Overview Stewardship taking care of the environment Part of LA is taking care of what s naturally there and making new seem natural Landscape Design Historical core of the profession Site planning where you put things on the land LA involves civil engineers horticulturists urban city planners landscape contractors ecological planners Some landscape architects design AND build installation especially for smaller projects Central park was 1st park in the US definitely on test mentions it multiple times o Fredrick Holmstead Father of LA designed Central Park coined term landscape Architecture Historical Overview Egypt and Mesopotamia o Public architecture pyramids special pieces stone o Don t see domestic architecture ecologically influenced made of mud Tombs made of stone b c they had to last forever They DID have pictures of gardens in tombs Flooding of the Nile R created rich soil for landcaping and agriculture Pyramids are above flood plain o Design of a garden Desert landscape Environmentally influenced edible plants fruits Square walled off edges to block the hot breeze and sand Lots of trees to provide shade and vine arbors Protection and shelter Ponds of water cools the air inside the enclosed garden low humidity environment o Commoners had gardens too White washed buildings o Between Tigris and Euphrates o step pyramids plants hangings gardens on each tiered level Mesopotamia Islamic 622 AD o Reflection of ancient garden principles o Religion adds layer of complexity to gardens o Coincident w western Dark Ages Huge contrast Intellectual Islamic development going on at this time in math astronomy Arabic language Studied ancient history o paradise described in the Koran by Muhammad Walls protection from wind plants privacy Water cools the air but also 4 RIVERS OF PARADISE honey milk water and wine o Areas of water where civilization occurs Mountain streams o Symbolic of the 4 rivers of paradise 4 paths that meet in the middle Quadrangular layout o Pictures of people and animals not allowed Lots of geometric floral designs Greek same time as Egypt Mesopotamia o Designed to fit within the landscape Pompeii o Volcanic ash preserved ancient city o Outdoor living is promoted Atriums outside gardens Middle Ages in Europe Latitudes Cairo New Orleans Rome NYC England Canada o Parallel to Islam lots of fighting going on o Introspective design needed protection built walls buildings on top of hills walled cities o Religion Monks were keepers of knowledge Monasteries developed into universities Cloister walled garden can be traced to Islamic gardens Place of learning kept books turned into the universities quadrangular layout Renaissance Close knit cities disease o Italy 1400 1500 o France 1500 1600 o England 1600 1700 o Italy Renaissance moved North every 100 years War ended it was finally safe to go outside so design changed w the renaissance Tremendous amount of art highly civilized Well planned clean villas lots of entertainment Characteristics of Villas Distant views of landscape Environment Design of gardens Hilly semi arid enough rain hills abundant w water Green plants not many flowers except for pots Outwardly expanding Built buildings on hillsides terraces Spaces Created outdoor rooms A garden w in a garden in the woods Design team stayed at Versailles for 21 years and would build little surprises like fountains in the woods to entertain the public Formal design organized Garden rooms connected along center line symmetrical o Art and sculpted plants made part of architecture o waterfall 4 rivers changing to just art o Water is very imp Natural hydrostatic pressure creates fountains Used water in so many ways including play o France Greener climate more rain flatter than Italy Copied Italian gardens but not well Andre Linoten He and his design team built Veul a Vit a chateau from scratch built by tax collector of Louis XIV How do you build an Italian garden in France and with a different climate Moats used as decoration Did everything possible to copy terraces Plants treated like architecture o Everything oversized to fit the vast flat landscape proportions Louis wanted a chateau like VaV but better built Palace of Versailles HUGE 8 mile garden huge proportions Different climate and geography benefits from Gulf Stream Same latitude of Canada but GS warms the land 1700 s tried to copy France Built poor copies of Italian gardens Spent too much caused design revolution Lots of literary discussion of landscape led to English landscape style of design School of Design Literary romanticism LA began being portrayed in art and paintings Sir Lancelot Brown Capability Brown Designer Destroyed old renaissance design replaced it w English garden design o England rolling hills pastures cows Sir Humphrey Repton Lancelot s prot g Did before and after sketches Private parks of English landscape Created natural looking landscapes ponds lawns etc Idea of parks came from these private parks 1st park in NYC central park Japan o Society and art form develops in isolation similar to China Replicas of what they thought were heavenly gardens Use borrowed scenery like mountains in the background o Zen gardens Miniatures of reality represents natural things E g sand garden w large boulders representative of the ocean islands w waves crashing onto them o Bushes clipped to repeat the shape of stones Parks for the People o Social aspects Marco Polo described parks in China o Utilitarian planning rational and scientific Repton proposed rational and scientific approach to environmental matters Central park 1st separation of circulation bridges crossing over other pathways similar to an interstate o Birkenhead park in England o Central Park in US Fredrick Olmsted o Influenced town planning o Utilitarian planning drainage systems for disease prevention Types of Geography Physical form of the land Cultural how people react to physical geography Economic resources of the land Descriptive and measured geography Landscape architects change the land o They must understand geography of the land Earth can change rapidly o Earthquakes hurricanes Some change slowly o Glaciers volcanoes can create new land Plants support higher life forms Land is under constant change by people e g roads Regional Planning Process Landscape architects must know all they can about the environment o People want a quality environment Questions they ask themselves o What is best way to design something that fits into the region Reduce