What is Landscape Architecture?

We ask the question “What is Landscape Architecture?”

My first experience with landscape architecture came in 2006, when I was admitted into university to study it. This turned out to be a very important time of my life, as it served as a guide to my future. Back then, the future was full of surprises – first I had to redraw ancient park compositions with a technical pen and devise 44 ways to draw a tree silhouette.

What I found most amusing was telling my friends what I was studying. The response was almost inevitably the question “And what is that?” Sometimes, instead of the question, I might receive an encouraging “Ooo, architecture is a great and profitable profession, very good choice, bravo”.

But it was really me who was about to discover what landscape architecture is and what the role of a landscape architect is.

When I was thinking that I should draw beautiful compositions of parks and gardens, I found myself walking through green meadows, staring at every tiny blade of grass and trying to identify different types of flowers and grasses.

An Epiphany About Landscape Architecture

A few weeks after, I was presented the task of drawing up a master plan. Then it hit me – landscape architecture is really a complex work. It combines deep understanding of nature and its processes, including science, art, design, and creativity.

Nevertheless, the outcome of the hard work could be brilliant. 

Think of the perfection of a Japanese garden, or of a Victorian-style garden with trimmed geometrical and animal-shaped shrubs. Think of a more naturalistic design, like the High Line. Landscape architecture is diverse, inspiring, and changing. It can satisfy everyone’s taste.  In landscape architecture, everything is important — the plant, the bird, the line, the circle, and the human.

New York’s Highline and iconic landscape architecture project; image credit: Sean Pavone/shutterstock

Moreover, it doesn’t focus only on landscape and nature. It is all about people and how they live, walk, work, observe, and use the landscape. Their experience and the quality of it is the focus of a landscape architect. Landscape architects are charged with making the most of things, and very often are asked to reinvent them in light of new experiences. 

Landscape architecture seeks to understand the needs and aspirations of people and how they use the outdoor spaces.

The Many Scales of Landscape Architecture

The landscape architect works on all scales – from small private spaces to large-scale development. The work also involves disciplines such as urban planning and urban design.  Public spaces, river promenades, infrastructures, campuses, workplaces, living spaces — all a field of work for the landscape architect, who often demonstrates great abilities to integrate nature in the dense urban environment. Public spaces are an essential part for the livability of cities. 

I feel lucky to live in a time when we can learn from past experiences — to respect them, but at the same time add new value to the environment in which we live. New materials, new technologies, and better knowledge of the world that surrounds us give landscape architects great possibilities for creating stunning projects.

O maravilhoso e tecnológico GARDENS BY THE BAY em Singapura.

Quem ainda não conhece ficará maravilhado com a infraestrutura e a história do "GARDENS BY THE BAY", que apresento de forma resumida para apreciação de todos os leitores no presente artigo. 

Tecnologia e processos construtivos inéditos foram utilizados na realização do singular projeto do Gardens by the Bay em Singapura, o que faz da contemporânea cidade, visita obrigatória aos amantes da arquitetura, do paisagismo, e de jardins e plantas.





Uma das principais exigências aos arquitetos e engenheiros responsáveis pelo projeto é que todo o parque não utilizasse energia superior ao de um edifício comum de escritórios, um projeto modelo de desenvolvimento sustentável e preservação ambiental.



É um "super mega" parque verde construído em uma área de aproximadamente 100 hectares próximo ao Marina Bay e ao centro financeiro de Singapura dividido em três zonas verdes: Baysouth, Baycentral e Eastbbay. Das estufas - com colunas em arcos para proteção e apoio da estrutura em vidros especialmente desenvolvidos para captar totalmente a luz solar sem a transmissão do calor para o interior - às espécies vegetais oriundas de todo o mundo e das enormes estruturas de aço e concreto das árvores estilizadas de 25 e 50 metros de altura, tudo que se relaciona a este magnífico projeto é grandioso, inédito e de valores bilionários.



São sete instalações com jardins temáticos e estufas gigantescas com espécies provenientes de vários continentes, de minúsculas suculentas aos enormes e exóticos Baobás, de plantas aquáticas às desérticas, o visitante viaja ao redor do mundo através das diferentes espécies de plantas nativas dos quatro cantos do planeta. 
As 11 super árvores metálicas despertam a curiosidade dos visitantes e além de abrigarem uma série de plantas e flores exóticas - 170.000 plantas com mais de 200 espécies e variedades de bromélias, orquídeas, samambaias e trepadeiras floridas tropicais - tem um inovador sistema de captação de luz solar e geração de energia, a noite são totalmente iluminadas ofertando ao visitante um espetáculo de luzes e cores.









O parque tem um programa educativo que mistura natureza e inovação tecnológica para mostrar às novas gerações a importância da relação das plantas como patrimônio da humanidade nas mais diversas culturas e tradições.








Se a viagem à Singapura não está assim tão próxima de nossa realidade, vale a pena passear pela Web buscando fotos e informações deste peculiar e especial parque criado para o desfrute dos amantes da natureza e tecnologia. 

Site do parque: http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg.

No canal pago Nat Geo o programa "Obras incríveis" reproduz todo o processo construtivo e tecnologias aplicadas, nos mostra ainda, os procedimentos adotados no transplante de grandes árvores e variedade de plantas que no decorrer da construção foram abrigadas em estruturas provisórias para a adaptação das diversas espécies, vale muito a pena conhecer.

Chimney House in Sao Paulo by Marcio Kogan

Chimneys on the top of the roof…this seems to be the local brand in Sao Paulo, popularly known as Sampa, and the largest city in Brazil. Architect Marcio Kogan from Studio MK27 took this theme and built a house inspired by that. As we can see from the images below, the chimneys on the rooftop are of varied shapes, inspired in the chimneys on the rows of houses in the city of Sao Paulo.
The house of 400 sqm was completed in 2009 and had two special interior designers: Diana Radomysler, Carolina Castroviejo. What I liked most is the wooden patio with trees formed by the volumetry of the house and a concrete wall. The living room is enclosed in the boxed ground floor of this volume and wide windows open it to the external space. The inner dimensions of the living room 6.5m by 10.3m, and the low ceiling of 2.40m, create a sensation of coziness, accentuated by the textured of the concrete ceiling made with narrow wooden formwork. In this way, a desired horizontal proportion for this project is created.

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Garden design and maintenance át. Algarve

Grasses are traditionally divided into two types: cool-season grasses and warm-season grasses. Cool-season grasses grow well in cold northern climates, and warm-season grasses thrive in hot, humid southern summers. In the transition zone between these two areas, choosing a grass type is a bit confusing. Your local Cooperative Extension Service can help you choose a grass to meet your needs

 

 

Cool-Season Grasses

• Choose cool-season grasses for northern climates with cold winters and coastal areas where summer temperatures rarely exceed 90 degrees. Extended periods of temperatures above 90 degrees cause cool-season grasses to turn brown and go dormant. They regain their color with cooler temperatures.
  Common cool-season grasses include Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, hard fescue and tall fescue. Kentucky bluegrass recovers well from damage and wear, and it has a beautiful color. Perennial ryegrass and tall fescue are good choices for areas that get a lot of wear, such as parks and playgrounds, and lawns where children play. Hard fescue is good for unused areas such as slopes where the grass is left unmowed. Used as a lawn grass, it grows slowly and needs less frequent mowing.

Warm-Season Grasses

• Warm-season grasses do well in areas where the ground doesn't normally freeze solid. They tolerate heat and drought better than cool-season grasses. Bermuda grass, Saint Augustine grass, buffalo grass, Zoysia grass and bahiagrass are common warm-season grasses. Bermuda grass is drought tolerant and tolerates cold temperatures better than other warm-season grasses. Saint Augustine Grass thrives in heat and bright sun. It grows fast and needs frequent mowing. Buffalo grass is a heat-tolerant grass for low-use areas. It seldom requires mowing, but the seeds are very expensive. Zoysia grass is planted as sod or plugs. When planted as plugs it takes three seasons to fill in. It makes an attractive lawn once established, and requires little mowing. Bahaigrass is good for sandy, salty and acidic soils. It is a tough grass that requires frequent mowing with a sharp blade.

Shade Grasses

• There is no grass that grows well in shade, but some grasses tolerate it better than others. Let grass in shady areas grow at least a half inch taller than the rest of the lawn, and keep traffic out of shady areas. Cool-season grasses that tolerate shade include rough bluegrass, Chewings fescue and tall fescue. Warm-season grasses for shady spots include Saint Augustine, centipede, bahaigrass and Zoysia.

 

We present Gordon Graff's Sky Farm proposed for downtown Toronto's theatre district.

It's got 58 floors, 2.7 million square feet of floor area and 8 million square feet of

growing area.

It can produce as much as a thousand acre farm, feeding 35 thousand people per year

and providing tomatoes to throw at the latest dud at the Princess of Wales Theatre

to the east, and olives for the Club District to the north.

::Sky Farm Proposed for Downtown Toronto

"Cities already have the density and infrastructure needed to support vertical farms, and super-green skyscrapers could supply not just food but energy, creating a truly self-sustaining environment." Imagine an urban highrise CSA where we just walk across the street from our highrise to the next to pick our dinner. ::Futurama Farming in New York

"Robots tend crops that grow on floating platforms around a sea city of the future. Water from the ocean would evaporate, rise to the base of the platforms (leaving the salt behind), and feed the crops.":: Wayback Machine 1984: The Future of Agriculture

Daekwon Park designed this prefab system: "Clipping onto the exterior of existing buildings, a series of prefabricated modules serving different functions would be stacked on top of each other, adding a layer of green space for gardening, wind turbines or social uses to make new green façades and infrastructures." ::Retrofitting our Skyscrapers For Food and Power

::Weburbanist has great coverage of Pierre Sartoux of Atelier SOA's vertical farm."r.

 A light-shading skin wraps around the structure and opens to admit sunlight at particular

locations for various functional (and aesthetic) purposes. The building’s air, heating and

cooling systems are wind-driven and circulate oxygen and carbon dioxide between growing

and living spaces. The simple but reinforced structure is designed to handle additional dead

loads from the weight of growing floors and also serve to make the entire building more

durable (and thus sustainable)." ""Urban Design Proposals for 3D City Farms: Sustainable, Ecological and Agricultural Skyscrapers

TreeHugger Background on ::Vertical Farming – The Future of Agriculture? Mike wrote:

I'm more excited about this concept as a way to help us stop the use of pesticides, herbicides,

oil-based fertilizers, and to give a break to a lot of land that we have been stressing for decades

than as an extra food source. Another advantage: the food would grow quite a bit closer to the consumers, something that will become more important as oil prices keep rising and

transportation on long distances becomes a luxury (no more kiwis from New-Zealand in Canada during the winter).