Various Definitions of ‘Landscape’

is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve

environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes.It involves
the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for
construction and human use, investigation of existing social, ecological,
and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of
other interventions that will produce desired outcomes.

-Wikipedia

Landscape architecture involves the planning, design, management,

and nurturing of the built and natural environments. With their unique
skill set, landscape architects work to improve human and environmental
health in all communities. They plan and design parks, campuses,
streetscapes, trails, plazas, residences, and other projects that
strengthen communities.

-ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects)

Landscape architecture aims to achieve the well-being of humans as

well as other species along with their associated communities,
structures and functions. It involves settings ranging from the
urbanized to natural across all scale within the human range . The
discipline and the profession involve and are not limited to the fields of
ecosystem analyses, vegetation studies, hydrology, sociology,
environmental psychology and cultural studies, spatial design,
construction technology

- ISOLA (Indian Society of Landscape Architects)

 Scope and Role of Landscape Architects

Landscape architects are involved in the designing of spaces that “creates and enables
life between the buildings”.

The involvement of landscape architects can be seen in streets, roads, shared paths,
housing estates, apartment compounds, shopping malls, squares, plazas, gardens,
pocket parks, playgrounds, cemeteries, memorials, museums, schools, universities,
transport networks, regional parks, national parks, forests, waterways and across
towns, cities and countries.

Landscape architects often go beyond design creating frameworks and policies for place and
city shaping that enable citizens and government to create better places for all.

Landscape architects plan, design and manage the landscape. Landscape architecture is an
aesthetically based profession founded on an understanding of the landscape. That
understanding requires knowledge of the land sciences, geology, soils, hydrology, botany,
horticulture and ecology, and also of biology, chemistry and physics.
 Scope of Landscape Architecture

Landscape architecture grew out of garden design, and indeed landscape

architecture and garden design continue to be linked.

The critical difference between the two is that gardens tend to be enclosed
and to be designed for the private individual, whereas landscape architecture
is concerned with open space, the public realm, and the relationship between
mankind’s development activities and the natural environment.

Landscape architecture is concerned with the public good, with community values
and with human development and its impact on the land.

The scale of landscape planning may be regional or even national: landscape

architects can design whole new agricultural landscapes and forests.

Landscape embraces the townscape and hence landscape architecture is also

concerned with urban design. While its origins are in design, certain forms of
landscape architecture practice are planning, and management based.

Landscape architecture was primarily a matter of aesthetics in the nineteenth

century, in the twentieth century it became more ecologically focused. In the
twenty first century it has developed again, to become increasingly concerned with
sustainability. It now deals with issues such as climate change and
biodiversity – while, of course, continuing to address visual matters. It is an
applied art based on scientific understanding.
Landscape Architecture: An Introduction: Robert Holden & Jamie Liversedge
Natural & Man-made landscapes
 Natural & Man-made landscapes

A natural landscape is the original landscape that exists

before it is acted upon by human culture.

However, in the current century, landscapes that are

totally untouched by human activity no longer exist/hardly
exist, so that reference is sometimes now made to
degrees of naturalness within a landscape.

A natural landscape is made up of a collection of

landforms, such as mountains, hills, plains, and
plateaus. Lakes, streams, soils (such as sand or clay),
and natural vegetation are other features of natural
landscapes.

A landscape that people have modified is called a

cultural landscape/man-made landscapes. People and the
plants they grow, the animals they care for, and the
structures they build make up man-made landscapes.
Such landscapes can vary greatly, culturally, regionally…

Since 1992, the United Nations has recognized significant

interactions between people and the natural landscape as
official cultural landscapes. The international
organization protects these sites from destruction and
identifies them as important places of interest.
MAN & NATURE – a relation that evolved various man-made landscapes
 EXPLORING MAN’s CHANGING RELATION WITH NATURE AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS

The attitudes towards Nature have changed at the different phases

in TIME and PLACE

Attitude Expression Manifestation

AWE, RESPECT, DISCOVERY Dependency, sustenance, Reverence, use

FEAR, REVERENCE Worship, metaphysical relation, connection to spiritual space

CELEBRATION Recreation, Humungous, Picturesque

SYMBOLISM Symbolic to cardinal points, mimic nature, Admiration

OVERPOWER/CONTROL Exploit, working against nature

The attitudes towards Nature have changed at the different phases
in TIME and PLACE

Relation : Awe , Respect and Discovery

 Relation : Awe , Respect and Discovery

www.crystalinks.com/earlyshelters
Pre-historic Landscape was very basic.
It served only two main Aspects: FUNCTIONAL and RITUAL

Nature was the Main resource for sustenance.

Landscapes that enable prospect while providing refuge are

considered desirable when positioning self in landscapes.

Found places for shelter within existing landscapes, that provided safety
Theory of prospect & refuge
 Relation : Awe and Discovery

www.crystalinks.com/earlyshelters
Theory of prospect & refuge

Mans relation with the mysterious environment around – striving for sustenance
 Relation : Awe , Respect and Discovery

The landscape of man

Stone henge, Wiltshire
The Neolithic Era –
Man started shaping the landscape.

wanderer to Agriculturist

The positioning of the Earth at the Centre of the

Universe became the fundamental Construct.
 Relation : Awe , Respect and Discovery

Carnac, Brittany

The landscape of man

Ancient civilizations sees man set his mark on landscape by raising artificial hills or re-arranging stones.
The attitudes towards Nature have changed at the different phases
in TIME and PLACE

Relation : Reverence and worship

 Relation : Reverence and worship
Era of super human scale,
philosophies and beliefs related to life and death shaped the landscapes

Ziggurat of Ur
 Relation : Reverence and worship

Belief in ‘afterlife’

The great pyramids of Giza

Belief in afterlife
 Relation : Reverence and worship

Image: Dr. Bhishan Monappa, https://jlrexplore.com/

Sacred groves, Devakad of Uttara Karnataka

Nature worship is the foundation of Indian culture

 Relation : Reverence and worship

Nature and landscapes in Indian thought

Image: wikipedia
Vaishnodevi – a pilgrimage site nestled in mountains
The attitudes towards Nature have changed at the different phases
in TIME and PLACE

Relation : Celebration : Recreation

 Relation : Celebration : Recreation

Aerial view of Shahzadeh-Mahan Garden in the middle of desert, Kerman,

(ICHHTO The Office of Cultural Heritage of Iranian Cultural Heritage 2010)
 Relation : Celebration : Recreation

Iranian-French archaeological project at Pasargadae / B N Chagny

Pasargadae ,the first great Persian king, Cyrus the Great

While the area is dry today, the palace originally looked out over a fine formal garden,
which flourished thanks to the surrounding stone water channels

Attempt to create A Paradise- an Oasis in dry areas

 Relation : Celebration : Recreation Relation : Celebration : Recreation

miniature painting is a beautiful representation of a chahar bagh model –

Bagh-i-Wafa constructed by Babur

the four rivers of water, wine, milk and honey

Watercolour drawing with bird's eye view of the Taj
the chahar bagh, a quadrilateral layout with four smaller gardens Source:wikipedia
 Relation : Celebration : Recreation Relation : Celebration : Recreation + Control
Perfection, proportion, orderliness

https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/
The calligrapher Wang Xizhi in his garden, the Orchid Pavilion
Hadrians Villa landscape: Italian formal gardens
Hadrians Villa landscape: Italian formal gardens
 Relation : Celebration : Recreation + Control
Perfection, proportion, orderliness

Gardens of Versailles : French formal gardens

Gardens of Versailles : French formal gardens
 Relation : Celebration : Recreation + Control
Perfection, proportion, orderliness

Nishat Bagh, Kashmir

 Relation : Celebration : Recreation + natural landscape/ picturesque

Stourhead English gardens

 Relation : Celebration : Recreation + natural landscape/ picturesque

Stourhead English gardens

 Relation : Celebration : Recreation + natural landscape/ picturesque

Stowe English gardens

Relation : Celebration : Recreation + natural landscape/ picturesque

Japanese Stroll Gardens

The attitudes towards Nature have changed at the different phases
in TIME and PLACE

Relation : Symbolism
 Relation : Symbolic

Rock, sand and gravel are an essential feature of the Japanese garden. A vertical rock represent Mount Horai, the
legendary home of the Eight Immortals. A flat rock represent the earth. Sand or gravel -a flowing river. Rocks and water
symbolize yin and yang in Buddhist philosophy;
 Relation : Symbolic

Ryoan – jii – Japanese temple garden.

Source : www.wikipedia.org
 Relation : Symbolism

An attempt to depict the Cosmology Of Puranas and Mount MERU.

Source : www.wikipedia.org

Mountains are regarded as residences of Gods and their elevated tops rising high
above is the cosmic axes linking the earth and heavens . The Hindu cosmography
believes that Mountains are abodes of Gods, and the center is the Mount Meru - the
axis linking the earth with heavens .
 Relation : Symbolism

Closer the place to water, more sanctity it gets, the confluences of

two rivers only add to the importance of it . One of the reasons for
water’s religious significance is, ‘’it precedes creation and
reabsorbs it’’ . Thus, it means that it is associated with evolution
and with dissolution – an edge life and death .
The attitudes towards Nature have changed at the different phases
in TIME and PLACE

Relation : Utilitarian & Sustenance

 Relation : Utilitarian & Sustenance

The landscapes of Hampi.

Source : www.wikipedia.org

Landscapes as common ground – of resources, sustenance, livelihoods

 Relation : Utilitarian & Sustenance

The Stepped wells - Gujarat

Source : www.wikipedia.org
Utilitarian landscapes – source of water
Source : www.wikipedia.org
 Relation : Utilitarian & Sustenance

The Open wells

Source:wikipedia
Rajasthani Women Going towards a pond to fetch water
Indian painting by Vidyut Singhal
 Relation : Utilitarian & Sustenance

A man makes pottery on a wheel in the village of Gunupur, Odisha state, India.
Source:Pinterest
 Relation : Utilitarian & Sustenance

Fisherman drying fish – sea-front open space for livelihood

Source:Wikipedia
EXPLORING LANDSCAPE THROUGH OTHER LENSES

-VARIED RELATIONS WITH NATURE

Natural elements / landscape features as inspiration
 Natural elements / landscape features as inspiration

O you shaggy-headed banyan tree standing on the bank of the pond,

have you forgotten the little chile, like the birds that have
nested in your branches and left you?
Do you not remember how he sat at the window and wondered at
the tangle of your roots and plunged underground?
The women would come to fill their jars in the pond, and your
huge black shadow would wriggle on the water like sleep struggling
to wake up.
Sunlight danced on the ripples like restless tiny shuttles
weaving golden tapestry.
Two ducks swam by the weedy margin above their shadows, and
the child would sit still and think.
He longed to be the wind and blow through your resting
branches, to be your shadow and lengthen with the day on the water,
to be a bird and perch on your topmost twig, and to float like
those ducks among the weeds and shadows.

By: Rabindranah Tagore

Uttarakhand forest division has put the poetry of 15 eminent

writers in 18 of its conservation centres throughout the state
beneath the initiative to spotlight how Nature conjures up
literature, particularly poetry and creates consciousness
within the folks about their inexperienced heritage.
Natural elements / landscape features as inspiration
 Natural elements / landscape features as inspiration

Persian carpets
Source:Wikipedia
 Natural elements / landscape features as inspiration

Persian carpets
Source:Wikipedia
 Natural elements / landscape features as inspiration

Madhubani art
 Natural elements / landscape features as inspiration

https://www.artsy.net/artist/mithila-art/works-for-sale
Tree of life
 Natural elements / landscape features as inspiration

Wood Line, installation by Andy Goldsworthy, 2010–11; in the Presidio, San Francisco.
 Natural elements / landscape features as a setting/ backdrop

Maine ek khwaab sa dekha hai (Waqt, 1965): Nishat Bagh, Srinagar.

 Natural elements / landscape features as a setting/ backdrop

Mustard fields of Gurgaon

 Natural elements / landscape features as a teacher
Bio-morphism

Forest – interiors of Sagrada Familia church by Antonio Gaudi

 Natural elements / landscape features as a teacher
Bio-morphism/ Zoomorphism

World Trade Center Transportation Hub at NY

By Santiago Calatrava
 Natural elements / landscape features as a teacher
Bio-morphism/ Zoomorphism

Wings of Falcon – national bird of UAE for the UAE Pavilion at Dubai 2020 expo
By Santiago Calatrava
 Natural elements / landscape features as a teacher
Biomimicry- relatively new emerging field of study

Velcro- Burrs plant species- found in Alps

Humpback whale wind turbines. Kingfisher birds dive- bullet train

CHANGING RELATION FOR FUTURE: BUILDING UP SENSITIVITY
 ANTHROPOCENTRIC ECO-CENTRIC

USERS: HUMAN USERS: ALL LIFE FORMS

GARDEN TYPE of Sustainable approaches Landscapes for Climate

Landscapes change

Sustainability

Ecology

Eco-system services

Biodiversity

Conservative

Water management

Productive
REFERENCES
The Landscape of Man , Geoffrey Jellicoe

Landscapes in India - Forms and Meanings, Amita Sinha

Sustainable Landscaping for Paradise: Persian Garden

Samira Pasha Texas A&M University, Department of Architecture, College Station, TX.
Somayeh Rokhgireh Beheshti University, Department of Architecture, Tehran, Iran Ali Pooladi
Qazvin Imam International University, Qazvin, Iran

www.theheritagelab.in

academia.edu/30673423/Gardens_in_Ancient_India_Concepts_Practices_and_Imaginations |
Ancient Indian Gardens

www.indianetzone.com

Grove Lessons by Geeta Wahi

Formalization of Landscape Profession

Early garden traditions

Formalization of Landscape Profession

Early garden traditions

Formalization of Landscape Profession
Early garden traditions
 Formalization of Landscape Profession

Post-Industrial
revolution impacts

1890s and 1900s

1898
 Formalization of Landscape Profession

In 1898, the degree in landscape architecture was offered at Michigan State

University as the first undergraduate degree program in the world
 Assignment 1: A3 size – 2 sheets

Assignment 1: Natural and Man-made landscapes

(Group exercise of 2)

Objective: To understand the difference between natural &

man-made landscape, the fine boundary that defines it.

To do: Students will choose a certain example of landscape,

cultural landscape. The students will have to bring about the
idea of how the place would have been before interventions
by Man and how the landscapes have been altered post the
interventions, probable reasonings, outcomes, etc.
 Assignment 1: A3 size – 2 sheets

No. of sheets: 02

Aspects to cover:

1. About the chosen

2. Current landscape /features

3. Imagination of how it was before intervention

4. What is man-made and what is natural in the current scenario