern in response to_and as a critique of_the conventional forms that today's environmental mandates have taken. Much of the professional conversation revolves around problem-solving, instead of how these predominant environmental concerns are equally significant in terms of expression and experience. By harnessing these recent mandates and framing them within perceptually and conceptually integrated configurations, pattern can be used as a bridging mechanism between a landscape's utilitarian and aesthetic functions; between systems and signs. The use of pattern, due to its association with surface, is often met with suspicion and deemed unsuitable for ‘sitespecific’ responses. This paper traces the source of such scepticism_and the limited definition of pattern that has prompted such distrust_and highlights projects that suggest the potential for new, synthetic patterns as a means to organize landscape processes.

Chinese Traditional Elements in the Application of Contemporary Landscape Design

In the adornment element of the diversification of the now, how to understand correctly the traditional Chinese culture, the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese culture, the traditional culture elements and looking for contemporary landscape design is very good with effective way, using modern techniques to carry out coordination, create with the national characteristics of landscape design.