Contemporary landscape architecture is progressing towards an appropiate and independent language of its own. Drawing on the potentials of art and architecture, the ever changing relationship between man and nature is given new expression. Ecological concerns and aesthetic aspirations interact in a fruitful dialogue. Particularly Land Art and related art movements become sources of inspiration and innovation. The ground-breakting works of the landscape artists and architects presented in this book reveal the diverse current trends in international landscape design. "This book offers many stimuli to design. Its contents are not just for landscape architects," wrote The architects' journal. With chapters on Dani Karavan, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Bernard Lassus, Peter Latz, Dieter Kienast, Herman Prigann, Peter Walker, Adriaan Geuze and others.

This book explores interventions that are noteable for their creative and sensitive design, planning or management of the landscape. The featured projects aim to promote interaction between people and the environment by responding to a broad range of human habitats and natural ecosystems in diverse social, cultural and ecolological contexts. In their response to context these projects evolve into Land Art, which is to be understood as a fusion between sculpture, architecture, and landscape architecture. The goal is to draw out the emotions of the spectator who is confronted by these determined, composed enviironments. The structure of this book is inspired by the poet's journey in Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, from which we borrow the narrative structure and symbolic landscape imagery: the circles of Hell, the terraces of Mount Purgatory and the celestial spheres of Heaven.

The creativity of Burning Man and the design innovation of the Land Art Generator respond to the climate crisis with a catalog of radical experiments in post-carbon living. Set in the remote corner of Northern Nevada lies a magical stretch of land called Fly Ranch. With no access to the electrical grid or other public utilities, the site provides an opportunity to reinvent what human settlement can aspire to be in a world that has awakened to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change and the overconsumption of natural resources. Land Art of the 21st Century catalogs the responses to an invitation from the Land Art Generator and Burning Man Project to creatively design systems for energy, water, agriculture, shelter, and regeneration--a proof of concept for how to live in beauty and harmony with the earth. The results are a glimpse into the near future of our sustainable landscapes.

A comprehensive history of the Earthworks movement provides an in-depth analysis of the forms that initiated Land Art, profiling top contributors and achievements within a context of the social and political climate of the 1960s, and noting the form's relationship to ecological movements. (Fine Arts)

The current environmental crisis calls for a unified practice of landscape and architecture that would allow buildings and landscapes to perform symbiotically to heal the environment. Over the past ten years, a diverse group of architects, landscape architects, and artists have undertaken groundbreaking projects that propose an integration of landscape and architecture, dissolving traditional distinctions between building and environment. Groundwork: Between Landscape and Architecture examines twenty-five projects, on an international scale, that consider landscape and architecture as true reciprocal entities. Groundwork divides the projects into three design directions: Topography, Ecology, and Biocomputation. Topographic designers create projects that manipulate the ground to merge building and landscape as in Cairo Expo City in Egypt (Zaha Hadid Architects), Island City Central Park Grin Grin in Fukuoka, Japan (Toyo Ito & Associates) and the City of Culture of Galicia in Santiago de Compostela, Spain (Eisenman Architects). Ecologic designers develop environments that address issues such as energy climate and remediation, such as I’m Lost In Paris in France (R&Sie(n)), Turistroute in Eggum, Norway (Snøhetta) and Parque Atlántico in Santander, Cantabria, Spain (Batlle i Roig Arquitectes). Biocomputation designers use digital technologies to align biology and design in projects such as the Grotto Concept (Aranda/Lasch), North Side Copse House in West Sussex, England (EcoLogicStudio) and Local Code: Real Estates (Nicolas de Monchaux.) What these projects all have in common is a desire to pay attention and homage to the liminal space where indoors and outdoors meet. The critical connection between natural and synthetic, exterior and interior space, paves the way toward a more inclusive—and indeed more alive—conceptualization of the physical world.

Resource added for the Landscape Horticulture Technician program 100014.