graduate
landscape urbanism
have acquired a certain relevance based on a tangible argument and will be clearly positioned within the field. Over the summer, the aim is to definitively formulate the operating rationale for the projects. A grounding logic directly related to the existing political framework is developed, so that the work acquires the character of a time-based plan. Investigations developed during the year will be presented as a final Design Thesis in a public review at the end of September. Seminars and Lectures Each year, an international and diverse range of speakers are invited to offer new perspectives on the issues that concern the practice of Landscape Urbanism. Past speakers have included: Charles Waldheim, Andreas Ruby, Kelly Shannon, Richard Weller, David Cunningham, Matthew Gandy, Douglas Spencer and Gareth Doherty. In addition, the programme offers the core courses and workshops outlined below. Landscaping Urbanism Douglas Spencer, Autumn & Spring Terms This unit – the theoretical core of the programme – is designed to synergise with its workshops, projects and field trips. Over its two terms it introduces the transdisciplinary origins of Landscape Urbanism whilst defining its unique configuration and potential in the context of contemporary urban conditions. In addition to lectures, it includes seminars with student presentations (both individual and group) and contributions from other specialists, researchers and graduates of the AALU programme.
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Machining Landscapes Tom Smith, Autumn & Spring Terms This new lecture series introduces students to a range of construction techniques related to the design of landscape projects. Rather than a remedial or problem-solving approach, then, it addresses the generative potential of technical methods and their capacity to produce new territories openly engaged with environmental, social and subjective conditions. Ecology & Environment Ian Carradice & Ove Arup Associates, Autumn Term Lectures by experts from the Ove Arup Environmental Unit will address environmental concerns, introducing a wide range of techniques aiming to ensure sustainable management and design. Workshops Diagramming Cities Eva Castro, Alfredo Ramirez, Eduardo Rico Students will learn how to conceptualise urban conditions through diagramming. They will investigate the underlying logics and complexities of urban networks, exploring various representational techniques for establishing clear and specific readings of the urban supra-organisation. Indexing Territories Eva Castro, Teruyuki Nomura, Bridget MacKean This workshop aims to develop students’ capacity to read information from fields and then decode, synthesise and systematically process it into indexical models. There will be tutorials on software packages such as Rhino, Maya, Land-desktop and Space Syntax.
landscape urbanism Scripting Prototypes Eduardo Rico, Clara Oloriz Different scripting techniques will be explored as a means of creating flexible design tools that are capable of accommodating change and a degree of indeterminacy in the design process. Relational Urbanism Eduardo Rico, Enriqueta Llabres This workshop deals with the mediation of bottom-up readings and strategic decision-making concepts. The overall arrangement of the material components produced in the previous workshop will be further articulated to respond locally to specific conditions and globally to relational strategies. DFC (Digitally Fabricated Cities) Eva Castro, Jorge Ayala This workshop goes beyond the repre-
Director Eva Castro is the director of the Landscape Urbanism programme and has been teaching at the AA since 2003. She studied architecture and urbanism at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and subsequently completed the AA Graduate Design programme with Jeff Kipnis. She is cofounder of Plasma Studio and GroundLab. Awards include the Next Generation Architects Award, the Young Architect of the Year Award, the ContractWorld Award and the HotDip Galvanising Award. Her work has been published and exhibited worldwide. Plasma and GroundLab are currently lead designers for the International Horticultural Fair in Xi’an, China a 37ha landscape with a wide range of buildings due to open in 2011.
graduate
sentational capacity of different digital fabrication techniques, exploring instead their creative potential. The aim is to acquire an instrumental deployment of these tools and create a feedback loop between the digital and the physical that will overcome the traditional bidimensional reading of the city. Metropolis_ 09-10 AALU + Fundacion Metropoli This is the third of a series of workshops held each year during the spring break in conjunction with different LU collaborators. Its aim is to serve as a quick and intensive testbed in the application of techniques to a real project in a new political context. The workshop will conclude with a final public presentation of the project to the body of clients.
Staff Douglas Spencer has studied design and architectural history, cultural studies and critical theory, and has taught history and theory at a number of architectural schools. His research and writing on urbanism, architecture, film and critical theory has been published in journals including The Journal of Architecture, Radical Philosophy, AA Files and Culture Machine. He has contributed chapters to collections on urban design, utopian literature and contemporary architecture, and is currently researching for a book which formulates a Marxian critique of contemporary architecture and ‘control society’.
joining EDAW AECOM Tom has developed into one of EDAW AECOM’s leading designers. His work over the last 11 years has been diverse, ranging from masterplanning for the Chelsea Flower Show to developing networks of rural communities on the Portuguese coast to large-scale multidisciplinary landscape, engineering and architecture projects. Over the past five years he has been instrumental in the design of the London 2012 Olympic and Legacy Masterplan. He is currently focusing on leading the design and delivery of the Olympic and Legacy Parklands, and on the development of the Legacy masterplan framework.
Tom Smith is a landscape architect and urban designer whose expertise ranges from detailed landscape design to large complex masterplans. Since
Eduardo Rico studied civil engineering in Spain and graduated from the AA’s Landscape Urbanism programme. He has acted as consultant and
performed research in the fields of infrastructure and landscape in Spain and the UK. Currently he is involved in the development of infrastructural strategies for large-scale urban projects within the Arup engineerig team as well as being part of the collective Groundlab. Alfredo Ramirez studied Architecture at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, where he received his Diploma in Architecture 2000, and subsequently completed the AA graduate programme Landscape Urbanism in 2005. He has practised in several architectural offices and institutions in Mexico City and London where he focused on architectural and urban design projects. Curretly he is involved in the Olympic Park design for London 2012 as well as being part of the collective Groundlab.
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