A fun course in history- open to all students as a W course- so best for sophomore and juniors. It does include significant reading, writing and a bit of drawing.
LARCH 353H HONORS/ 5 credit course / VLPA/I&S/Writing
Designing Landscapes in a Modern World: History of Modern Landscape Architecture
Lectures: T/Th/ 4-5:50, Smith Hall 221
Quiz/ Graduate Section: Fridays 11-12:00 or 12:00-
1:00
Instructor: Thaisa Way (tway@uw.edu)
The course investigate modernism, modernist theory, and the modern landscape architecture as
process, product, and theory.
What makes a good urban landscape? A great publicpark? An inspiring work of landscape art? This coursewill explore the history of designing and creating gardens and landscapes in diverse cultures and places as the profession and practice of landscape architecture has become a leading field in the design and creation of newly imagined city spaces and places. We will begin in the 19th century with
Central Park in New York City, one of the first public parks designed for the public and work our way up to the postindustrial parks and landscapes of the late 20th century. We will study small gardens that inspire the poet and large nature preserves as well as city plazas, corporate roof gardens, and the neighborhood park.
We will explore how modern art and architecture influence landscape design and in turn how environmental thinking influenced the push for sustainable cities. What does it mean to be modern? How does creativity shape the design of natural landscapes? This course provides an historic and critical overview of the evolution of modernism and modernist designs in terms of
aesthetic, technological, social, and spiritual concerns in the built landscape. Moving between practice and theory, between design as a creative art and as a way of thinking, we will consider diverse modernisms across the Americas and Europe.
Workload: Readings average about 100 pp / week with final online exhibit and paper