Landscape Architecture: An Introduction

209 Pages·2014·12.24 MB·English

by  Robert Holden

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Published in 2014 by
Laurence King Publishing Ltd
361–373 City Road
London EC1V 1LR
United Kingdom
email: [email protected]
www.laurenceking.com
© text 2014 Robert Holden & Jamie Liversedge
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Robert Holden and Jamie Liversedge have asserted their right under
the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, to be identifi ed as the
Authors of this Work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 78067 270 0
Design: Michael Lenz, Draught Associates
Senior editor: Peter Jones
Printed in China
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Contents
Introduction
What is a landscape architect? 13
How this book is structured 17

1. The History of Landscape Architecture
Beginnings 20
The growth of landscape architecture as a profession 24
The growth of the profession in Europe 28
The expansion of the profession worldwide 29
Case study: Painshill Park, Surrey, UK 30
Planning 32
City planning and structural green space 36
Changing styles: from Modernism to Postmodernism and beyond 38
Case study: Emscher Park, Ruhr Valley, Germany 44
Changing priorities: ecology, biodiversity and sustainability 46
Case study: Ijsselmeerpolders, the Netherlands 54
2. Beginning a Project
The brief 58
Types of client 65
Case study: Westergasfabriek Park, Amsterdam 66
Fees: how to get paid 68
Case study: Central Park, New York City 70
Site survey 72
Case study: Thames Barrier Park, London 74

3. The Design Process
Developing a design 78
Case study: Aphrodite Hills, Cyprus 86
The principles of design 88
Case study: Hedeland Arena, Roskilde, Denmark 104
Human fl ow and natural change 106
Case study: Marketplace and Waterfront, Odda, Norway 108
4. Representing the Landscape Design
Drawing and sketchbooks 112
Case study: School Courtyard, London 116
3D modelling and video 119
Photography 122
4
Digital design 123
Building Information Modelling (BIM) 124
Mapping, air photography, satellite imagery and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 125
Report writing 128
Live presentations 129
Case study: Villa Garden at Aphrodite Hills, Cyprus 130
5. From Design Team to Long-term Landscape Management
The stages of work 134
Case study: London 2012 Olympic Park 136
Multi-disciplinary design teams 138
The programme of work and the design team 140
Costing a project 141
Landscape management 147
Case study: The Parks Trust, Milton Keynes, UK 148
Case study: Dr Jac. P. Thijssepark, Amstelveen, the Netherlands 152
6. Education and Employment
Applying for a university course 156
Internships and jobs 163
Setting up your own business 164
Marketing 165
Case study: Thames Landscape Strategy 166
A note on professional status: the way the profession is seen worldwide 168
Case study: Druk White Lotus School, Ladakh, India 170
7. The Future
A changing environment 174
Some challenges 177
Case study: The Dutch National Water Plan 178
Case study: Floating Gardens, Shad Thames, London 182
Case study: Korail, Dhaka, Bangladesh 186
Case study: North Holland coastline, the Netherlands 190
Recycling and everyday practice 192
Final thoughts 194
Glossary 196
Bibliography 199
Index 204
Picture credits 208
5

IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn
What is a landscape architect? 13
How this book is structured 17
Parc Citroën Cévennes, Paris
7
Few lay people really understand what landscape architecture actually A
is: something to do with planting schemes, or with laying out the space
between buildings? Certainly both of those activities are involved, but the
landscape architecture profession is much broader than that. This book
aims to give a comprehensive overview of what landscape architecture
is and some idea of how it may develop over the next 40 or 50 years.
It is addressed in particular to those currently considering entering it
as a profession.
Put simply, landscape architects plan, and hence landscape architecture is
design and manage the landscape. also concerned with urban design.
Landscape architecture is an aesthetically While its origins are in design, certain
based profession founded on an forms of landscape architecture practice
understanding of the landscape. That are planning and management based.
understanding requires knowledge of the In some areas such as parks and
land sciences, geology, soils, hydrology, gardens there can be an overlap
botany, horticulture and ecology, and between garden design and landscape
also of biology, chemistry and physics. architecture. Both of the authors of
this book, for instance, are landscape
Landscape architecture grew out of architects who have designed
garden design, and indeed landscape private gardens. Both, however,
architecture and garden design continue have also been involved in large-scale
to be linked. The critical diff erence planning projects, have undertaken
between the two is that gardens tend environmental assessment work and
to be enclosed and to be designed have worked on urban design projects.
for the private individual, whereas If landscape architecture grew out
landscape architecture is concerned of landscape gardening and was
with open space, the public realm, and primarily a matter of aesthetics
the relationship between mankind’s in the nineteenth century, in the
development activities and the natural twentieth century it became more
environment. Landscape architecture is ecologically focused. In the twenty-
concerned with the public good, with fi rst century it has developed again,
community values and with human to become increasingly concerned
development and its impact on the with sustainability. It now deals
land. The scale of landscape planning with issues such as climate change
may be regional or even national: and biodiversity – while, of course,
landscape architects can design whole continuing to address visual matters.
new agricultural landscapes and forests. It is an applied art based on
Landscape embraces the townscape scientifi c understanding.
B
8
THE INTERRELATED SYSTEMS OF LANDSCAPE
SPACE
TIME
ECOLOGICAL/
HUMAN/SOCIAL
HEALTH
VISUAL &
HYDROLOGICAL/
SPATIAL
NATURAL
SETTING
PROCESSES
CULTURAL/
POLITICAL/ NATURAL HISTORY
REGULATORY
INFRASTRUCTURE/
UTILITIES
TRANSPORT/
CIRCULATORY
C
Landscape architecture dealing with
the public realm:
A. The High Line, New York.
B. The South Bank, London.
Garden design applied to a private development:
C. A phrodite Hills resort, Cyprus.
Introduction 9