The Landscape Architecture Symposium at the University of Guelph attracted a full house of students (graduates and undergraduates), faculty, and some professions to listen and engagement with an array of talented, well- accomplished international speakers, who are highly regarded in the field. Each presenting a range of creative scholarly work with a focus on landscape representations and data visualization.
Andrea Hansen-Phillips is a faculty member at the University of Virginia, Department of Landscape Architecture. She spoke about the importance of landscape architects understanding code and using the internet as a means to visually present landscape projects to a wider audience. Andrea’s data visualization projects captivated the audience.
Alfredo Ramirez showcased projects that dealt with large-scale landscape issues like forestation and using parametric design to help generation various design solutions to deal with planting and water irrigation. Alfredo is an expert and pioneer of parametric design in landscape architecture.
Allison Daily showcased some of Ballistic Architecture Machine’s playful work yet critical works in the public realm. She spoke about ‘intuition method’ for landscape architects, using an approach she calls doodle tech.
Brad Cantrell also presented landscapes as machines with various functions and outcomes. He spoke about cyborg ecologies and responsive landscapes. Brad is the co-author of Codify – on the topic of parametric and computational design in landscape architecture that investigates what it means to use, transform and craft computational tools in a contemporary design environment.
Maria Counts closed off the presentations with her inspiring talk on various aspects of landscape visualization in her practice, research and teaching. She presented her research on soundscapes “Sonic City: Visualizing Spaces in Urban Places,” which visualized “sounds” as spaces in New York City. Maria also presented her students’ works on modelling and sketching various landscapes using analogue, digital and hybrid representations.
Images: Courtesy of Nadia Amoroso
