Category Archives: Landscape Architecture

Asian landscape architecture and garden design in the twentieth century

Singapore skyline by Gyver Chang

Why were Asian garden design and landscape architecture such a disappointment in the twentieth century? There is much work which looks anti-ecological, anti-contextual, almost anti-human – and far too American or far too European (see note on Chinese context theory). Luckily, there are some exceptions, including the twenty-first century landscape designs for King Abdullah International Gardens and the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Instead of writing an essay (which is is in fact what I have done for the final chapter of Asian gardens) I offer the short statement that the problems with Asian garden and landscape design in the 20th century resulted from a poor understanding of design history and theory. There were lacks of appreciation:

by many landscape architects that their profession’s design theory was at least 4000 years old on 14 May 1863 ( Norman T Newton gives this day as ‘the first official use of the title Landscape Architect’ – he knew the art was older but his perception of the theory was post-1863)
by the Asian clients and designers who believed Asia should be ‘modernized’ by being ‘westernized’
by the World Bank and associated development agencies which were certain that western is better, because it is based on science , and because science is the ultimate criterion of truth
by a host of architects, engineers and planners who believed too fervently in ‘master planning’ and therefore fostered the tragedy of feminine design
by bankers and property developers who believed that calculation of short term profit was the way to distinguish good projects from bad projects
by the abstract and anti-contextual nature of international modern design theory
by an inadequate knowledge of Asian design history and theory

The corrective to these Seven Deadly Design Sins should be gulping that wonderful Asian virtue – HARMONY. History matters, theory matters, science matters, beliefs matter, profit matters, ecology matters, design matters, people matter -we all matter!

Chinese landscape architecture competition for Tiananman Square

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Tripper54 put this on Flickr with the caption 'me at tiananmen square'

The landscape architecture profession in China has grown rapidly but now faces a supreme challenge: how to re-design Tiananmen Square. Though understandable, Tiananmen Square was a blunder and this should be recognized. Only then can it become the brilliant centre of world culture which Beijing deserves. Its current design is understandable for three reasons:

China had no tradition of creating public open space in towns at the time it was designed and nor did it have a landscape architecture profession
The design inspiration for Tiananmen Square came from Soviet Russia, which could just as well have taught lessons in running fair trials
As the capital of the world’s most populous country, the Beijing authorities wanted to have the world’s largest and greatest urban square

The present landscape design of Tiananmen Square is regrettable for three reasons:

the section of the Ming capital it replaced should most certainly have been conserved
the landscape design of the new square was horrific: it has scarcely any use, scarcely any beauty, and is totally unsuited to Beijing’s climate. People just stand around with nothing to do but take ‘I was there’ photographs of each other.
the tragic events of 1989 are, one assumes, as much regretted in Beijing as they are in the rest of the world

So what should be done? It is loved as the heart of the nation and I can’t say – but finding an answer is a great challenge for the landscape architecture profession, hence the Web 2.0 Landscape Competition announced today. + more information on the Tiananmen landscape architecture competition (and a October 2009 blog post about the competition)

The grey slabbed area is the famous Tiananmen Square in Beijing

History of Asian garden and landscape design book

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Himalayas by Ilker Ender

Phew!

My ‘Tomfool Project’ to write a history of Asian gardens and landscape architecture is done: I have just posted the CS (computer-script) to the publisher. The main subjects are Ancient Garden Design, Islamic Garden Design, Indian Garden Design, Chinese Garden Design, Japanese Garden Design and modern landscape architecture across Asia. The text files, drawings and photographs fit on one DVD, so all I have done is re-arrange some binary code, unless you count taking over 100,000 photographs. The easier-to-write chapters drew on other work but the difficult chapters took a year each for research and travel. The sensible alternatives would have been not to have begun the project or to have started 40 years earlier by learning half a dozen Asian languages. But I enjoyed the work and will be a lucky man if the ‘royalties’ pay for the travel – so you could say the books will be sold at ‘cost price minus’. It reminds me of the advice I received from Arnold Weddle about 30 years ago. We were making use of adjoining urinals at the time and I think the conversation went like this:

‘Hi Tom, how are you and what are you doing’. Ignoring the obvious, I replied ‘Fine – I’m writing a book, actually it’s about Landscape planning‘. Arnold, who had recently founded the journal Urban and landscape planning, replied: ‘Hmmm. Don’t expect to make any money by writing books’

Weddle was a wise man and I often quote another of his remarks. In Techniques of landscape architecture he wrote that the landscape profession is distinguished from its related professions by looking beyond their ‘closely drawn technical limits’ and ‘narrowly drawn territorial boundaries’. Though not quite what he had in mind, I have taken his advice in Asian gardens by relating garden design to the religions, mountains, forests, deserts, social customs, art and architecture of Asia. As you can imagine, this has involved a number of topics in which I might wish to have more expertise. Ananda Coomaraswamy would have been a good man for the job, helped by one of his photographer wives and his ability to think in English, Hindi, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Pali, Persian and Chinese.

An excellent landscape design for the King Abdullah International Gardens

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kaig_aerial_02_small Having slagged off the design of their capital city, I am only too pleased to congratulate the Saudis on the design of a new Botanic Garden. It reminds me of a photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope – perhaps of a swirling galaxy. This is highly appropriate for a garden which looks back to the origins of life on earth and forward to a more sustainable future. Siteworks began in 2008 and the expected construction period is 3 years.

The landscape architect and project team leader for the King Abdullah International Gardens was Nick Sweet of Barton Willimore. Some 150 hectares of the 160 ha site will be planted with indigenous species. They will be watered only by stormwater outlets and treated sewage effluent generated on site. All the power will be solar, all wastes will be recycled and 93% of the construction materials (by volume) will be obtained from the site (rock, stone, gravel, soil). Only electric vehicles charged from the solar array on site will be used for visitors. What more could one ask? I have every hope of it becoming that rarest of rare delights: an excellent work of landscape architecture.

PS to King Abdullah: next time Saudi Arabia needs a New Town – make sure the design team is led by a landscape architect. You can expect the most favourable benefit: cost ratio for any project in your Kingdom’s recent history.

Trafalgar Square as a garden

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trafalgar-square31

Charles Barry’s design for Trafalgar Square was inspired by the gardens he had seen in Italy and designed in England (including Shrubland Park and Trentham Gardens). In essence, Barry followed Repton’s theory that an important building, like the National Gallery, should be fronted by a terrace. The original idea for a Square in this position had come from from Humphry Repton’s partner (John Nash). A traffic island for 150 years, the Square was rescued by Normal Foster’s part-pedistrianization scheme of 2003. The point Fostor neglected is that garden squares should have flowers.

My suggestion is to grow the flowers in pots and arrange them on the great sandstone slabs in front of the National Gallery. When the space is required for another purpose, the pots can be moved.

If the authorities won’t permit a radical transformation, perhaps they would allow a Classical Vase to stand in front of the National Gallery.

Pathways

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Perhaps our expectations of urban ‘greenspace’ are about to change? This photograph was taken at the AICHI Bampaku expo held in Japan’s Nagoya City in the Aichi Prefecture and published in the Hindu Business Line. The purpose of the Expo was to “generate awareness on issues of pollution, global warming and energy use.”

It raises an interesting question. How far do we want go down the technology route and how far do we want to go in being smarter about how we do things? Perhaps there is a middle way between the two alternatives? How should designers respond to the twentyfirst century challenges of carbon trading and carbon sequestration?

Garden Design and Landscape Architecture

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