Landscape architecture
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Landscape architecture is the most modern of the environment professions and represents a synthesis of arts, science and technical philosphies and practices that seek to care for the Earth's landscapes in a truly holistic, creative and sustainable manner. It involves the investigation and designed response to the landscape. The scope of the profession includes masterplanning, site planning, environmental restoration, town or urban planning, urban design, parks and recreation planning; green infrastructure planning and provsion, all at varying scales of design, planning and management. A practitioner in the field of landscape architecture is called a landscape architect.
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History of landscape architecture
The history of landscape architecture is related to the history of gardening. Both arts are concerned with the composition of planting, landform, water, paving and other structures but:
- garden design is essentially concerned with enclosed private space such as parks,gardens etc.
- landscape design is concerned with the design of enclosed space, as well as unenclosed space which is open to the public town squares,country parks,greenways etc.
The Romans undertook landscape architecture on an extensive scale,and Vitruvius wrote on many topics (eg the layout of towns) which still concern landscape architects. As with the other arts, it was not until the Renaissance, that garden design was revived, with outstanding examples including the pleasure grounds at the Villa d'Este,Tivoli,Italy. The renaissance garden developed through the 16th and 17th centuries,reaching an ultimate grandeur in the work of André le Nôtre at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles.
In the 18th century,England became the focus of a new style of landscape design. Figures such as William Kent,Humphry Repton, and most famously Lancelot 'Capability' Brown remodelled the great estate parks of the English gentry to resemble a neat and tidy version of nature. Many of these parks remain today. The term 'landscape architecture' was first used by the Scotsman Gilbert Laing Meason in the title of his book on The Landscape Architecture of the Great Painters of Italy(London, 1828). It was about the type of architecture found in landscape paintings. The term "landscape architecture" was then taken up by JC Loudon and AJ Downing.
Through the 19th century, urban planning became more important, and it was the combination of modern planning with the tradition of landscape gardening that gave Landscape Architecture its unique focus. In the second half of the century,Frederick Law Olmsted completed a series of parks which continue to have a huge influence on the practices of Landscape Architecture today. Among these were Central Park in New York, Prospect Park in Brooklyn,and Boston's so called Emerald Necklace park system.
Landscape architecture continues to develop as a design discipline, and has responded to many of the movements of design and architecture through the 20th century. Today, a healthy level of innovation continues to provide challenging design solutions for streetscapes,parks and gardens. The work of Martha Schwartz in the US,and in Europe designs such as Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam by the Dutch design group (West 8) are just two examples.
Ian McHarg is considered an important influence on the modern Landscape Architecture profession and land planning in particular. With his book "Design with Nature", he popularized a system of analyzing the layers of a site in order to compile a complete understanding of the qualitative attributes of a place. This system became the foundation of today's Geographic Information Systems (GIS). McHarg would give every qualitative aspect of the site a layer, such as the history, hydrology, topography, vegetation, etc. GIS software is ubiquitously used in the landscape architecture profession today to analyze materials in and on the earth's surface and is similarly used by Urban Planners, Geographers, Forestry and Natural Resources professionals, etc.
Duties Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, which includes:Geography,Mathematics,Science,Engineering,Art, Horticulture,Technology,Social Sciences etc. The activities of a landscape architect can range from the creation of public parks and parkways to site planning for corporate office buildings, from the design of residential estates to the design of civil infrastructure and the management of large wilderness areas or reclamation of degraded landscapes such as mines or landfills. Landscape architects work on all types of structures and external space - large or small, urban or rural, and with "hard"/"soft" materials, hydrology and ecological issues.
The breadth of the professional task that landscape architects collaborate on is very broad, but some examples of project types include:
- The planning, form, scale and siting of new developments
- Civil design and public infrastructure
- Stormwater management including rain gardens,green roofs and treatment wetlands
- Campus and site design for institutions
- Parks,botanical gardens,arboretums,greenways, and nature preserves
- Recreation facilities like golf,theme parks and sports facilities
- Housing areas, industrial parks and commercial developments
- Highways, transportation structures, bridges, and transit corridors
- Urban design, town and city squares, waterfronts, pedestrian schemes, and parking lots
- Large or small urban regeneration schemes
- Forest, tourist or historic landscapes, and historic garden appraisal and conservation studies
- Reservoirs, dams, power stations, reclamation of extractive industry applications or major industrial projects
- Environmental assessment and landscape assessment, planning advice and land management proposals.
- Coastal and offshore developments
- Ecological Design any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with natural processes.
The most valuable contribution is often made at the earliest stage of a project in generating ideas and bringing flair and creativity to the use of space. The landscape architect can contribute to the overall concept and prepare an initial master plan, from which detailed designs can subsequently be prepared. He or she can also let and supervise contracts for construction work, prepare design impact assessments, conduct environmental assessments or audits and act as an expert witness at inquiries on land use. He or she can also support or prepare applications for capital or revenue funding grants.
For the period before 1800 (see section on History, below), the history of landscape architecture is largely that of master planning. The first person to write of "making" a landscape was Joseph Addison in 1712. The term "landscape gardener" was invented by William Shenstone in 1754 but the first professional designer to use this term was Humphry Repton in 1794. The term "landscape architecture" was invented by Gilbert Laing Meason in 1828 and was first used as a professional title by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1863. Lancelot Brown, (also known as "Capability" Brown), who remains one of the best known "landscape gardeners" actually called himself a "place maker". During the nineteenth century, the term "landscape gardener" became applied to people who build (and sometimes design) landscapes and the term "landscape architect" became reserved for people who design (and sometimes build) landscapes. This use of "landscape architect" became established after the American Society of Landscape Architects was founded in 1899 and the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) in 1948.
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