Landscape Architecture (LA)

Inquiry of natural factors and ecology (soil formations, geological features, hydrological patterns, catastrophic events, etc.) in the settlement and development of cities. The work of the seminar will include an inventory of these factors in selected global cities, including Chicago, and their influence on urban design and site-specific landscape architecture projects.

The chronological history of designed landscapes with an emphasis on the emergence of the profession of landscape architecture in North America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Twentieth century and contemporary landscape architecture is investigated through case studies including site visits to projects in the Chicago region.

Advanced study of landscape architecture topics with emphasis on research methods, description, analysis, and criticism.

Develop expertise in professional practice. Lectures, research assignments, and case studies will investigate practice models, proposals and contracts, schedules and budgets, project phases, project and client types, project team structure, the role of competitions, professional development, and licensure. In addition, the role of landscape architects, urban planners, real estate trusts, government agencies, developers, and others in directing the economic, professional, political, and socio-cultural concerns and responsibilities to initiate and manage landscapes will be investigated.

Investigations of gardens, landscapes, infrastructure, and cities as they are conceived, mature, and change over time. Study of landscapes designed for successional processes, weathering, biological growth and decay, seasonality, preservation and conservation of historic landscapes, and other topics.

Drawings (manual and digital) and models (physical and digital) will be employed to explore and interrogate landscape processes and envision ideas particular to landscape architecture such as mapping, time, movement, line, contour, texture, and materials, among others, while also developing a mastery of drawing conventions and media.

Using digital tools to clarify, conceptualize, represent, and communicate designed and engineered environments. A fluidity between critical, visual, and quantifiable digital techniques will be cultivated and will ground the management of information across software platforms.

Investigate advanced digital fabrication and modeling techniques necessary to understand complex three-dimensional surfaces, objects, and space, as well as dynamic landscape and urban processes. Modeling, rendering, scripting, and animation skills are used to conduct, generate, and communicate research.

Understanding the fundamental relationships of dynamic processes with an emphasis on representing time, movement, space, light, rhythms, shifting boundaries and enclosures, and physical materials of landscape.

Continued development of the core tools of the discipline of landscape architecture focusing on the 21st century city. Rigorous site analysis will include emphasis on material, cultural, and ecological expression of city-scale networks and flows at the site scale. Design investigations will explore the site itself, its adjacent conditions, and the larger neighborhood or civic milieu.

The integration of local ecologies, projected use, and the performance of ephemeral, semi-permanent, and permanent site interventions into cohesive and resilient design proposals for varied urban sites. Introduction to a wide range of site-specific professional design standards including the Americans with Disabilities Act and barrier-free regulations.

Development of landscape architecture as a multi-scalar framework for designing dynamic urban processes and sites. Emphasis on research and design strategies that focus on the region as an analytical lens for site-specific design.

The cloud studio is a research-based design studio focused on investigating the complex forces that shape the built environment and proposing new strategies for urban development. The aim of the studio is to build a commentary and transformative agenda toward the future metropolis and to drive urban, architectural and landscape design solutions with the most advanced technologies and critical thought. The studio production is oriented toward the development of new strategies and future urban models with the aim of advancing the knowledge of relationships between urban thinking and materiality, technology, energy, ecology, emerging media, and socio-political and cultural concerns. Strong emphasis is put toward engagement with external parties and agencies to connect the academic environment with the professional practice and to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration. Students will be able to select from a variety of studio topics. Vertical studio integrating advanced BArch, MArch, MS, MLA, and PHD students.

The design-based research studio is a continuation of the LA 545 research-based design studio. It is focused on the development of the specific proposals based on the critical findings of LA 545. The aim of the studio is to develop formal solutions which address the complexities of modern metropolis and advance disciplinary knowledge at large. The studio production is oriented toward the development of projects in a variety of scales from large-scale master plans, urban designs, and landscape designs to new urban typologies and singular buildings, all of which can address a variety of the issues pertinent to the modern metropolis. The studios are formed in few thematic clusters which complement each other or serve as dialectical opposites. Each studio explores variety of techniques from parametric design, digital fabrication, model making, and advanced geospatial software to cultural and theoretical discourses. Vertical studio integrating advanced BArch, MArch, MLA, MS, and PHD students. Students will be able to select from varied studio topics.

The plants of the Western Great Lakes Basin, emphasizing both prominent native and commercially available species. Understanding and identifying species as found within typical plant communities. Familiarization with plant physiology as determined by climate, geology, topography, hydrology, soils, wildlife, and disturbances.

The qualities and characteristics of landscape materials with emphasis on a quantitative and interrelated understanding of the design of landform (grading) and water. Covers the influence of climate, geology, soils, hydrology, and disturbances on the design of a site's constituent elements including paths and streets, infrastructure, plants, and water.

Advanced understanding of planting typologies, the history of plants in design, and the preparation of planting construction documentation augmented by frequent investigations and analysis of built landscapes in the Chicago region.

Techniques and technologies to analyze, construct, remediate and/or restore urban sites including those that have been subjected to complex human disturbances such as landfills and brownfields. Includes special needs construction practices such as structured soils, phytoremediation, green roofs, and rooftop gardens.

Special problems in landscape architecture. For students in the master program in landscape architecture only.