English Gardens, I: the International Baroque
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Prof. Mirka Beneš UT School of Architecture: LAR 388 L Spring 2010 p. 1 LAR 388L, lecture course Prof. Mirka Beneš Spring semester 2011 Office hrs: Thu 9-10, 11-12. Mon-Wed 9:30-11am Office: Sutton Hall 3.138 Room: GOL 3.120 Office tel: (512) 232-7384 [email protected] Teaching Fellow: Chelsea Vargas, MLA Program. [email protected] LAR 388 L: Spring 2011 History and Theories of Landscape Architecture--II: Modern Gardens and Public Landscapes: 1750 to 2000. * Course Description LAR 388L is a lecture course that continues History and Theories of Landscape Architecture I (Antiquity to 1750); it covers the formal and cultural history of gardens, parks and public landscapes from 1750 to circa 2000. The course thus ranges from the theories and practice of the Picturesque in 18th-century English landscape gardens to contemporary urban parks, worldwide. The focus is on understanding the critical components of design language, as well as contemporary discourses on landscape architecture. It seeks to identify and discuss the theoretical frameworks that structured and enriched the imaginations of the designers and their public, the observers and users of the landscapes. We situate the formation of theories and conceptualizations of modern designed landscapes in specific historical contexts. The multivalent forms of modern and contemporary landscape architecture, which cross borders with art, architecture and urban planning, technology, philosophy and geography, amongst others, are examined in the contexts of public and private spheres, relations between city and countryside, the rise of technology, social reform and ecological concerns during industrialization and urbanization. The course charts in particular the rise of public landscapes--from the early 19th-century landscaped parks of England and Germany to the public park movement in America, to contemporary developments. Attention will be given to the evolution of modernism in landscape architecture, its origins in Europe and America from the 1910s to its later expression in the 1960s and 1970s. Lectures will analyze the typologies of designed landscapes and the notion of the profession of landscape architecture from "Capability Brown", Humphry Repton, Karl-Friedrich Schinkel, Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., to Gertrude Jekyll, Beatrix Farrand, and on to Leberecht Migge, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Thomas Church, Garrett Eckbo, Dan Kiley, Lawrence Halprin, among others. We will attempt to interpret the work of contemporary designers from the period called "Post-Modernism" to recent times. Throughout the course, we will consider the new thinking about landscape and landscape architecture that has occurred in professional and academic circles particularly during the last several decades, a period characterized by interdisciplinary thinking in both professional practice and academic research, which brings together landscape architecture and other disciplines--such as geography, history, sociology, and architecture. Through the study of history and theories, this course structures the range of conceptual categories and contexts, which are specific to the designing of works of landscape architecture. The key underlying question is: how does one conceptualize the design of a work of landscape architecture? what are the relevant issues and contexts at hand? Four frameworks are engaged to structure the course material: 1. Historical and Theoretical Frameworks: Categories of Reference. 2. The Formation of Landscape Architecture as a Discipline and as a Profession. 3. The Inscription of Meanings in Landscape Architecture: Theoretical-Cultural Interpretation 4. The Relevance of History for the Contemporary Field of Design. Prof. Mirka Beneš UT School of Architecture: LAR 388 L Spring 2010 p. 2 Lectures, Discussion, and Discussion Sections: Handouts: Handouts with sites and dates will be distributed to accompany lectures. Discussions: Discussion takes place in the classroom, and students are encouraged to ask questions. Some sessions are devoted to reviewing previously seen material. Sections: Weekly or Bi-Weekly Discussion Sections (one meeting of 45-50 min every week or every two weeks: TBA) are mandatory for undergraduate students. The T.A. will organize these sections. Graduate students should signal to the T.A. and the instructor if they wish to attend graduate sections or gather informally in a discussion group. Field Trips: One or more lectures (field trips on campus) will have a seminar format making use of the university's rich resources in rare book rooms, museums, and archives, among them the Harry Ransom Center (rare books and maps). Such field trips vary from year to year. Basis of Final Grade and Assignments: Class Participation: Discussions, questions.......................................................5 % 1. Short Project: Studies in the Picturesque: 18th and 19th centuries. Short Essay of 4 pages, plus one drawing, plus Bibliography...........................20 % 2. Mid-Term Exam: Exam in-class (1 hour 20 min) with 5 comparative slide-identifications (10 images) and written essay in class...................................25 % 3. Final Research Project: Typed Research Project, which may include drawings; this project trains the student in conducting advanced scholarly research in Modern and Contemporary Landscape Architecture; will include Annotated Bibliography, Typed Text of a minimum of 12 synthetic pages..........................................................................50% Due Dates of Assignments: 1. Short Project: due 2/09/11 (Wed), in class, hand to T.A., GOL 3.120. 2. Mid-Term Exam: on 3/02/11 (Wed), in class, hand to T.A., GOL 3.120. * Note: this date may be moved, if there are studio or other class conflicts of deadlines; the alternate date is 3/23/11, after Spring Break. 3. Final Project: due 4/25/11 (Mon), in class, hand to T.A., GOL 3.120. There will be interim due dates for the steps needed to complete this assignment, so the work will be graduated. Class attendance: Class attendance is mandatory, unless exemption has been given in advance by the instructor for excusable absences. Students with three (3) or more unexcused absences are subject to Prof. Mirka Beneš UT School of Architecture: LAR 388 L Spring 2010 p. 3 lowering of the final grade for the course. Please contact the T.A. or the instructor by email in advance, if you expect to be absent. Time Commitment of Students: Includes class time (lectures and discussions), plus about four (4) hours (varies) of weekly reading. Additional time for study, reading and preparation for projects. The course assignments are spaced across the semester, and the instructor attempts to accomodate deadlines for the class in view of specific studio deadlines that students may have. Important Guidelines and Rules: All assignments not done in class must be typed. Bibliography, footnotes and a minimum number of illustrations must ALWAYS be included. All assignments MUST be submitted to the instructor in hard copy. The instructor will not accept assignments sent only by email. All written/typed assignments/papers must be submitted in TWO (2) COPIES EACH, so that the student can have one copy returned with comments. The instructor retains 1 COPY for the LAAB Accreditation archive. Models and analytic drawings must be accompanied by a card or sheet indicating the course number, the student's name, the name and date of the design, and the scale in feet/inches or meters/ centimeters. NO late work will be accepted: A "Fail" Grade will be given for any late assignment. Honor Code for the University of Texas: The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. Honor Code for this Course: Each student in this course is expected to abide by this Honor Code, and any work submitted by a student will be the student's own work. You are encouraged to study together and to discuss information and concepts covered in this course, but you should never copy from one another or from anyone else, be it from printed and/or published work, or from any digital form or from the internet. Any transgressors on an assignment shall receive a "Fail" Grade for that assignment. Academic Accomodations: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, please contact the Office of the Prof. Mirka Beneš UT School of Architecture: LAR 388 L Spring 2010 p. 4 Dean of Students, as soon as possible, at (512) 471-6259 or (512) 471-6441 TTY, also to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations. Readings: Readings consist of Required Readings and Recommended Readings (distributed in a separate handout). Students are responsible for information and concepts in the Required Readings, which are posted on Blackboard under Course Documents at http: //courses.utexas.edu. Other additional recommended readings are available as electronic texts at the website of Dumbarton Oaks Center for Studies in Landscape Architecture, Washington, D.C.: www.doaks.org/Etexts.html. The instructor appreciates the fact that, given the student's commitment to studio time, not all Required Readings can be done immediately, at the time of the lectures. Therefore, on this Syllabus, the essential readings are highlighted