LANDSCAPE

ARCHITECTURE
HISTORY, CONCEPT AND CAREER
 History
❑ Garden design:
• Ancient art;

❑ Landscape design:
• Has a long history

• Relationship between terrain, trees, water, and other structures.

 Landscape Architecture
❑ It was introduced by Gilbert Laing Meason in 1828;

❑ Recognized as an organized international career (International Federation of Landscape

Architects- IFLA);

❑ Consider both trees and the natural environment, building architecture and walkways;

❑ Combining both natural and built elements into a functional space;

 Landscape Architecture Design
❑ To design specific projects;

❑ To design from a private garden to a public park and larger scale related to
landscape and architecture, including urban planning, traffic, parks, forests, and
agriculture;

❑ To arrange the spatial forming factors/ spatial environments including vertical

and horizontal structure, such as 1/ physiology (topography, soil, water surface,
climate, etc.), 2/ biology (fauna and flora), 3/ built (pathway, buildings, etc.)
 Landscape planning
❑ Landscape planning
• Previous meaning;

• 1800 John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843) is a landscape planner;

• Patrick Abercrombie giving a lecture on rural and landscape planning in 1934;

• ‘Design with nature’ by McHarg, 1969, is the most important about landscape
planning in the 20th century;
 Landscape Architect
❑ Is a career, accredited and involved in LA design, such as parks, walkways,
streetscapes, squares, playgrounds, or even university campuses, landscape
planning, and other specialized activities;

❑ Requires a bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture and a license to practice;

❑ Responsibilities include:
• Meeting with customers and project team members;
• Research the site and consider restrictions or requests from the authorities
• Researching requirements for construction regulations
• Design and supervision
 Landscape Designer
❑ No license required, mainly based on experience;
❑ Creating a beautiful landscape, usually a garden in a residential building, for
clients based on experience;
❑ Often have certifications from industry associations;
❑ Responsibilities include:
• Meeting customers and designing premises;
• Discuss aesthetics and landscape style;
• Discuss the planting cost;
• Consider planting technical problems,
• Drawing on CAD;
 LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
 DESIGN PRINCIPLES
1. Difference between UP, UD, LA, and A?
2. Fundamental environments?
3. Form and Space?
4. Basic elements to create a space?
5. Form transformation?
6. Different kinds of forms?
 SPATIAL LEVELS OF THE PHYSICAL
HUMAN-BUILT ENVIRONMENT, ROLES AND
INTER-RELATIONSHIPS.
1. 7 spatial levels
2. Roles and relationships

10
C. Illies (2009) 588856

11
 Typical spatial levels
of the physical human-built environment
1. Physical environment:
7 levels: 1/ products, 2/ interior, 3/ structure, 4/ landscape, 5/ cities,
6/ regions, 7/ earth

2. Structure
WHAT: ….. WHAT FOR: ….. HOW: ...

1. Civil (Housing, Health care, Education, Commerce, etc.)

2. Industrial (Factory, Workshops, etc.)
3. Infrastructure (Road, Bridge, etc.)

3. Landscape/ Cities, Regions

WHAT: … WHAT FOR: ….. HOW: ...
1. Open space, public space, etc.,
2. Neighborhoods,
C. Illies (2009) 3. Cities,
4. Regions, provinces.
WHAT:
Buildings (structure)
Plan, sections, facades, etc.

WHAT FOR:
To provide shelter

HOW: Design
The art or practice of designing & constructing buildings

Function: appropriate, reasonable

Form: beauty
Structure: stability
WHAT:
Urban (Landscape, Cities)
Plan, sections, facades, etc.

WHAT FOR:
To provide spaces for human activities

HOW: Design
The Art of Making Public Places between buildings &
structures for People

Function: reasonable, appropriate

Form: beauty
Structure: stability
WHAT:
Urban (Cities, Region)
Layout

WHAT FOR:
To provide spaces for socio-economical activities

HOW: Planning
The Organization Of Urban Functions & Infrastructure

Function: To provide spaces fulfilling society’s needs of

community and economy
Form: beauty.
INFRAS-Structure: Convenient
 Building Urban spaces
Design Design Planning
Scale Individual building Spaces between buildings: Whole neighbourhoods,
street, park, transit stop districts & cities

Orientation Aesthetic and functional Aesthetic and functions Functions and Utility

Treatment of space 2D & 3D 2D&3D Predominantly 2D

Time frame No definite time frame Short Term (<5 years) Long Term (5 to 20 years)

Users Individual/ public Public Community/ Society

Involvements Clients, consultants, Communities, consultants, Societies/ Communities,

authorities, etc authorities, etc consultants, authorities, etc
Social affects Little Medeum Large

Envt’l affects Little Medeum Large

Management Individual/ authorities Authorities Authorities

Form and Space?
• As the structure of a work- the manner of arranging and coordinating the
elements and parts of a composition to produce a coherent image.
• Space in the landscape is the invisible void filled with air that exists between the
objects we see.
Basic elements to create a space?
• In the landscape, three planes of spatial enclosure forge the mutual relationship
between solid and void.
Form transformation?
• There are five fundamental strategies for form transformation: subtraction,
addition, rotation, intervention, and synthesis of the other.
Different kinds of forms
• Orthogonal form, Angular form, Circular forms, and other”
 The mind will simplify the visual environment in order to understand it.
Primary Shapes Given any composition of forms, we tend to reduce the subject matter in our
visual field to the simplest and most regular shapes.
The simpler and more regular a shape is, the easier it is to perceive and
understand
From geometry we know the regular shapes to be the circle, and the infinite
series of regular polygons that can be inscribed within it. Of these, the most
significant are the primary shapes: the circle, the triangle, and the square.

Circle
A plane curve every point of which is equidistant from a fixed point within the
curve

Triangle
A plane figure bounded by three sides and having three angles

Square
A plane figure having four equal sides and four right angles
Form Shape The characteristic outline or
surface configuration of a particular
form. Shape is the principal aspect by
• An external appearance that which we identify and categorize forms
can be recognized.
Size The physical dimensions of
• It may also allude to a length, width, and depth of a form.
particular condition, as when While these dimensions determine the
we speak of water in the form proportions of a form, its scale is
of ice or steam. determined by its size relative to other
• In art and design, we often use forms in its context
the term to denote the formal Color A phenomenon of light and
structure of a work — the visual perception, individual’s
manner of arranging and perception of hue, saturation, and
coordinating the elements tonal value. Colour is the attribute that
most clearly distinguishes a form from
and parts of a composition so
its environment. It also affects the
as to produce a coherent visual weight of a form.
image.
Texture The visual and especially
tactile quality given to a surface by the
size, shape, arrangement, and proportions
of the parts. Texture also determines the
degree to which the surfaces of a form
reflect or absorb incident light.
Transformation of form All other forms can be understood to be transformations of the primary
solids, variations which are generated by the manipulation of one or more
dimensions or by the addition or subtraction of elements.

Dimensional Transformation
A form can be transformed by altering one or more of its dimensions and still retain its
identity as a member of a family of forms.
A cube, for example, can be transformed into similar prismatic forms through discrete
changes in height, width, or length. It can be compressed into a planar form or be
stretched out into a linear one.

Subtractive Transformation
A form can be transformed by subtracting a portion of its volume. Depending on the
extent of the subtractive process, the form can retain its initial identity or be transformed
into a form of another family.
For example, a cube can retain its identity as a cube even though a portion of it is
removed, or be transformed into a series of regular polyhedrons that begin to
approximate a sphere

Additive Transformation
A form can be transformed by the addition of elements
to its volume.
The nature of the additive process and the number and relative sizes of the elements
being attached determine whether the identity of the initial form is altered or retained.
Transformation of form

Dimensional Transformation of a Cube into a Vertical Slab:

Unité d’Habitation, Firminy-Vert, France, 1963–68, Le Corbusier
Subtractive Transformation Creating Volumes of Space:
Gwathmey Residence, Amagensett, New York, 1967,
Charles Gwathmey/Gwathmey Siegel

Additive Transformation of a Parent Form by the

Attachment of Subordinate Parts:
Il Redentore, Venice, 1577–92, Andrea Palladio
Subtractive form
We search for regularity and continuity in the forms we see within our field of vision.
If any of the primary solids is partially hidden from our view, we tend to complete its
form and visualize it as if it were whole because the mind fills in what the eyes do not see.

Because they are easily recognizable, simple geometric forms, such as the primary solids,
adapt readily to subtractive treatment.
These forms will retain their formal identities if portions of their volumes are
removed without deteriorating their edges, corners, and overall profile

In the series of figures below, at what point does the square

Ambiguity regarding
shape with a corner portion removed become an L- shaped
the original identity of a
configuration of two rectangular planes?
form will result if the
portion removed from
its volume erodes its
edges and drastically
alters its profile.
Subtractive form Spatial volumes may be subtracted
from a form to create recessed
entrances, positive courtyard
spaces, or window openings shaded
by the vertical and horizontal surfaces
of the recess.

Khasneh al Faroun, Petra, 1st century A.D.

Gorman Residence, Amagansett, New York, 1968,

Julian and Barbara Neski

House at Stabio, Switzerland, 1981, Mario Botta

Subtractive form

Shodhan House, Ahmedabad, India, 1956, Le Corbusier

Gwathmey Residence, Amagansett, New Benacerraf House Addition, Princeton, New Jersey,
York, 1967,Charles Gwathmey/Gwathmey 1969, Michael Graves
Siegel & Associates
Subtractive and additive forms
Le Corbusier comments on form:

“Cumulative Composition
• additive form
• a rather easy type
• picturesque; full of movement
• can be completely disciplined by classification and hierarchy”
“Cubic Compositions (Pure Prisms)
• very difficult
(to satisfy the spirit)”

“very easy
• (convenient combining)”

“subtractive form
• very generous
• on the exterior an architectural will is confirmed
• on the interior all functional needs are satisfied (light penetration,
continuity, circulation)”
After a sketch, Four House Forms, by Le Corbusier for the cover of Volume Two of the Oeuvre Complète, published in 1935.
Additive form While a subtractive form results from the removal of a portion of its
original volume, an additive form is produced by relating or
physically attaching one or more subordinate forms to its volume.

The basic possibilities for grouping two or more forms are by:

Spatial Tension
This type of relationship relies on the close proximity of the forms
or their sharing of a common visual trait, such as shape, colour,
or material

Edge-to-edge Contact
In this type of relationship, the forms share a common edge and can
pivot about that edge.

Face-to-face Contact
This type of relationship requires that the two forms have
corresponding planar surfaces which are parallel to each other.

Interlocking Volumes
In this type of relationship, the forms interpenetrate each other’s
space. The forms need not share any visual traits
Additive form Centralized Form
A number of secondary forms clustered about a
Additive forms resulting from the accretion of discrete elements can
dominant, central parent-form
be characterized by their ability to grow and merge with other forms.
For us to perceive additive groupings as unified compositions of
form—as figures in our visual field—the combining elements must be
related to one another in a coherent manner.
Linear Form
A series of forms arranged sequentially in a
These diagrams categorize additive forms according to the nature of
row
the relationships that exist among the component forms as well as their
overall configurations.
Radial Form
A composition of linear forms extending
outward from a central form in a radial
manner

Clustered Form
A collection of forms grouped together by
proximity or the sharing of a common visual
trait

Grid Form
A set of modular forms related and regulated by
a three-dimensional grid
Centralized form
Beth Sholom Synagogue, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania,
1959, Frank Lloyd Wright

S. Maria Della Salute, Venice, 1631–82, Baldassare Longhena

Villa Capra (The Rotunda), Vicenza, Italy,

1552–67, Andrea Palladio
 LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE
SENSES AND SCALES IN SPACE
 DESIGN PROCESS

1. HUMAN DIMENSION

2. SENSES AND SCALES

HUMAN DIMENSION
• For many years Copenhagen has invited more bicycle traffic.
• Networks of good bicycle paths now support a safe and effective
alternative transit system.
• By 2008, bicyclists account for 37% of commutes to and from work
and education.
• The goal is 50%
A study conducted in 2005 showed an increase of pedestrians of
39% from 1993 and three times more people staying for a while in
the city.
Quality improvements have served as a direct invitation to
increased activity in the city.

Federation Square is one of Melbourne’s new well-functioning city

spaces, and many of the city’s neglected lanes and arcades have
been incorporated as staying space.
All in all, Melbourne has made impressive efforts to invite city
dwellers to use their city
 Doubling the number of places to sit in Aker
Brygge in Oslo has doubled the number of
people who are seated in the area.

Every summer the motorway along the Seine River in

Paris is closed and converted to ”Paris Plage,” which
is quickly stormed by thousands of Parisians who
have been waiting all winter for this very invitation
 Optional activities are
recreational and fun.
City quality is a decisive
prerequisite for this
important group of
activities

Necessary activities are an integrated,

non optional part of every day.

Social activities include all types of contact

between people and take place everywhere
people go in city space.
SENSES AND SCALES
IN SPACE
 Senses
• Walking at max 5 km/h – 3 mph;
• Walk or run forward with ease, move backward or sideways with great difficulty;
• Our eyes, ears, and nose face forward to help us sense danger and opportunities
on the route ahead;
• Our senses have also developed to allow slow, forward movement on largely
horizontal surfaces.
• The basic elements of city architecture are movement and
experience space.
• The street reflects the linear movement pattern of feet and the
square represents the area the eye can take in (Stone Town, Ascoli
Piceno, Italy).

• This little town is nestled in the bay like a corner sofa in the living
room.
• Its back is covered and the scenery is on a human scale. This is a
good place to be — also for a town (Portofino, Italy)
Scales
• We can see people 100 meters/328
feet away
• the distance is shortened, we
can see a bit more.
• But the experience only
becomes interesting and
exciting at a distance of less
than 10 meters/33 feet,
• and preferably at even closer
ranges where we can use all our
senses.2
Watching events

The ability to see people at distances up to 100 • When emotion rather than motion is in the spotlight, 35
meters/328 feet is reflected in the dimensions of m / 115 feet is the magic number.
spectator space for watching sports and other events • Used in theatres and opera houses all over the world, this
is the greatest distance at which audiences can read
facial expressions and hear speech and song.
People do not see much above us and
only slightly more when we look down in
order to avoid obstacles in our path.
In addition, we typically bow our heads 10
degrees while we are walking.

Low buildings are in keeping with the

human horizontal sensory apparatus, but
high buildings are not (Bo01 and Turning
Torso, Malmø, Sweden)

The location of the

vegetables in front of the
shop makes its own
statement about field of
vision
• Contact between building and street is possible from the
lowest five floors.
• Contact with the city quickly dissipates above the fifth floor.
• When we are walking along building façades, only the ground floors can offer us interest and intensity.
• If ground floor façades are rich in variation and detail, our city walks will be equally rich in experience.
(street in Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Sweden, and ground floors in Dublin, Ireland)
• When we walk we have time to see faces and details (Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy).
• And it is still possible to see a fair amount of detail when we bicycle (18 km/h – 11
mph) or run (12 km/h – 7.5 mph).
Human scale — and car scale
• 5 km/h (3 mph) architecture and
• 60 km/h (36 mph) architecture
• The 5 km/h (3 mph) scale
has small spaces, small
signals, many details —
and people close by.

• The 60 km/h (37 mph) scale

has large spaces, large
signals and no details. At
that speed it is not possible
to see details — or people
• Venice is a 5 km/h (3 mph) city with small spaces, elegant signals, fine
details and many people.
• It is a city that offers a wealth of experiences and sensory impressions.

• Dubai is primarily a 100 km/h (62 mph) city: large

spaces, large signals, large buildings and high
noise level
Warm, intense contacts between people take place at short
distances.
Small spaces and short distances convey a corresponding experience
of warm, intense city environments — regardless of weather (Kyoto,
Japan; Perth, Australia; Farum, Denmark)

small in scale means exciting, intense and “warm” cities

Large spaces and large buildings signal an impersonal, formal
and cool urban environment
 • Scale shift at the Singapore River.
• The old four-to-five story buildings meet the new skyscrapers.
• The different buildings were envisioned for two different species.
• All of the outdoor activities by the river take place in front of the
low buildings
 LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE
STUDY METHODS AND TOOLS
 Contents

Basic group of activities

Study question

Study methods and tools

 Basic groups of activities
“A common characteristic of life in city space is the versatility and complexity of the
activities, which much overlapping and frequent shifts between purposeful walking,
stopping, resting, staying, and conversing.”

(Jan Gehl, 2010 - Cities for People)

 Basic groups of activities
1. Necessary activities

2. Optional activities

3. Social activities

ACI#1: List the activities and potential users belonging to the above groups.
Different activites

Walk

Basic activities Stand

Sit
Different activites

Basic activities

Walk
Different activites

Basic activities

Stand
Different activites

Basic activities

Sit
 Physical environment
high quality

Physical environment
low quality

An increase in outdoor quality gives a boost to optional

activities in particular.
The increase in activity level then invites a substantial
increase in social activities.

AIC#2: Which group/ activities require better spatial quality?

 Study questions
It is necessary to ask questions systematically and divide the variety of
activities and people into subcategories in order to get specific and useful
knowledge about the complex interaction of life and form in public space”
(Jan Gehl, 2013 - How to study public life)

AIC#3: Which questions can get the answers to the complex interaction??
Study questions
1. How many?
2. Who?
3. Where?
4. What?
5. How long?
 Study questions
HOW MANY?
To find the answers to the “HOW MANY” question:

❑ Vehicles moving through the space?

❑ People existing, staying in (stationary activity) and moving through a place (pedestrian
flow)?

Purposes:
❑ To understand the public space usage efficiency;
❑ To provide usage data to evaluate the project, or to decide on the project renovation;
 Study questions
WHO? To find the answers to the “WHO” question:

❑ Who? Which group of people?

❑ Who uses the different utilities in public spaces?
❑ The common group: genders, ages, etc.

Purposes:
❑ To understand the users, their behaviors and wishes in using public spaces;
❑ To design more accurately for group demands: females, children, elders, disabled
people, etc.
Study questions

52% female
48% male

Bryant Park - NYC

 Study questions
WHERE?
To find the answers to the “WHERE” question:

❑ To where are the people going?

❑ Where are they staying?

Purposes:
❑ To define locations in public spaces where people prefer using?
❑ In the limited area, the question is where the people usually are;
❑ In the neighborhood scale, the answer is to help define the location where people’s activities
are, and their levels of distribution;
❑ At the urban level, the answer is to help localize functionalities, activities, and moving
directions of pedestrians, and the location they are willing to stay.
 Study questions
WHAT?
To find the answers to the “WHAT” question:

❑ What do people come for?

❑ What are the basic activities in the area?

Purposes:
❑ To make public space become a meeting point;
 Study questions
HOW LONG?
To find the answers to the “HOW LONG” question:

❑ Walking speed and staying time provides spatial quality. The higher spatial quality, the slower
speed, and the longer stay.

Purposes:
❑ To help accurately understand each activity simultaneously happens at the same location;
❑ To effectively design.
48 seconds/100m Undefined 137 seconds/100 m
What can you explain?
Study methods and tools
1. Counting,
2. Mapping,
3. Tracking and
4. Others
❑ Counting- numbers of vehicles, people;
❑ Mapping- of activities, people, and places;
❑ Tracing- how people move across a delimited space;
❑ Tracking- shadowing to see how people move through space;
❑ Looking for traces- trails, paths worn through the grass;
❑ Photographing- time-lapse photos;
❑ Keeping a diary;
❑ Test walks.
❑ Etc.
Samples
What can you explain?
 LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN PROCEDURE
 What is a design for?
• Making living/ working environments better
Making them more convenient, comfortable, efficient, etc.
 Who are the design
stakeholders and their roles?
• Clients, Authorities, Banks, Funds, Etc.
• Management, beneficiary, etc.
 What are the
design procedures?
 DESIGN PROCEDURES
1. Collect project information

2: Site analysis and problem identification

3: Set up project objectives

4: Design

5. Feedbacks and improving

Purposes:
• Understanding the project

Basis:
• Relevant regulations, rules, habits, etc.

1. Collect information
Purposes:
• Identify problems and values

Basis:
• Natural and social factors

2. Site analysis
Purposes:
• Identify problems and values

Basis:
• Natural and social factors

2. Site analysis
tuation

Purposes:
• Define the spatial area to
design

Basis:
• From clients, investors
2. Site analysis
Purposes:
• A framework to follow

Basis:
• Project info and site analysis
3. Design objectives
 Design steps and contents
3 Steps 3 Contents

1. Concept 1. Functional zoning

2. Basic 2. Circulation organization
3. Technical 3. Form design
Purposes:
• Define themes/ styles to follow

Basis:
• Client requirements/ functions/
consultants
• Design viewpoint

4.1. Design- Concept

Purposes:
• Define functional locations and
relationships

Basis:
• SWOT analysis of the context
• The relationships between inner
and outer activities

4.1. Design- Concept (Functional Zoning)

4.1. Design- Concept (Functional Zoning)
Drawing: bubbles
4.1. Design- Concept (Functional Zoning)
Purposes:
• Connect all activities in
functional zones

Basis:
• Spatial context
• Relationships between zones
• Design principles
2. Phân
4.1. khu chức
Design- năng
Concept (Circulation)
Purposes:
• Combine all in one

Basis:
• Functions
• Relationships between zones
• Design principles

2. Phân
4.1. khu chức
Design- năng
Concept (Form)
4.1. Design- Concept (3D Sketch)
3. Thiết
4.1. kế ý Concept
Design- tưởng (3D Sketch)
3. Thiết
4.1. kế ý Concept
Design- tưởng (3D Sketch)
Purposes:
• Detailing the concepts

Basis:
• Concept Design, feedback
from clients, and design
criteria/ standards/
regulations, etc.
4.2 Design- Basic
Purposes:
• Detailing the basic design

Basis:
• Basic Design, feedback
from clients, and design
criteria/ standards/
regulations, parameters,
etc.
4.3. Design- Technical
Drawing: Plans
4.3. Design- Technical
Drawing: Plans
4.3. Design- Technical
Drawing: Sections
4.3. Design- Technical
Drawing: Details
4.3. Design- Technical
Purposes:
• Meeting clients/ authorities
requirements

Basis:
• Feedbacks
• Regulation

5. Improving