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Cartographies of Living Systems: A Critical Approach
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:23:18
Abstract
This course will be an introduction to essential aspects of designing with living systems. The lectures will cover a curated list of constructed landscapes that embody a high level of complexity in their composition, systems, and evolution.
Objective
In class and through additional drawing exercises, the students will explore the components of the sites in great detail: their plant communities, infrastructure, management regimes, climatic and geologic contexts, and the larger systems and territories in which they are embedded. Students will be introduced to meaningful landscape projects, and will learn a methodology for understanding the field of landscape architecture and its potential in relationship to the dynamic performance of living things.
Content
In the lectures, the students will learn about a selection of significant built landscapes that span a range of sizes, ages, and places of origin. The projects will be taught through an analytical framework that prioritizes key landscape elements that are often overlooked in traditional representations of projects. The students will contribute to the course by translating this complexity through a drawing exercise. Altogether, the work of the studio will be a critical and comparative study of significant landscape architecture projects, past and present.
Resources
Lecture Notes
Course material will be provided.
Literature
The course material includes a reading list.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise |
Cartographies of Living Systems: A Critical Approach
No course 23.3. (seminar week) and in the last two semester weeks (final critiques, s. room reservations!).
|
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Core Courses (The core courses build on the basic courses and convey basic, broad knowledge in the core areas of landscape architecture in relation to design lessons. Some of the core courses are compulsory and some are freely selectable. Further details, in particular about taking these subjects, for performance assessments and for compensating for failed subjects, are regulated in Art. 27 and Art. 31 Paragraph 4.)
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