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Topology and Phenomenology in Landscape Architecture

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Landschaftsarchitekturtheorie

Part of the book series: RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft ((RFSRL))

Abstract

This essay is about Topology in landscape architecture. Topology comprises a theoretical framework, a method and tools to reintroduce the capacities and methods of landscape architecture into the current theoretical discourse and actual shaping of our environments. Landscape architecture is understood as an integrative discipline with a deeply rooted tradition in shaping and preserving nature. The goal of establishing a «topological thinking» is to merge ecological concerns and a design approach that considers the basic factors of modeling a site: the understanding of both the terrain and the history of a place, its spatial qualities, the condition of its soil, the proper use of plants and building materials, and the adjustment to the expectations of its users while challenging aesthetic sensitivities. It presents some examples of the successful work of topologists from Peter Josef Lenné to Kathryn Gustafson and discusses current challenges of landscape design practices in Europe.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The original working group consisted of Anette Freytag, Christophe Girot, Albert Kirchengast, Dunja Richter, but the content drew from the work all the different members of the Christophe Girot’s Chair of Landscape Architecture at ETH Zurich contributed from 2001–2011 and beyond (http://girot.arch.ethz.ch/about-us [last accessed on April 11, 2017]). Two conferences (both strongly supported by the German Volkswagen Foundation) and three publications followed, to which, in addition to the orginal working group, Dora Imhof and Suzanne Krizenecky contributed.

    The pamphlet Topology (Zurich: gta, 2012) details the theoretical reflections. Theory and practice were linked for the first time in the publication series Landscript 3: Topology (Berlin: Jovis, 2013) – still with a strong focus on theory. The publication contains the proceedings of a conference held in Zurich, for which we gathered speakers who were, in our opinion, topologists (see: http://girot.arch.ethz.ch/blog/topology_symposium?stayincat=96 [last accessed on April 11, 2017; all lectures are online]).

    A third publication entitled Thinking the Contemporary Landscape (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2017) is more focused on practice. It presents the contributions to an international conference held in the Herrenhausen district of Hannover, which took place in June 2013 and was supported by the German Volkswagen Foundation (see: http://girot.arch.ethz.ch/publications-conferences/events-conferences/archive-events-conferences/thinking-the-contemporary-landscape-memo?stayincat=96 [last accessed April 11, 2017; all lectures are online]). At this conference, some of the most important designers and scholars from the field of landscape architecture discussed the current challenges for the discipline and the potentials of the theoretical framework and tools that we have developed under the name of topology. The additional objective of interrelating the different approaches presented at the conference with the Topology project still remains open.

  2. 2.

    Frédéric Rosanno, Flood Scapes: Contemporary Landscape Strategies in Times of Climate Change; Doctoral defense: December 10, 2015; Dunja Richter, Die Welt im Garten: Zur Bedeutung dendrologischer Neuheiten in der bürgerlichen Gartenkultur der Schweiz (The World as Represented in Private Gardens: About the Relevance of Exotic Plants [dendrology] for the Evolution of the Swiss Bourgeois Garden Culture); ongoing; Nadine Schütz, The Acoustic Dimension of Landscape Architecture. An Inquiry on Modes of Perception and Design; Doctoral Defense: September 2, 2017; Su Ahn, Cultural Laboratory Seoul. Strategies for a Contemporary Landscape Architecture influenced by different cultures; ongoing.

  3. 3.

    For the described scheme see the picture posted by National Geographic News, online: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/288300813629848134/ (last accessed on April 14, 2017).

  4. 4.

    See: http://www.cth.ch/projekte/boulevard-leutschenbach/index.html (last accessed on April 11, 2017).

  5. 5.

    See for example: “Turenscape, Tjianjin Qiaoyuan Park: The Adaptation Palettes, Tianjin, China”, 2010 ASLA Professional Awards, online: https://www.asla.org/2010awards/033.html (last accessed on April 11, 2017); Turenscape, “Tjianjin Qiaoyuan Wetland Park”, Turenscape, online: http://www.turenscape.com/en/project/detail/339.html. For the philosophy of Kongijan Yu, see: Yu (2017).

  6. 6.

    See: Verschönerungs-Plan der Umgebung von Potsdam, entworfen von Lenné.

  7. 7.

    For more information to what extent Lenné was a topologist see: Seiler (2013).

  8. 8.

    For pointcloud models generated at the Chair of Christophe Girot see: http://girot.arch.ethz.ch/landscape-education/chair-structure/landscape-visualization-lab (last accessed on April 12, 2017).

  9. 9.

    For a picture of the woodcut by Barbari see for example: Jones (2010).

  10. 10.

    De Certeau (1984), p. 93: “The ordinary practitioners of the city live “down below”, “below the thresholds at which visibility begins.”

  11. 11.

    For more information and pictures see: Wolf (2008).

  12. 12.

    A series of student videos was published in: Girot and Wolf (2010).

  13. 13.

    Nadine Schütz, The Acoustic Dimension of Landscape Design. Studies on the Perception and Implementation of Landscape Acoustics, ongoing dissertation funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Doctoral Defense: September 2, 2017. For more information see: http://girot.arch.ethz.ch/research/digital-media-perception/the-acoustic-dimension (last accessed on April 11, 2017).

  14. 14.

    For a detailed analysis see Freytag (2016), pp. 136–149.

  15. 15.

    For a detailed analysis see Freytag (2016), pp. 324–345.

  16. 16.

    Kienast tells the story like this: “Arcadia, once described by Virgil, is not so much the real landscape of Greece, but the spiritual landscape, the metaphor of the blissful shepherd’s ideal close to nature. The inscription became famous from a painting by Guercino (ca. 1621/23). It depicts two shepherds looking – at a grave with an inscription and a large skull. According to Panofsky, ‘Et in Arcadia ego’ means, ‘I too am there, I exist, even in Arcadia’. What is meant is death, which is also present in the happy land of Arcadia […]”. Quoted from: Kienast (1997), p. 85.

  17. 17.

    Motto of Landscript 3: Topology, back cover of the book (Girot, Freytag et al. Eds. 2013).

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  1. Rutgers, Department of Landscape Architecture, New Jersey, USA

    Anette Freytag

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  1. Anette Freytag
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Correspondence to Anette Freytag .

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  1. Universität Vechta, Vechta, Germany

    Karsten Berr

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Freytag, A. (2018). Topology and Phenomenology in Landscape Architecture. In: Berr, K. (eds) Landschaftsarchitekturtheorie. RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-18838-2_11

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