Recoding Landscape Education: Research-Based Design Studio Approach

Year 2022, Issue: spi 1, 5 - 18, 13.04.2022

Arzu Güler , Ebru Erbaş Gürler

https://doi.org/10.46474/jds.1074514

Abstract

The landscapes and the memory of the landscapes are evolving with natural and human-centered activities. In some places, landscapes continue to reveal their memory ecologically, socially, and culturally. On the other hand, in some places, landscapes lose their ecologic and socio-cultural archive as a result of globalization. This issue causes to emerge fragile landscapes according to lack of water resources, global warming, a decrease in biodiversity. Preserving the memory of landscapes and using it in the practice of landscape is a deeply crucial issue. The paper tries to answer two questions: How can landscape memory be used in design education? How can a research-based design studio pedagogy be conducted on this approach? This paper focuses on the research-based design approach in landscape architecture education to decode and recode the memory of the landscapes in the design process. ITU Landscape Architecture Department 2019-2020 Fall Semester Landscape Design Studio I-II, which is the case study of the research, worked in Savur, Mardin. The study area provides unexpected landscape carpet including browns and greens together in the valleys of the region that have a rich social and ecological structure. The methodological process of the studio was based on the three approaches which are integrated into each other: The Landscape Memory Model, Action-based Design Studio, and Research-based Design Studio. The model provides a guide for reading the memory of the landscape with various memory codes hidden under the visible and invisible values of it. This core process is used by the students for understanding the cultural and ecological values of the study area and implementing them into the design process. The action-based studio approach allows the tutors to find the problematic points in the design process of each student and resolve them in a positive way. Covering these two approaches, the research-based design studio expresses the discovery of the knowledge through a strong research process. The results are as followed: Implementing a research-based process ensured a place-based and innovative perspective to shape a design concept. Using the pre-specified landscape memory model empowered the research phase and helped students to analyze and discern the place with their own perceptions. Action-based flow allowed the instructors to leave the conventional studio performing and helped to use in-situ (special to the studio) instructing techniques within the semester. This paper may be influential for especially landscape design studios and relocate conventional studio approaches with more flexible and progressive techniques to understand the place and beyond.

Keywords

Landscape design studio, Landscape Design Education, Design Pedagogy, Research-based design, Landscape Memory

References

• Antrop, M. (2013). A Brief History of Landscape Research. In P. Howard, I. H. Thompson, & E. Waterton (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Landscape Studies (Vol. 46, pp. 376–381). London, New York: Routledge.
• Auge, M. (1995). Non - Places: An Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity. London: Verso. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/030981689606000111
• Aydınlı, S., & Akpınar, I. (2003). Heraclitus & the Design Studio. ITU Journal Series A: Architecture, Planning, Design, 58–72.
• Freire, M. (2013). Landscape design education: challenges and proposals. In International Scientific Conference Landscape and Imagination - Towards a new baseline for education in a changing world (pp. 393–396).
• Güler, A. (2019). Peyzajın Hafızasını Oluşturan Kodlar ve Peyzaj Tasarımı Pratiğindeki Yeri: Bir Model Önerisi. İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi.
• Güler, A., & Eşbah Tunçay, H. (2021). A Model Proposal to Read the Memory Strata Written on the Landscapes. In Ö. Demirel & E. Düzgüneş (Eds.), Landscape Research-I (1st ed., pp. 294–314). Lyon: Livre de Lyon All.
• Halifeoğlu, F. M., & Dalkılıç, N. (2006). Mardin-Savur Geleneksel Kent Dokusu ve Evleri. Uludağ Üniversitesi Mühendislik-Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi, 11(1).
• Hoskins, W. G. (1955). The Making of the English Landscape. London: Little Toller Books.
• Jørgensen, K., Stiles, R., Mertens, E., & Karadeniz, N. (2020). Teaching landscape architecture: a discipline comes of age. Landscape Research. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2020.1849588
• Karagülle, C., & Demir, Y. (2010). Yerel verilerin konut tasarım sürecinde değerlendirilmesi: Mardin örneği. İTÜ Dergisi, 9(2), 83–94.
• Keswani, K. (2019). Urban Design Studio Pedagogy: Thinking About Informality. New Design Ideas, 3(2), 113–123.
• Milburn, L.-A. S., & Brown, R. D. (2003). The relationship between research and design in landscape architecture. Landscape and Urban Planning, 64, 47–66.
• Milovanovic, J., & Gero, J. (2020). Modeling Design Studio Pedagogy: A Mentored Reflective Practice. In Proceedings of the Design Society: DESIGN Conference (Vol. 1, pp. 1765–1774). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1017/dsd.2020.118
• Montarou, C. (2006). The unarticulated dialogue in the creative process. In K. Jorgensen, N. Karadeniz, E. Mertens, & R. Stiles (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Teaching Landscape (pp. 218–219). Oxon: Routledge.
• Relph, E. (1976). Place and Placelesness. London: Pion.
• Salama, A. M. (2007). Design Studio Pedagogy: Horizons for the Future. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303079610
• Salama, A. M. (2016). Spatial design education: New directions for pedagogy in architecture and beyond. Spatial Design Education: New Directions for Pedagogy in Architecture and Beyond. Taylor and Francis Inc. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315610276
• Salama, A. M. (2021). Transformative pedagogy in architecture and urbanism. Transformative Pedagogy in Architecture and Urbanism. Taylor and Francis Inc. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003140047
• Schön, D. A. (1988). Toward a Marriage of Artistry & Applied Science In the Architectural Design Studio. Journal of Architectural Education, 41(4), 4–10. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.1988.10758496
• Stahlschmidt, P., Swaffield, S., Primdahl, J., & Nellemann, V. (2017). Landscape Analysis Investigating the Potentials of Space and Place. Oxon: Routledge.
• Swaffield, S., & Deming, M. E. (2011). Research strategies in landscape architecture: Mapping the terrain. Journal of Landscape Architecture, 6(1), 34–45. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/18626033.2011.9723445
• Treib, M. (2006). The Landscape of Landscape History. In K. Jorgensen, N. Karadeniz, E. Mertens, & R. Stiles (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Teaching Landscape (pp. 191–203). Oxon: Routledge.
• Tunçer, M. (2013). Mardin’in Korunması ve UNESCO Dünya Miras Listesi’ne Girmesi. Idealkent, 9.