A Philosophy Of Landscape Construction

A Philosophy of Landscape Construction outlines a philosophy of values in landscape construction, demonstrating how integral structures, such as pavements and walls, constitute a key element to how people interact with and inhabit the final design. The book discusses how these structures enable, assist and care for people, negotiating between the dynamic processes of site ecosystems and the soil on which they are founded. They articulate spatial, functional, cultural and ecological meanings. Within this theoretical framework, designers will learn to recognize and insert a set of core values into the most technical design stages to reach their full potential. By offering a new perspective on landscape construction, moving away from the exclusively technical characteristics, this book allows landscape architects to realise the ideal vision for their designs. It is abundantly illustrated with examples from which designers can learn both successes and failures and will be an essential companion to any study of built landscapes.

"A Philosophy of Landscape Construction outlines a philosophy of values in landscape construction, demonstrating how integral structures, such as pavements and walls, constitute a key element to how people interact with and inhabit the final design. The book discusses how these structures enable, assist and care for people, negotiating between the dynamic processes of site ecosystems and the soil on which they are founded. They articulate spatial, functional, cultural and ecological meanings. Within this theoretical framework, designers will learn to recognise and insert a set of core values into the most technical design stages to reach their full potential. Offering a new perspective on landscape construction, moving away from the exclusively technical characteristics, this book allows landscape architects to realise the ideal vision for their designs. It is abundantly illustrated with examples from which designers can learn both successes and failures and will be an important companion to any study of built landscapes"--

This thesis uses qualitative inquiry to examine the process for developing a personal design philosophy. The larger goal of the study seeks to understand the universal and particulars of design as philosophy with the intent to develop an ontology for design philosophy in landscape architecture. "Design is a crucial factor in the relation between beings and worlds as they shape each other, yet as a philosophy, design itself hardly exists" (Willis, 2009). Willis and others in the field of design philosophy suggest that design as a philosophy has only recently begun to be studied. Further, to begin an understanding of the universal philosophy of design, the definition and construction of the particulars must be laid down, thus forming an understandable ontology. Expressed in the literature are the implications of design philosophy to daily lives, whether considering the universal concept of design as philosophy or the particulars that make it up. The literature further expresses the idea that every street, bench, and utensil has its grounding in design philosophy. Yet, when speaking of design philosophy, designers often state their philosophy in terms of an execution of form driven by a set of analysis of an inventory and program needs, ignoring the broader thought processes behind decisions they make. The hypothesis of this study is that there is a process for developing a personal design philosophy which is similar among individuals in landscape architecture. This study uses open-ended interviews with landscape architects and students at various levels of experience and types of practice, both academic and non-academic, from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and The University of Texas at Arlington's Program in Landscape Architecture. The aim is to identify their definition of the term design philosophy, describe their personal design philosophies, and explain how they came to those philosophies. The process can then be used to broaden a personal design philosophy by focusing training and experience on key factors. Data from the interviews were analyzed to find consistent themes, which were broken down into main and sub-categories. A simple model was developed based on the findings. The model illustrates that the process for developing a personal design philosophy consists of the initial and ongoing influences which are moderated by how design philosophy is defined, what interferes with it, and what view is used by the individual for its evaluation. Further research is needed to fit this into design as philosophy in landscape architecture.

This series is the first comprehensive guide on construction for the professional landscape designer and landscape design students. The four volumes cover all aspects of hard landscape building and construction work, straightforwardly explained, fully illustrated and backed up with tables and appendices of reference data and legislative information.Volume 3 provides guidance on construction principles of earth and water retaining structures, advising on the suitability of different types of embankments, grids, retaining walling, other types of containment. Chapters on water retaining construction, lakes and ponds also cover amenity, recreational and safety issues, water courses and water supply, and ornamental water features.

This book evaluates the assumption that all built landscapes are environmentally sound, and offers practical, professional alternatives for more sustainable landscape construction, design, and maintenance. Packed with clear concepts and never before compiled resources on "green" landscape work, the book is an inspiring overview of important practices and concerns. Organized around ten key principles of sustainability, the book offers specific methods that can help accomplish those principles. Techniques and materials of landscape construction, both alternative and conventional, are evaluated, using criteria such as energy savings or non-toxicity and renewability in manufacture. Topics covered include: keeping healthy sites, healthy constructing for and with plants, working with a site's water regime, reducing the impacts of paving using local, salvaged, or recycled materials, estimating energy costs over time, respecting the need for darkness and quiet, evaluating the resource costs of conventional landscape maintenance. More than 100 projects from around the world are described and illustrated, proving that sustainable methods are viable today, economically, functionally, and aesthetically. The book's extensive lists of resources for further information are an invaluable tool for implementing the ideas discussed, and for adapting them to local and regional conditions. It is an important complement to basic landscape construction texts, and is a one of a kind reference for professionals in landscape architecture, construction, and maintenance; students in landscape construction and related design courses; and landowners, community groups, and others concerned with the health of specific sites.

Our attitude to nature has changed over time. This book explores the historical, literary and philosophical origins of the changes in our attitude to nature that allowed environmental catastrophes to happen.The book presents a philosophical reflection on human societies’ attitude to the environment, informed by the history of the concept of landscape and the role played by the concept of nature in the human imagination. It features a wealth of examples from around the world to help understand the contemporary environmental crisis in the context of both the built and natural environment. Berque locates the start of this change in human labour and urban elites being cut off from nature. Nature became an imaginary construct masking our real interaction with the natural world. He argues that this gave rise to a theoretical and literary appreciation of landscape at the expense of an effective practical engagement with nature. This mindset is a general feature of the world's civilizations, manifested in similar ways in different cultures across Europe, China, North Africa and Australia. Yet this approach did not have disastrous consequences until the advent of western industrialization. As a phenomenological hermeneutics of human societies’ environmental relation to nature, the book draws on Heideggerian ontology and Veblen’s sociology. It provides a powerful distinction between two attitudes to landscape: the tacit knowledge of earlier peoples engaged in creating the landscape through their work - “landscaping thought”- and the explicit theoretical and aesthetic attitudes of modern city dwellers who love nature while belonging to a civilization that destroys the landscape - “landscape thinking”. This book gives a critical survey of landscape thought and theory for students, researchers and anyone interested in human societies’ relation to nature in the fields of landscape studies, environmental philosophy, cultural geography and environmental history.