landscape architecture | IDEAS

In recent posts we’ve been discussing art and science as related to ecology. Art and science are two concepts that are generally considered to be binaries-terms in opposition to one another. Yet we are interested in creating hybrids between these two, exploring relationships in which art and science are fused together in our design methodology.

Hybridity refers to a mixture in which the constituting parts are not just combined but thoroughly distributed amongst one another. Hybrids maintain characteristics from their original elements yet form distinctly unique conditions and relationships. Initially a biological or agricultural term, hybridity has also become a philosophical term espoused to linguistics and more broadly, globalization—not just referencing recent forms of globalization but focused on the way in which civilizations have mixed throughout human development. (See Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Globalization and Culture: global mélange, 2004). Hybridity itself has become a mix of both science and culture.

The hybridization of art and science within an ecological design methodology has the potential to create innovative relationships not otherwise possible when starting from either condition on its own. Akin to the classic form versus function tug-of-war that permeated design methodologies throughout the 20th century, hybridity suggests form AND function, creating no distinction between the successes of one ideal versus the other.

In our design methodology of built environments, we strive to create as little distinction between the art and science of our proposals, believing that one is integrally tied to the other—beauty is analogous to the organization of natural processes. Just as art is a process of creation through the properties of its medium, design of the built environment can use properties of natural processes as the medium for formal expression. Not only does this fuse the performative characteristics of design to the formal characteristics, it also suggests that the design process may be more closely linked to the actual construction process. Just as art is the creation—the final product, a hybridized design methodology may move beyond just an a priori representation to become the actual final creation. As form and performance are more closely tied together, design becomes less focused on the final form than on a process, constructed and natural.

Thus, we seek to combine the scientific understanding of natural processes with their formal exhibition into an artistic composition that reflects an intentional vision. This is the form of ecology.

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Posted by Andrew Watkins
in Urban Ecologies
on 21 January, 2012

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If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water…. Its substance reaches everywhere; it touches the past and prepares the future; it moves under the poles and wanders thinly in the heights of air. It can assume forms of exquisite perfection in a snowflake, or strip the living to a single shining… Read more »

As urban designers we are at once moved by the tremendous challenges facing our urban imprint upon the land—the city; and its affect upon our planet—her atmosphere, oceans, and living systems. In our search for solutions, we look to nature for guidance; that perhaps within her experimentation with complex outcomes and interdependence there exists a clue to our built environment. The following three projects are an exploration of this relationship between nature and the city; of not only a latent attempt to emulate her beauty, but her processes as well.

In The Art of Ecology we attempt to paint urban solutions as an artist paints the landscape, with an eye towards boldness; but understanding that our limited attempt is only the first step in unlocking the relationship between ecology and urban development.

The inspiration behind Jining New City, Rugao District, and the Shunde Guipan Riverfront lies in capturing what is unique and most beautiful about the place and enhancing it. In all three, we explore the most fundamental landscape element of the site, the river, and its affect upon urban pattern.

In all three, though representing various scales of development, the idea of water or canal is rooted in the history of the place and has influenced the growth of their respective locations since their inception. In all three, emulating the art of ecology is less about imitating her physical beauty, but more about learning from her processes.

Imitating Ecology

Beyond the mere inspiration of her beauty and formal language, we must begin to understand natures processes in our attempt to imitate her. From the air, we are inspired by natures patterns; of vast forests and grasslands, weaving mosaics of color, but must ask ourselves, what is the science behind this painted canvas? Are there natural laws that govern her art?

For example, flat terrain often leads to braided water systems that seek to find paths of least resistance, responsive to the forces of fluid dynamics. The end result are often tree-like patterns that grow and branch, moving and changing relative to fluctuating environmental conditions. As the finer-grained water systems branch out, increased edge conditions result, giving way to a variety of opportunities. Environmentally these opportunities manifest in the increased ability for nutrient exchange (along the edges of wetland marsh) and organism exchange (predator and prey along open water edges versus protected grassy waters). Maximizing edge surface area increases opportunity for exchange. Within the urban context, a similar relationship can be said to exist between circulation (roads) and real estate (commercial property); and yet again between residential property values and green space (parks). And so the opportunity exists to exploit this corollary between edge intensity; namely water and real estate, evolving this braided ecology into a kind of braided urbanism.

Filtering Ecologies, Filtering Urbanism

At the same time, all three sites exhibit a need to improve water quality. At Jining, the project area exists at a critical threshold between existing city and major lake; at Rugao, the proposed development straddles a key bend along a polluted river; and at Shunde the proposed river park lies between a new city and a culturally important waterway. As an ecological principle, braided systems have the ability to increase filtration capacity through increased edge condition and nutrient exchange. Thus, by incorporating this braided design as a fundamental framework for urban development, we can conceptually increase the filtering capacity of city-making.

These braided water patterns then give rise to braided districts and braided neighborhoods, each varying in land use (commercial, residential) and density. Furthermore, density (apartment towers versus single family) can have a direct correlation with water pattern; more course and larger waterways create larger islands and greater flexibility for higher densities, while finer-grained waterways create opportunities for more secluded low densities (single-family residential). A wholistic pattern begins to emerge in which real estate and development objectives coincide with and compliment environmental ones. A braided ecology becomes a braided and filtering urbanism.

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Posted by SeanOMalley
in Arts and Culture
on 21 January, 2012

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As designers, we have the responsibility to intentionally form the urban environment, to “paint the city in bold strokes, as O’Malley writes in “The Art of Ecology, the Art of Urbanism,” inspired by the way natural processes create beautiful patterns at a large scale. O’Malley’s post triggered some critical ideas about our intentionality as designers, specifically in relation to the method or process by which we transfer design inspirations into our own formal concepts. Ecological design inspiration from natural patterns brings up an interesting problem: we find inexplicable beauty in the form of nature, forms that we desire to emulate both for their formal beauty and for their ecological performance, yet nature does not rely on the intention of a designer for its form but rather on a set of natural laws and processes—gravity, erosion, climate—that have acted upon the earth based upon rules set in place long ago.

Several questions arise: In the same manner that natural patterns do not rely directly on a designer for their formal expression, should designers focus their design intention on forms or processes—that is, static descriptions or flexible guidelines? How much can we control the formal product of a design in a flexible, ever-changing environment? Should we think of ‘form’ as an initial intervention, subject to change over time, or as a fixed entity, such that the landscape never changes? Increasingly in our work, we strive to create places that change over time – that bend and yield with the processes and systems of the landscape. How do we draw this? How do we design this? In the end, how do we communicate our vision for an ecological city – something that is always changing over time? The subject of our intention—the agency with which we design and communicate our ideas—continues to be a topic of critical discussion.

An enlightening correlation to both these questions and O’Malley’s original poetic reference to the painter can be found in James Corner’s exploration of representation. In ‘Representation and Landscape’, Corner describes how an artist’s medium directly influences the formal representation of their intention—the medium, be it paint or metal or a digital tool, determines a set of possibilities in the final piece. In some regards, the final piece embodies the performative characteristics of its medium, not just the design intent. In fact, as Corner recognizes, some artists may not know the final form of the piece when they begin their work but rather rely on the properties of the medium with which they are working to lead them to the final form. [Corner]

For ecological design, our mediums are the processes—natural, social, and economic—that define a living system or an urban environment. Ecological design, as defined by Van der Ryn and Cowan, is “any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes.” [Van der Ryn]

Corner goes on to identify that designers are one step removed in the artist’s process—our hands do not touch the materials that will finally construct our designs. Rather, we use representations, traditionally drawings and models, to communicate our design intent to a builder—the intermediary who actually constructs the project. For Corner, the distanced condition of the designer from their medium results in an informative essay on representation, an exploration of the drawings we use as designers. For us, particularly in ecological design, this same realization allows us the opportunity to identify the medium with which we do directly interact and construct a process in which we may ‘paint’—in which we explore the relationship between medium and form. Our challenge is to understand the connection between the formal and performative characteristics of ecological processes within the strategy of our design intent.

References:

Corner, James. ‘Representation and Landscape’. Theory in Landscape Architecture: A Reader, 2002.

Van der Ryn S, Cowan S. Ecological Design. Island Press, 1996, p.18

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Posted by Andrew Watkins
in Arts and Culture, Urban Ecologies
on 21 January, 2012

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Hidden from view in our day-to-day lives there exists a pattern and beauty much larger, much more comprehensive. From space these patterns reveal themselves as deep blue braided rivers and rich green plains, wetland patches, desert reds and yellows; all moving, all seemingly going somewhere. Amongst all our deep understanding of the natural sciences, and its relationships and complexity, there exists a simple beauty to it all. A secret that can only be revealed when we take a step back, and marvel at the tremendous scale of these natural systems.

When we design at a scale comparable to the vastness of these natural systems, the need exists to express as the earth does. When we design cities of 50, 100, or 1,000 square kilometer regions, we need to think as the earth does. There is an art to her work that needs to be present in ours. I am continually inspired by this interconnected beauty; a mosaic of oils and pastel that we can only hope to emulate in a small way. And so there must be an art to our ecology, both urban and natural. The two combined can form city patterns that can strive to achieve all those civic benefits that we speak so much of; be it interconnectivity, multiplicity, sustainability, and the like. We need to paint our cities as much as we plan them, aware that there is more to life and civicness than a land use plan and orderly density tabulation.

Our most beautiful cities were not afraid of an idea; be it Paris and her grand boulevards struck across its densely populated neighborhoods, or the genius of a simple but large park providing escape for the citizens of New York. Let us plan in bold strokes, weaving the natural and man-made into new urban forms worthy of the landscape they inhabit. Let our ideas guide us at any scale, from the smallest dwelling to the largest of all, planet earth.

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Posted by SeanOMalley
in Arts and Culture, Urban Ecologies
on 21 January, 2012

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As developers strive to find a balance between profits and environmental responsibility, many are looking to water resources as more than just a way to demonstrate sustainability. A connected system that starts at the small scale and eventually returns higher quality water back to the river, lake, bay or other body of water can become… Read more »

Posted by SeanOMalley
in Urban Ecologies
on 21 January, 2012

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The Organic Food Garden at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton California is an 1,110 square foot garden designed in 2007-8 as part of the landscape for the new Michael J. Homer Science and Student Life Center. The food garden is so successful that it has been expanded to include an additional 9,000 square feet in another location on campus. The overall project is LEED platinum certified and has won several awards including the 2010 AIA Top Ten Green Projects. Marco Esposito was the project principal, and talked to me about his experience designing the garden, and lessons learned.

Q. What were the primary goals related to the agriculture program?

A. The garden is located in a high-profile area of the campus, so the concern was to have it look good whether planted, fallow or overgrown.

Q. Can you describe the design of the garden?

A. It is located in a sunny south-facing location, within a simple, tidy framework of walks (on sun side) and broadleaf evergreen hedges (backdrop on non-sun side). It is in a high-profile area, flanking the dining room and adjacent outdoor terrace, such that the food garden is highlighted but not in the way. We recommended that the least tidy crops, such as tall grains that can tip over, be planted in lower profile locations.

Q. Were there any concerns from the client about the agriculture program? How did you address them?

A. Sacred Heart had had a food garden before this project, but it was untidy and the leadership was concerned about creating a new un-tidy garden. We provided a simple framework for the food garden – a 140′ long rectangle of soil, 8′ wide, between a concrete walk and a waist-high broadleaf evergreen hedge – where 90 degree row crops of varying widths could be planted. Whether the soil is bare after harvesting, or whether the garden is overgrown, the framework is strong enough that any condition is acceptable.

Q. Who will manage the garden?

A. The garden is maintained and operated by students and faculty as part of its Environmental Science and Global Studies courses.

Q. Who will eat the food from the garden?

A. The food feeds the faculty, staff and students in the on-campus dining facilities, and is also donated to local charities.

Q. What infrastructure was needed for the garden?

A. 18″ of organic top soil, and pop-up spray irrigation.

Q. Were there any permitting issues?

A. There were no issues for construction. However, the school had to work the County Health Services to get approval to serve food grown on campus. According to a school press release “…the school is the first in San Mateo County to be approved by the Department of Environmental Health Services Division to use fruits and vegetables grown in its own organic garden for preparation and food service in its school cafeteria.”

Q. Any last insights on edible landscape design for campuses?

A. Keep it simple, and modest in proportion to surrounding permanent framework – having it look neat increases acceptance by all.

SWA Project Team: Marco Esposito, Lyn Liu, Travis Theobald

Project Lead: LMS Architects

Consultants: ISC – Irrigation

Photo Credit: Tom Fox, SWA Group

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