Landscape Architecture
The Curriculum
The Curriculum
The Design Studio Sequence
The Workshop Sequence
The Theory Sequence
The Media Sequence
THE CURRICULUM
The Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning restructured its curriculum in 1993. The three-year program admits students without a first professional degree; the two-year program, those with a BLA or a BArch from an accredited institution. The requirements for each program are set out in the following tables. Studio III (LARP 601) is undertaken jointly by entering two-year students and by continuing three-year students in their third semester.A three-year student is expected to take six semesters of design studio work, the first three of which are considered core requirements (501, 502, and 601) and the last three are elective choices. All studios meet for 12 hours per week, and the core studios are supplemented by the Media courses, which meet for 3-4 hours per week. The curriculum has four distinct interconnected sequences that are required of all students (except those who may be allowed to waive certain requirements because of previous experience or training). These are the Design Studio, Workshop, Theory, and Media sequences.
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At PENN, design is the primary focus of our teaching and research. By "design", we mean four things: material practice (the physical making of things, places, environments; the experiential aspects of things made, including drawings and models); synthetic practice (the inter-relating of things, ideas, places in newly synthetic ways; the development of an inclusive creativity); inquiring practice (the asking of questions, exploring of ideas, and speculating upon alternative sets of possibility); and process-based practice (the recognition that landscapes are formed and evolved by processes in time, and that creativity too is dependent upon the processes one works through to develop a project). These studies of design occur in the studio, where hypothetical scenarios surrounding the development of real sites and programs are used to make projects. Such projects vary from the design of pathways and platforms in forests and quarries (first year) to gardens and parks, plazas and waterfronts, brownfield and derelict land reclamations, housing and mixed-use urban developments, and regional plans.
By way of sequencing exercises and studios, we work with five general steps: first is the development of visual and manual acuities - learning how to see and record, primarily through training in observation, drawing, and making things. In particular, we emphasize "materials in process" situations, such as the complementary states of wetness and dryness. Second is the development of spatial, tactile, and temporal sensibilities - learning how to imagine and work with a variety of scalar and spatial configurations as well as temporal effects. Third is the development of approaches toward working with sites and places - learning how to "see" potential and uniqueness of sites; and how to record and transcribe these findings through design. Fourth is the development of imaginative, speculative, and critical capacities - learning how to imagine and create alternative worlds that are critically informed by past and current ideas. And fifth is the development of programmatic, political, social, and technical creativity - learning how to organize utility, efficacy, and cultural program in newly creative ways, studying infrastructure and large-scale organization as well as programming techniques and planning.By way of sequencing exercises and studios, we work with four steps to realize these aims:
- First is the development of visual and manual acuities – learning how to see and record, primarily through training in observation, drawing, and making things. In particular, we emphasize "materials in process" situations, such as the complementary states of wetness and dryness.
- Second is the development of spatial, tactile, and temporal sensibilities – learning how to imagine and work with spatial configurations as well as temporal effects (kinesthesia, passage, memory, growth and succession).
- Third is the development of sensibilities toward sites and places – learning how to approach and work with sites. Site-work, walks, surveys, maps, research, drawing, photography, ethnography, and other modes of analysis are developed.
- Fourth is the development of imaginative, speculative, and critical capacities – learning how to imagine and create alternative worlds that are critically informed by past and current ideas.
The technical and the natural science curricula are integrated into a Workshop sequence that examines the material and biological aspects of landscape architecture as processes of growth and physical transformation. To this end, the workshop sequence recognizes four different modes of knowledge associated with the design and construction of landscapes. The first mode is material knowledge: the natural and intrinsic properties of the broad range of materials that constitute a landscape: rocks, soil, plants, water, wood, concrete, asphalt, steel, etc. The second mode of knowledge is formal and involves an understanding of the physical capabilities of materials: their capacity to be shaped, reorganized, re-assembled according to culturally derived practices. The third mode of knowledge is quantitative, and involves the translation of the material qualities and the expressive intentions of the designer into quantified formulae, standard specifications, and technical modes of representation. The fourth mode is tactile, and involves knowledge of craft and workmanship.
The critical aspects that distinguish the Workshop sequence are the following:
This
sequence of three lecture / seminars introduces students both to
the histories of landscape architecture and changing attitudes
towards nature in different cultures and periods as well as to the
theoretical concerns that have guided those historical and
still-evolving narratives. Students in both the three-year and the
two-year program take all three segments.
These courses respond to a very urgent need in the field to
explore (a) a new and adequate historiography of landscape
architecture that will serve future practitioners and (b) an
creative dialogue between historical and theoretic (conceptual)
concerns.
The format of the classes varies according to the instructor(s),
class size and topic(s) in question, but includes lectures, site
visits, seminar and discussion classes, with assignments of
written work augmented by various graphic material. Students are
encouraged to make connections to their other work in studio,
workshop and even media.
Theory I: Case Studies in Landscape Architecture Reading
and Writing the Site: A Historical Survey This course is taught to
incoming students by Professor John Dixon Hunt. It has two
objectives: to acquire familiarity with a narrative of (largely
western) landscape architecture through a critical study of key
sites, designers and texts, organized in a chronological sequence
and approached in a cultural context; and to understand the
contribution to design practice of a critical understanding of
built works from all times and cultures. By "critical
understanding" is meant the ability to research a site in
archives, libraries and on the ground, to "read" it fully, and to
be able to "write" about it - i.e. represent visually and verbally
an understanding and assessment of a given site and its cultural
production.
Theory II: Topics in Landscape Architecture This course is
taught jointly by Practice Professor Laurie Olin and Professor
John Dixon Hunt. This course considers a series of topics -
issues, ideas, themes that recur in design ("the permanence of any
architectural topic results from its essential correspondence with
a recurring and fundamental human situation" [D.
Leatherbarrow]). The list of topics is subject to some change
and revision each year, but includes space, scale, meaning, type
& typology, the "three natures", representation, ecology,
regionality and locality, the sacred . . . Since topical arguments
are always circumstantial and local, we explore different
historical instances of any given topic before addressing its
contemporary significance. At issue, as well, is the contested
field of theory and practice.
Theory III: One or two designated electives are offered in
both the fall and spring terms from which students may select one
to fulfil the Theory III requirement. Typically these courses will
be taught / coordinated by a member of the standing faculty and
may include invited guest lecturers. Generally, the objective of
this requirement is to expose the student to detailed analysis and
critique of significant figures, projects, and discourses in the
field of landscape architecture. Its purpose is to expose the
students to a significant range of the most pressing issues in the
discipline as they are about to enter the option studios and begin
to formulate more independently their own field of inquiry.
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The Media
Sequence is a series of three courses that introduce the
fundamental tools and techniques associated with a variety of both
manual and digital design media. In this sequence, media are
presented not simply for purposes of communication but as vehicles
for developing design thought and practice.
The use and range of media in the design arts has expanded hugely
in recent years - whereas once upon a time a pencil and paper
would suffice, designers now find themselves fully engaged not
only with drawing media but also with computers, imaging and
animation software, and video. Thus, the aim of the media courses
is to simply introduce the student to drawing, projection,
perspective, notation, digital imaging techniques, AutoCAD,
digital modeling, and video - using these various introductions to
heighten the student's capacity "to see", to discern, and to
imagine. Representation is fundamental in design, and at PENN we
are committed to developing a rigorous and creative educational
sequence in media art.
Media I: Drawing and Visualization
The first half of this course introduces students to the media and
formal syntax of drawing (line, contour, figure-ground, texture,
structure, chiaroscuro). Issues of space, material, movement and
light in relationship to landscape experience are emphasized.
Additionally, techniques of projection drawing (orthographic,
isometric, perspective) are also introduced. In the second half of
the semester, students are offered an introduction to the use of
computer software (Photo-Shop and Illustrator) for the processing
of words and images. Issues of representation and imaging in
digital media are explored using some of the graphic material from
the first half of this course.
Media II: Digital Visualization and Design
This course introduces students to various projection and graphic
techniques (both hand-drawn and modeled digitally). The emphasis
is upon developing skills in visualization and eidetic
representation using both the drawing board and the computer as
tools for developing design projects. Advanced work with
Photo-Shop and Illustrator is studied, and techniques with AutoCAD
are introduced.
Media III: Digital Media: AutoCAD and Modeling
This course is the third in the LARP Media sequence and is
required of all MLA students at the 600 level. The course
introduces the means for integration of fundamentals and
techniques, acquired in Media I and II, into the interactive realm
of 3D modeling and animation using primarily FORM-Z modeling
programs. Students explore the various design media as they relate
to form, image, sequence, movement, and animation through a series
of weekly exercises. This content forms the foundation for a final
project over the second half of the semester. This inquiry asks
two fundamental questions: how can the use of modeling and
rendering tools improve the communication of ideas and, more
importantly, how can it be applied to reveal potentials that were
previously hidden from view?
While the course is primarily intended to develop skills in
digital media, it also requires a certain amount of drawing and
graphic visualization.