Spring 2010 Courses
Course scheduling is subject to change. Days, times, instructors, class locations, and call numbers are available on the Directory of Classes.
Fall course information begins posting to the Directory of Classes in February; Summer course information begins posting in March; Spring course information begins posting in June. For course information missing from the Directory of Classes after these general dates, please contact the department or program.
- LAND K4102. Plant Materials: Woody Trees and Shrubs I. 1.5 pts.
- LAND K4112. Landscape Technology: Site Grading and Drainage. 1.5 pts.
- LAND K4200. History and Theory of Gardening and Landscape Design. 3 pts.
- LAND K4210. Graphics and Landform Modeling. 3 pts.
- LAND K4220. Advanced Planting Design Studio. 3 pts.
- LAND K4404.Landscape Design Studio I: Site Analysis and Schematic Design. 4 pts.
- LAND K4407.Landscape Design Studio IV: Residential and Smaller Scale Design. 4 pts.
LAND K4102. Plant Materials: Woody Trees and Shrubs I. 1.5 pts.
Description
7-week module
Module one of a two-part course on the identification of woody trees and shrubs of the Northeast. This first module commences preferably during the onset of fall, allowing for maximum exposure to hardy trees and shrubs during a dynamic period of their lifecycle. Direct field experience teaches a working vocabulary—in Latin and English—of trees and shrubs suitable to residential landscape design. The course covers character, physical characteristics, and maintenance requirements of trees and shrubs, as well as a sense of their optimum uses as elements in landscape design. Emphasis is on the ornamental attributes, cultural requirements and tolerances, historical origins, and ecological characteristics of plants used in residential design. Plant community associations are also introduced. Additionally, the course stresses the design uses of plant materials, acknowledging their value and potential in influencing and enhancing a design intention. The course, which covers both native and introduced species, conducted in Central Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the New York City streetscape.
LAND K4112. Landscape Technology: Site Grading and Drainage. 1.5 pts.
Description
7-week module
An introduction to reading landscapes rendered in topographic maps, to the means and methods of site manipulation (grading), and to the control and management of water on a site (drainage). The course covers site grading and storm water drainage systems as they apply to residential landscape design, and how to represent site improvements and drainage information in a set of contract documents. Topics examined include sustainable (environmentally compatible) approaches to the collection, detention, and redistribution of water on a site; distribution of water around structures, subsurface drainage, layout and grading for circulation; and calculations of cut and fill. An overview of irrigation design is also presented.
LAND K4200. History and Theory of Gardening and Landscape Design. 3 pts.
Description
Not open to undergraduates.
A survey of the traditions of human intervention in the landscape from antiquity to the present, with a focus on Western practices. Study of the history of landscape design and the latest theories of landscape opens up the political, social, philosophical, and artistic aspects of the relationship between the designed landscape and culture. Discusses design as a means of cultural expression. Students are encouraged to develop a visual vocabulary of formal practice.
LAND K4210. Graphics and Landform Modeling. 3 pts.
Description
An introduction to a wide variety of drawing and graphic techniques as well as the various drawing media most popular today. Both “loose” and “tight” graphic techniques are studied. Loose techniques are relaxed, quick, free, bold, and expressive, while tight techniques include lettering, landscape plans, sections, and perspectives. Several different methods of graphic communication and the design process are discussed, including sketching, plan, section/elevation drawing, rendering, one- and two-point perspective, and axonometric drawing for layout and composition. Various drawing media are explored during class assignments. A final investigation into landform modeling completes the course.
LAND K4220. Advanced Planting Design Studio. 3 pts.
Prerequisite
K4102 Plant Materials I and K4103 Plant Materials II
Description
Explores the ecology of plant communities growing in specific human-modified environments and how their aesthetic characteristics create gardens and landscapes that are aesthetically rich, environmentally sensitive, expressive of place, and change over time. The course considers the professional responsibilities of the landscape designer, such as moisture, light, and soil conditions in selecting and placing plant species, and specifying any necessary procedures for soil modification and/or pest-control using environmentally sound practices. The final project is a detailed planting plan, complete with supporting documentation, to be implemented as part of landscape design developed for Landscape K4407 Landscape Design Studio IV: Advanced Planting and Design. To foster an understanding of planting design as an “ecological art” emphasis is placed on four topics: spatial formation with plants, plant communities as a foundation for planting design, art and music as inspiration for planting design, and technical requirements of the planting design.
LAND K4404. Landscape Design Studio I: Site Analysis and Schematic Design. 4 pts.
Description
The first of four studio courses in landscape design teaches how to read, inventory, interpret, and analyze a landscape and how landscape impacts the successful implementation of design intentions. Covers how to conceptualize and articulate design ideas graphically and to give form to these ideas through drawing and modeling, as well as how design ideas relate to and are expressed in a material landscape. Landscape program and functional requirements are introduced, but the emphasis is on the understanding of space and form in the landscape and how landscape design can convey meaning while fulfilling programmatic requirements.
LAND K4407. Landscape Design Studio IV: Residential and Smaller Scale Design. 4 pts.
Prerequisite
LAND K4406. Landscape Design Studio III: Planning and Design of Landscapes.
Description
This is the fourth of four core studio courses. Returning to a smaller scale, the studio is devoted entirely to the design of a residential garden or public sector project, with a real site and a realistic program. Students develop and carry through to final design the range of drawings and documents required of such design projects. The studio is taken in conjunction with Landscape K4220: Planting Design; as such, students prepare working documents for planting plans and construction details for their designs. In addition to the planting and construction documents, a detailed, rendered plan and final working drawing is required. The studio is intended to present realistic problems that students will face in professional practice. The class is labor intensive and requires a substantial time commitment in class and at home.
