Landscape Architecture 323x16

1. Write a note on a famous Landscape architect.(20 marks) ANSWER: • Martha Schwartz, born 1950, is an American landscape architect. • Her background is in the fine arts as well as landscape architecture, and her projects range from private to urban scale. • She studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and graduated from the University of Michigan. • Schwartz currently has firms in Cambridge, Massachusetts and London. • She was married to landscape architect Peter Walker (architect). • Having had over 30 years of experience as a landscape architect and artist, she has received a number of highly regarded awards. Projects: • The Bagel garden-Cambridge,Massachusetts-1979 • The Stella garden-Pennsylvania-1980 • Whitehead Institute splice garden-Cambridge,Massachusetts-1986 • Turf parterre garden-New York City-1988 • Becton Dickinson-San Jose,California-1990 • Snoopy’s garden-Ito Japan-1991 • World Cup-Various locations in USA-1994 • Baltimore Inner harbor( competition)-baltimore-1995 • Power Lines-Gremany-1999 • Exchange Square-Manchester UK-2000 • Crawford museum-Ohio-2001 • Wakefield-London UK-2002 • Doha Corniche-Qatar,2003 Schwartz style includes  Bright colours.  Mocking humour or visual sarcasm.  Unbridled imagination.  Unusual materials.  A limited range of plants.  Surreal scaling of objects. Design Philosophy: • Introduction of a conceptual or psychic element as a core of her design philosophy. i.e A single idea based either on the site’s history, its context and its intended use was extrapolated to inform every aspect of the design. • Most of her works are seeking an honest response to what she perceives in the outdoor environment. • Schwartz has devised a design vocabulary which was literal, visual and symbolic. i.e based on what she sees as the need and aspiration of human being rather than a vague concept of nature. • Setting apart from this, as a practicing landscape architect her works have represented places of utilitarian value and are known to be delightful to people. • According to her the visual component will always dominate first impressions of a landscape design. She created dramatic impact through the use of unexpected CLASS NOTES: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE th 5 Semester ‘A’ Section

(c) Smitha Navda,BMSCE,2013

MODULE 1: A NOTE ON FAMOUS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS.

CLASS NOTES: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE th 5 Semester ‘A’ Section

(c) Smitha Navda,BMSCE,2013

unusual and sometimes in congruous element which is held in a rigorous formal design. • Period: Her early solo works could be described as Modernist. Later works such as Red Bull hanger-Austria-2002 are more exuberant, personal, witty and colorful. • Project: Whitehead Institute splice garden-Cambridge, Massachusetts-1986 Description: • 25 x35 ‘(7.6mx10.7m) Light-weight roof garden capturing the spirit of experimentation for the biomedical research institute which specializes in genetic research and gene splicing. • The site was a lifeless rooftop courtyard atop a nine-story office building designed by Boston architects Goody Clancy Associates. • Its dreary, tiled roof surface and high surrounding walls conspired to create a dark, inhospitable space, overlooked by both a classroom and a faculty lounge. • The lounge offered access to the courtyard, making it a potential place to eat lunch. Constrains faced by the landscape architect: • Structure was not strong enough for soil, so there was no opportunity for plant growth. • There was no water supply; no money was allocated to maintain a garden or its structure. Architects interpretation of the space: • It was about the idea of a garden and about what one expects from a garden- quick cheap and green. The Response: • The garden was an angry response to the idea of green without wanting to spend money. • Artificial material and her concept methodology are intended to reveal some hidden truths of the place rather than it being a pretty picture: All the plants were plastic. • Conceptual realization: If garden was representation of nature. This garden was a re representation of nature: It didn’t weigh anything; it makes no demands and did not involve having to keep things alive. • The garden is also a cautionary tale related to the work carried out by the institute and specifically the dangers inherent in gene splicing: the possibility if creating a monster. So in a sense the garden is a monster. • The resulting garden juxtaposes a French topiary garden and an austere Japanese Zen garden along a "splice" line. It is a ing together, like Siamese twins, of gardens from different cultures. • Mutated versions of familiar landscape and garden elements are often used in her works. Ex: Topiary of French garden was represented as a rock in the Zen garden. • The colour green was seen as emotionally evocative, yet capable of playing a valuable role in the creation of a strong sense of imposed order on site. • Sense of humour or visual sarcasm-this project will inspire at least a smile if not a hearty laugh. • Material realization: The intention was to create an environment that can be enjoyed with no awareness whatsoever of the symbolic scheme that underlines it. • A balance co existence between these twin readings of a single design is difficult but is achieved in this project.

Learning's from the style: • To question where the teachings and the things happening around us are fundamentally right? • To value traditions and ecology and not to ape. • To develop an original style that is dramatic, evocative and is intended to reveal some hidden truths of a place rather than simply existing as an imitation of nature.

(c) Smitha Navda,BMSCE,2013

*Images of this project are in the pdf attached.

CLASS NOTES: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE th 5 Semester ‘A’ Section