Summary Master Track

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NEW MASTER TRACK

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

2010/2011

Delft University of Technology



MSc Track in Landscape ArchitectureMSc Programme in Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences

Landscape Architecture is an independent design discipline related to Urbanism and Architecture. The land-

scape architect is a designer of space; the design process itself is a synthesis of art and technology in which

considerations of topography, the natural processes that shape a landscape over time, and the formal, material

and cultural qualities of place all play essential roles. Each project is a unique reection of geometry and geo-

morphology, artefact and nature, form and function.

Theory and practiceThe Delft MSc Track in Landscape Architecture focuses on the full scope of the discipline – from planning to

design practice, from theoretical considerations to practical exercises, and from research to policy-making. It ex-

amines crucial topics such as lowland landscapes and the urban realm through a scientic lens, and is linked to

a parallel research programme through methods, projects and researchers. In addition to design skills, landscape

architecture requires knowledge of plants and vegetation types, soils, hydrology, ecology and sociology. The re-

lationship between the Landscape Architecture track and Architecture and Urbanism is evident in its focus on

architectonic form and the urban realm.

The CurriculumThe programme is offered once a year and commences in the autumn semester. The rst three quarters of

the programme are complementary and introduce the student to the fundamental domains of Landscape

Architecture at TU Delft. In the fourth quar ter students are encouraged to focus on Landscape Architecture

in order to broaden their core knowledge and skills base. The 3rd semester graduation studios are structured

around projects within the research programme. Students contribute to research projects in the form of design

research, comparative analysis and design experiments. They develop a study plan and a proposal for a gradu-

ation thesis to be undertaken in the fourth semester. The development of a critical position in relation to the

discipline, society and the built environment is an impor tant objective of the graduation year. Students join an

excursion to a site in the Netherlands once every quarter and participate in an international excursion once ayear.

ECTS = European Credit Transfer System

One academic year = 60 ECTS (1680 hrs study)

Total amount of credits MSc programme = 120 ECTS

FIRSTYEAR

Secondsemester

aUrbana;

dscape

byDrawing;

ingwithPlants

2ndquarter

Designproject:Waterscapes;

Lectureseries:LandscapeArchitecture2;

Seminar:ReflectingIdeasonLandscape;

Workshop:Landscapecomponents

3rdquarter

Designproject:TeatroUrbano;

Lectureseries:LandscapeArchitecture3;

Seminar:ConstructingUrban

Landscapes;

Workshop:Asfound

4thquarter

Designproject:Greenmonuments;

Lectureseries:LandscapeHistoryandDesign

Seminar:DebatingHeritageLandscapes

Workshop:IdentityandPlace-Heritage

LandscapeAnalysis

rses(15ECTS)

cture&

Foundationcourses(15ECTS)

Theme:DutchLowlands

Foundationcourses(15ECTS)

Theme:UrbanLandscapes

Electives(15ECTS)

Theme:HeritageLandscapes

SECONDYEAR

ThirdSemester Fourthsemester

ResearchOrientation,

Methodology,Theory

(10ECTS)

GraduationLaboratory:

ThesisPlan(20ECTS)

GraduationLaboratory:FinalProject(30ECTS)



SpecialisationsIn the graduation project students choose from 3 specialisations linked to the research activities undertaken by

the research programme Urban Landscape Architecture.

• Green Architectures focuses on the relationship between architecture and landscape, and on the

historical and theoretical development of the discipline. New concepts, instruments and materials for landscape

design explore the formal and material potential of place within the framework of real-life research projects.

• Coasts & Deltas explores the natural, cultural, urban and architectural futures of lowland landscapes on

the basis of the unique architectonic qualities of delta landscapes. ‘Coasts & Deltas’ also explore the landscape

architectonic traditions (the ne Dutch tradition) arising from lowland landscape and its water design in the

Netherlands.

also explores the landscape architectonic traditions arising from lowland landscape development in the Neth-

erlands.

• Urban Landscapes involves the study of the changing relationships between cities and landscapes and

the rise of new types of urban patterns and spaces. Students consider the urban landscape from a theoretical

and a typological perspective, and study the design of urban spaces (square and park, peripheries and urban

green networks) and the landscape architecture of urban transformation.

Career prospectsLandscape architecture is emerging as one of the most promising disciplines in spatial planning and design: in

international design practice, landscape architectural skills are integral to the profession. Landscape architects

work on the planning and design of residential, industrial, recreational, agricultural, natural and infrastructural

landscapes and are employed by agencies specically specialising in landscape architecture, and by more gener-

ally focused architecture, urbanism and engineering rms. Government and quasi-governmental agencies also

employ landscape architects in planning, design and policy-making positions and as project leaders and re-

searchers.

Admission requirements

Students applying for admission to the Landscape Architecture track must generally hold a Bachelor’s degree

in Architecture or a near equivalent. Candidates with another degree may need to meet additional admission

requirements. Please contact the track coordinator for details.

For further informationInge Bobbink, Programme Coordinator

E: [email protected]

TU Delft International Ofce

E: [email protected]

T: +31 (0)15 2788012



Q1 Architecture and Landscape

Architecture and Landscape discovers the landscape as an object of architecture. In this quarter the relations

between building, city and landscape, between urban culture and nature and the understanding of landscape in

terms of time, space and nature are discussed. Central is the garden as the most condensed unity in which the

historical, functional and spatial complexity of the landscape is made manifest. In the garden the implicit qualitiesof landscape are made explicit, are given form and expression.

Discover the landscape as an object of architecture. In this lecture series the relations between building, city

and landscape, between urban culture and nature and the understanding of landscape in terms of time, space

and nature are discussed.

In the lecture-series landscape architectural theories, methods, concepts and design aspects will be presented

and discussed. Seminal stages and objects in the development of landscape architecture will be addressed,

by means of discussing and presenting explanatory design examples. Topics include e.g.: the medieval Hortus

Conclusus, the Italian Renaissance villa, the French formal garden, the Dutch Classicist garden, the English

landscape garden, and the American modern villa.

The emphasis is on the discovery of the complex rules with which a design is built up and how the examples,

by the reoccurrence of the same elements and orders, can be compared and characterized. The involved

theories, concepts and design aspects are brought into a wider scope during the lectures, addressing e.g. optical

aspects of the visual perception (architecture of spatial experience), analytical and compositional techniques,and typological research.

The concluding essay demands a critical attitude towards the relation of architecture and landscape and offers

a basis for a lively discussion on the topic.

The topic of the design project is the discovery of the landscape in all its facets as an object of architectural

treatment. The brief is the positioning and design of a new experimental villa in the undulating landscape of hills

and ridges: an ensemble of house and garden built with a landscape architectonic toolbox. The goal is not only

to investigate the inuence landscape can exert on architecture, but also to investigate, what architecture does

with the landscape thereby exposing how the point of departure for a genuine design culture lies in a merger

of the two. The drawing is thereby a central instrument for research and design (registering, analysing andexperimenting). The studios aim is to discover the toolkit of a landscape architect, to gain understanding of the

landscape, to build up compositional knowledge and skills and to discover a personal ´handwriting´.

The assignment is to nd a location where you can address the relation between the building and the

landscape (allocation). The core of the assignment is the architectural elaboration of the relationships between

hearth, house, garden and landscape (landscape architectonic design). The focus of the architectural elaboration

is on the spatial and sensorial experience of the design. Attention is given explicitly to the positioning of the

building(s), the routing, the vistas, the dimensions of the internal and external spaces, the detailing of the

transitions between the internal and external spaces and the detailing and materialisation of the garden.

An integrated exercise addresses digital 3D-modelling as an instrument to explore and to develop the spatial

and narrative quality of a landscape architectonic composition. It offers methods and techniques for articulation

of the design in terms of form, space, order and time. The focus in this exercise is on eye-level perception.

Studio Project

Lecture Series

Summary



Trees and shrubbery, hedges and herbaceous plants have always been a core design element of landscape

architecture for creating spaces, providing accents or orientation and offering shelter against the natural forces.

In this workshop the emphasis is on basic knowledge of assortment and its architectonic application in order

to dene and organise space into imaginative compositions.Crucial is the understanding of the relationship of planting with architectonic spaces, objects, materials, and

constructions.

Starting point is the architecture of plants: the habitus or appearance. This consists of formal characteristics

such as: size, shape, textures and colours, but also of time dynamics such as seasonal changes and growth.

The brief is to understand the formal typology of trees, to make a planting plan – determining the type of

arrangement, type of habitus and eventually type of tree – and to visualise its development through time in a

given architectonic context.

Excursions and literature study will provide the material for studying and documenting examples of several

species in order to discover the differences. You will also study different arrangements and representations of

planting, such as regular or irregular grouping of trees (single tree, pair of trees, group of trees and line of trees),

application of clipped or unclipped hedges (hedged spaces, continuous hedges, hedge screens, hedge parcels

and free-form hedges). These aspects will be used as design elements to dene edges and create contrasts,

rhythms, symmetry-asymmetry, proportion and scale etc. in order to create, organise and dramatize space.

Research by drawing is about the drawing as instrument for architectonic research and design. In this seminar the drawing in landscape architecture will be explored and discussed in an interactive setting based on

visual and written essays. The central question is: How do designers approach a design question and what

role do they let the drawing play in this? In landscape architecture the drawing is a wide- ranging instrument

for architectonic research by means of representation, analysis and imagination. Drawings are vehicles to

communicate specic information, for visual exploration, thinking on paper (visual thinking) and expression of

a vision. The drawing is a fundamental tool for the designer and serves as a generator for creativity in which

different sorts of media can be employed. In this seminar the fundamental role of the drawing is researched

through: (1) study of methods and techniques of international designers, (2) graphic exploration of a Dutch

landscape which offers different readings of landscape geometry and experience for spatial design, and (3)

personal reection on the assignments towards an individual design attitude in relation to research by drawing.The course consists of different assignments that deliver material that can be discussed in the group and helps

to develop an individual visual language.

Seminar

Workshop



Q2 Dutch Lowlands

The term Dutch Lowlands covers the constructed polder spaces within the cultivated landscape and the city-

scape. The articulation of the sometimes-latent present architectonic form and the programmatic transforma-

tion of the polder landscape, next to the renewal of the water management are central themes. The quarter

consist out off different courses: the design studio, called New Dutch Waterscape, designing a recreationallandscape; the lecture series Landscape Architecture 2; the seminar, where ideas of landscape are presented

and reected and the workshop called Landscape components: green and blue.

The appearance of the Dutch landscape is linked to its position in the Delta of Rhine and Meuse and the

geomorphology of this area between mainland and sea. In a set of transformations the Fine Dutch Tradition has

aroused, dened by a set of characteristics: usefulness and programme; soberness of resources; meaning and

choice; clarity of form. In the lectures (consisting of three parts) the development of the land-making process

and its design will be explained and analyzed against the background of actual land-making and landscape

design questions.

Part 1: What is the inuence of the landscape on the landscape architectonic design? Introduction lecture

on the role of landscape and landscape architecture today. By a journey through time the development of the

Lowlands as well as the other landscapes of the Netherlands will be explained. We will understand how the

dynamics of the water (river and sea) on sand, clay and peat formed the Dutch delta.

Part 2: What are the design instruments? Fundamental research on the polder landscape, carried out by the

chair of Landscape Architecture will reveal the ongoing process of designed and not designed transformations

of the landscape. The short history of Dutch landscape design is inextricably allied to the knowledge of land-making and will be noted in a brief overview.

Part 3: What is the role of Landscape Architecture? Furthermore necessary changes in water management

due to climate change and possible new program and different ideas about double use of space for a more

sustainable landscape will be discussed.

One of the most pressing problems facing the Dutch (urban)landscape at present is the question of

fragmentation and disintegration of Delta regions and the task to modernize the water system for a sustainable

future. The solution to many spatial problems lies in the landscape itself; the landscape harbors a wealth of

information from which instruments can be developed. By investigating the Dutch landscape (in particular the

lowlands) from a design point of view, in its specic geographic and cultural context we can recover spatial

knowledge and approaches. By transforming this knowledge we learn how to deal with contemporary designissues. The assignment of the public landscape will emphasize the understanding of landscape architecture as

idea and as process.Themes like composing a routing, new water management, as a design challenge, form and

manipulation of planting material will be addressed.

Three different landscapes – a river landscape, a peat polder and a lake-bed polder - will provide the starting

point for the studio work. First the students work in small groups in order to analyse the given landscape,

to understand its transformation processes through the last thousands years and getting familiar with the

ingenious water systems. With the help of examples students build up a reference portfolio of relevant

projects: park landscapes, waterscapes, agricultural elds as part of a park, recreational program, woodlands,

energy landscapes etc.. Research by design should generate possible solutions for the specic Dutch Delta

sites - the New Dutch land- and waterscape.The design course includes an introduction and exercise on

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as an instrument that provides new ways of representation, analysis and

modeling in landscape architectonic research and design. The focus lies on using GIS as a tool for landscape

architectonic design. GIS is presented as a platform, which generates new insights trough advanced spatial

analysis en helps to increase efciency and exibility in the design process.

Studio Project

Lecture Series

Summary



In the rst part of the workshop students will work on a vision of the spatial and visual effect of planting

(green) in a larger territory. The architecture of plants - shape, size, colors, degree of transparency, seasonal

change, life cycle - can have a dramatic impact on a design and will be tested in design- experiments.

You will research specic types of trees belonging to the landscape you are working in, work out a plantingplan, and experiment with the possibilities of living materials for spatial structures, and with the expression of

time in the communication of a plan. The understanding of the relationship between the landscape conditions

such as soil, hydrology, etc. is crucial to the application of plants as architectonic elements. The following

questions will be researched by design:

• What type and application of planting expresses the characteristics of a specic landscape best?

• How can a design express the seasons and the development through time?

In the second part of the workshop students will work on a vision of the spatial and visual effect of water

(blue) in design- experiments.

Water is the formative force in the Dutch landscape and has always been a source of inspiration for landscape

architects, urban designers and architects. In the last 60ty years, however, the technical aspects of water

planning were left mainly to the technical approach of civil engineers. This situation has changed as a result of

increased concern about climatic change leading to more oods and more dry periods. Therefore we need to

develop new ideas on the relation between the technique and the form of water in the design. The following

questions will be researched by design:

• How does the water system work in a specic landscape?

• Which water elements can be discovered in that landscape and what is their role?

• Which water elements can be added in order to give an architectonic expression to the water system?

• In what way do they contribute to a cleaner water system?

• How do they reinforce the experience of water as a vital spatial part of the (urban) landscape?

The course addresses the theoretical backgrounds of architectural composition of the new Dutch and

international urban landscape, dealing with the contemporary spatial demands derived from the social,

economic and technological development of society, as well as new methods and instruments for landscape

research and design. The central question is: how do contemporary landscape architects deal with landscape

development in terms of landscape architectural theory and practice? In the course students become familiar

with different professional ways of viewing landscapes and investigate them as designed constructions. Amongothers, the landscape architectural theory and practice of the “Delft approach” will be introduced and

examined. In this approach the landscape is seen as an object of design, approaching it through study of form

and composition. The focus is not only on what (urban)architecture does with the landscape, but also what

inuence the landscape exerts on architecture.

In this quar ter theory, method and technique in landscape architecture will be examined by analysing different

texts which are selected and organized around three themes:

(1) Paradigms in landscape architecture

(2) Form, meaning and experience of landscape

(3) Graphic knowledge representation

Every week there will be a thematic session of three verbal presentations. Three groups of two students will

prepare a presentation of 10-15 minutes addressing the assigned text. During the presentation the text will be

summarized, analyzed and discussed and illustrated with examples.

Seminar

Workshop



Q3 Urban Landscapes

The term Urban Landscape covers the constructed spaces within the city, the underlying landscape structure,

which supports urban form and the man-made landscape edging the urban realm and the interstitial spaces

between cities. The form and representation of nature in the city, and the relationship between public open

spaces and collectivity, civic life and urban culture are central themes of the Urban Landscape quar ter.

Key aspects of the theory and history of urban landscape architecture will be addressed in a series of 6 lec-

tures. Focus is on the understanding, denition and development of the city as a landscape architectonic

construction. The lecture series and the reading of critical texts offers a basis for discussion on topics during

2 meetings. The concluding essay will take a critical stance on the relationship between city and landscape.

Themes are:

- The development of the landscape metropolis since the Middle Ages

- The garden as a spatial laboratory for urban form

- the genesis and history of the urban park

- Typology of urban landscape

- The urbanised landscape- Movement and the form of the urban landscape

- key theoritical positions on urban landscape architecture

Park design is one of the most archetypical design activities in the eld of landscape architecture: it deals with

the spectrum of landscape materials, covers design at various scales, and involves time, nature and movement

in the urban context. Park design is about understanding and transforming a location and its context into a new

landscape composition with spatial, visual and programmatic qualities. Park designers synthesize concepts of

nature and culture into a living artifact.

The brief for the park is the design of a contemporary public open space for an urban population in a city dis-

trict: the accomodation of park programmes, the staging of spaces, the composition of natural and architectural

imagery, the design of elements and forms, the layout of park infrastructure and the resolution of threshold

zones to the surrounding area. Existing infrastructural elements (trainline, canal, train station & highway,) are to

be incorporated into the design proposal.

The park design forms the centre-piece of a transformation process in which the surrounding urban territory is

to be developed from a fragmented array of functional areas dominated by infrastructure, into a durable urban

structure. The park design is to be accompanied by a proposal for a network of public open spaces radiatingout from the park, which forms the backbone for the future urban area.

The park also forms part of the long-term development of the larger (metropolitan) area. The studio brief

includes reexion on the position and meaning of your design within the larger metropolitan context.

Studio Project

Lecture Series

Summary



Analysis and visualisation is integral to the design process and closely related to one another. If we draw an

analysis, we visualise our opinion of a given setting by highlighting relevant aspects and suppressing less impor-

tant details. In the same way, any visualisation requires us to select from the real world those aspects that t

our goals, be it in a photograph, drawing, painting or model. In this course, analysis and visualisation are ap-proached in relation to each other.

The aim of the course is twofold: in the rst place to nd appropriate ways of representing the spatial prob-

lematique of public open space networks and second, to nd an appropriate and personalised way of present-

ing the design proposal. Emphasis is on the scale of both the park and the open space structure of a city as a

whole. The urban landscape under scrutiny is treated as a three-dimensional entity which can be studied and

represented in its entirety. Analysis techniques have been chosen that t this scale level and enable a spatial

representation of the urban landscape structure. The analysis and visualization component consists of two

workshops and a short lecture series.

1. Analysis:

The rst workshop involves a range of analytical exercises which explore the spatial form of a specic urban

context with a view to developing a diagnosis for its transformation. The location for the exercises is the study

area for the design studio Teatro Urbano, which is run in parallel to this course. The park design forms the

centre-piece of a transformation process in which the surrounding urban territory is to be developed from

a fragmented array of functional areas dominated by infrastructure, into a durable urban structure. The park

design is to be accompanied by a proposal for a network of public open spaces radiating out from the park,

which forms the backbone for the future urban area.

2. Visualization:

The second workshop focusses on visualization techniques for representing existing and proposed urban

landscape situations. The subject matter for the workshop is the park design project and its context. Visualiza-

tion exercises include: sequencing lm), plans (gure ground, sections), details, diagrams, views (axo, birds-eye),

visuals (montage, collage)

The landscape architectural project is a complex synthesis of design concept, materiality and situation. In the

context of the urban realm, this synthesis takes on a specic form: designers bring concept, materiality and

situation together in plans for parks, squares & gardens and in infrastructural spaces such as streets, avenues

and boulevards. The understanding of the urban landscape architectural concepts materials, and their synthesis

within the specic characteristics of each urban situation, is the focus of this course. The course involves the

study, documentation and analysis of key urban landscape typologies in real-life situations, with a view to un-

derstanding fundamental aspects of urban landscape design and construction: How do plants, structures and

hardscapes in specic situations structure, organise, identify and give meaning to urban spaces? What spatial

concepts lie behind these projects? What role has the location played in the project?

The course includes introductory lectures, an excursion, group analysis of a theme (planting, structures & hard-

scapes) and an individual design experiment. These aspects are to be collated in a personal por tfolio containing

documentation, analysis and design experimentation of case urban landscape typologies.

The knowledge and skills developed in this course are to be operationalized in the parallel design project Tea-

tro Urbano in the quarter Urban Landscape Architecture.

Seminar

Workshop



For landscape architectural, architectural and urban designs, the analysis of the context plays an impor tant

role. Designers are asked to dene the identity of an area. What are the spatial characteristics, what is the

identity? Which historic elements can be found and how are they expressed? How did the urbanisation process

inuence the landscape and how was the form of the urbanisation based on the landscape? And subsequently,how can these spatial essentials be dened, visualised and used in a new plan?

After a eld trip, the assignment addresses ways of identifying the context and identity of a specic Dutch

landscape. After that, these elements should form the basis of a land art project, expressing the landscape at its

best at a local scale.

At the end of the week, students should produce the next products:

1. analysis of the identity of the area

2. a landscape architectural drawing, collage or writing with these spatial essentials (scale 1:10.000 to 1:1000)

3. a proposal for a land art project and its location in the area

In this seminar theory and practice meet. Participants are asked to read a selection of recent papers and

articles from renowned international scholars and writers on heritage landscape research, policy and

philosophy. On the other hand and at the same time material will be presented about various landscape

revitalization projects and approaches in Europe. The seminar confronts theoretical concepts with practical

experiences and thus challenges students to develop thoughts on the role and responsibility of the landscape

designer in this eld of work.

Students are asked to put forward and develop their opinion during three different debates sessions. After

these debates, an essay on one of these topics is required.

Seminar

Workshop

Summary Master Track

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