Landscape Architecture
Today we're at a moment in which pervasive information is changing how and why we design. Or as it's described at MoMA's recent show, Design and the Elastic Mind: “collaboration between science and design is yielding a radical new way of visualizing, understanding, and manipulating the natural world.” We are increasingly geared toward a fusion of economic/social/environmental agendas that fuels, filters, feeds and fosters healthier communities at local, regional and global scales. We are reaching toward original cultural terrain in which we grasp that our performance –how we consume, how we waste– is incontrovertibly connected to the state of the environment. From GIS (geographic information systems) to BIM (building information modeling), from hybrid super plants to smart skins, next generation landscapes, buildings and cities are fusing into contiguous systems that are responsive and resilient. This suggests a merging of individual design pursuits but at the same time requires an extreme disciplinary focus.
This is an exciting time to be studying Landscape Architecture, a profession which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. Employment at U.S. landscape architecture firms is expected to increase by over 15% through the year 2012 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor. Our undergraduate and graduate programs, the only accredited landscape architecture programs in the state, expose students to topical issues while providing an informed perspective of excellence in landscape architectural planning and design. As educators and practicing professionals, we attempt to strike a balance between land as a set of material properties and landscape as a venue for cultural dialog. We embrace a culture of design created by the interplay of environment and technology at dynamic scales. By immersing students in techniques and critical inquiry, we seek to provide an education that is highly practical with a clear emphasis on innovation and original contributions to the field. Our curriculum is directive but open – providing a coherent sequence of core courses and learning experiences, but allowing a significant degree of specialization at the upper levels. We encourage students to master a shared body of knowledge and from this use our diverse academic and professional networks to develop individual trajectories.
Our location in the Great Lakes basin, at the seam of the Appalachians and the Great Plains, constitutes a living laboratory for teaching, learning and research around contemporary issues such as resource scarcity and abundance, environmental remediation, urban revitalization and urban/rural fringe conditions. Our land grant university base provides opportunity for shared learning across a range of disciplines, and further, provides impetus for developing relationships with institutional and industry partnerships. Our network of international colleagues offers a platform for engaging in broad ranging issues and outreach. Welcome to landscape architecture at Ohio State University and its rich collection of work by students, faculty and visitors.
Jane Amidon, Associate Professor and Head
Landscape Architecture Section