LARCH 060

Tuesday, Arpil 20th, 1999
Announcements:

Lecture notes:

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: MODERNISM AND ART

Socio-cultural milieu:

• Modern-funtionalist (analytical) architecture
• Rising professional/middle classes
• Non-elite approach to modern architecture
• Lifestyle, residential emphasis

Design Expression:

• New Style: revolutionary, breaking away from the past, since the war people didn't understand the world, therefore art was made that way (nonsense)
• Asymmetrical
• Geometric and freeform, indoor/outdoor relationships using glass, etc...
• Lifestyles became more leisurely
• "Creative problem solving"
• "Art that works"
• Low-mainenance, clean and simple liveability
• Informal
• Design for human needs and function, also focus on what the site had to offer

"HARVARD REVOLT"---Garrett Eckbo, James Rose, Dan Kiley

• They saw new ideas while they were still using the old ones, so then decided to explore....looked in Europe, got exposed to the notion of freedom and asymmetry and wanted to address these. They came up with the stylistic approach which not only made the place look nice, but also work well.

THOMAS CHURCH (west coast) -inherent of new ideas/writer, came up with different ideas for different people--

Example) Donnell Pool Garden, located in Sonoma, CA from 1948~

• 50 years old, nationally registered historical place
• Kidney-shaped pool, built at height of pool building, cooking facilities
• Irregular pool shape suggests freedom, movement
• Divided into functional areas
• Flowing lines were used as opposed to geometric....showing openness
• Also used hard surfaces

DAN KILEY--his own ideas were based on human nature, used often with asymmetric drawing...suggest transition between open spaces and closed spaces, rigid geometry

ROBERTO BURLE-MARX: best known in the 1950's-1960's

• Used gardens as sculpture/art
• Idea of bringing nature under control
• Native plantings (ecological)
• Paint-like approach

Design Expression:

• Amorphic (irregular shapes), freeform
• Bold lines, edges
• Bold color, active design, unique style
• Sometimes adapted forms to architecture
• Used roofs to make rooftop gardens for workers/people to get away
• Three-dimensional

Example) Gomes Estate located in San Paulo, Brazil: Repetition of amorphic forms in the garden , connected by a path, ponds, tree arrangement to form a view (way to expand property), high texture landscapes

Example) Copacabana Beach located in Rio de Janeiro: transitional paving (4 miles long) , simple, abstraction of waves, vibrant and free