Uncovering Landscapes

Related Staff : Natalia Echeverri, Susanne Trumpf

Assistants: Wong Oi Ling Ellena

The relations between the representation of landscapes and the production of landscapes are integral. Drawings, models, or other types of representational tools, offer possibilities in understanding the landscape in different ways and are a critical part of the design process. Throughout the studio, students experimented with different techniques to develop composite and complex understandings of the landscape. The course consisted of a sequence of three projects. In the first project, students explored measuring techniques that document physical space and time. Students documented an assigned tree and produced a series of drawings and collages that reveal the form and character of its specific species and its relationship to its context. In the second project, students explored the concept of ‘type’ though an analysis of modern garden and park case studies. By using two-dimensional and three-dimensional diagrams, students articulated each case study as a sequence of spaces and distribution of elements. The final assignment was built upon the skills and knowledge acquired in the first two projects, with the goal to design the integration between terrain, natural forces, and human habitation. Students designed a series of spaces along a looped trail on top of Mount Davis, a site that once served as part of Hong Kong’s defense system during World War II.