International Perspectives on Planting Design 2013
Interpretations of Nature and the Role of Plants
Objectives and Aims
This seminar aims to explore how landscape architecture is influenced by the various interpretations of nature in different cultural contexts. To what extent do these varying understandings still shape our design principles? And how much globalisation do we already encounter in these principles? The focus will be on the use of plants in various contexts and at different scales: from ornamental design to bioengineering, from public squares to urban parks. The course consists of a series of invited lectures during which the viewpoints of landscape architects form different part of the world will be presented and discussed. In addition, some theoretical introduction into the theory of nature and landscape perception will be given. Student participants will work in small intercultural teams on some joint assignment during the course.
The seminar is addressed to a worldwide target group of landscape architecture students or students from neighbouring disciplines interested in learning jointly about this important professional field. Interested students/teachers should contact the seminar coordinator by e-mail: Ellen Fetzer ellen.fetzer@hfwu.de
Student Activities
Throughout the seminar the participants will follow a sequence of activities related to individual and group work. Concept mapping will be used for pre- and post-seminar assessment. Each participant will contribute a planting design case study from his/her local context and document the case on the seminar wiki. Another activity will be to work in a small intercultural group on a design assignment.
Seminar Framework and Structure
Twelve online sessions will be held in the period from 23rd of October 2013 to 22nd of January 2014. The seminar will be conducted online and include international groups of students that are working at different locations. Adobe Connect Software is used as virtual classroom and an additional WIKI for communication, organisation and asynchronous collaboration of students. Performance assessments are based on successful completion of four assignments. Depending on the number of completed assignments, the seminar workload translates into 3 ECTS.