Dorothée Imbert Publishes A Landscape Inventory: Michel Desvigne Paysagiste

The latest in the Source Books in Landscape Architecture series hits restart by addressing the diversity of design methods and project scales.

Dorothée Imbert Publishes A Landscape Inventory: Michel Desvigne Paysagiste

A Landscape Inventory: Michel Desvigne Paysagiste, edited by Landscape Architecture Section Head Dorothée Imbert, is the latest addition to the Knowlton School’s Source Books in Landscape Architecture series.

This volume hits “restart” in the series of publications launched over a decade ago through the generosity of Herb and Dee Dee Glimcher and their Glimcher Distinguished Visiting Professorship endowment. The initial series format of interview excerpts and in-depth inquiry about individual projects opened a window on design processes. In this new series, the Landscape Architecture section aims to address the diversity of design methods and project scales, and ultimately contribute to the debate on landscape representation.

“This book is an antimonograph. It is not comprehensive and no project is discussed in depth,” commented Imbert, noting the new editorial format. “Instead, it features a composite view of elements such as tree pattern and density across scales to reveal the weight of planting and material choices in the shaping of landscapes, irrespective of design language. A Landscape Inventory reveals Michel Desvigne’s affinity for testing, prototyping, and staging, and his fine disregard for representing landscapes as finished products.”

Michel Desvigne is a French landscape architect with an international practice. Over the past 30 years he has designed a wide range of projects from Russia to Qatar, demonstrating an affinity for research and a thorough understanding of the landscape medium. He has collaborated with renowned architects such as Renzo Piano, Herzog & de Meuron, Foster+Partners, Jean Nouvel, and Rem Koolhaas and was awarded the Grand Prix de l’urbanisme in 2011.

Dorothée Imbert is a landscape scholar and designer. She heads the Landscape Architecture program at the Knowlton School and has taught at Harvard and Washington University in St. Louis. Imbert’s expertise on landscape modernism has led to the publication of several books. She continues to engage in research and design practice and recently completed the Square (with Andrew Cruse), a landscape on structure for the Novartis campus in Basel, Switzerland.

A Landscape Inventory: Michel Desvigne Paysagiste is available through Applied Research + Design and Barnes & Noble.