Landscape As Architecture - Manifesto

“The environmental crisis is a design crisis. It is a consequence of how things are made, buildings are constructed and landscapes are used”

- Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan (Farmer, 2013).

Contents

Part 1 // Why should architecture be more ecologically contextual and interact with remnant environments?

Part 2 // Landscape practice as precedent.

Part 3 // Landscape as Architecture - how can this be implemented?

A growing departure between architectural form and landscape context has become increasingly evident in 21st Century architecture. This is also reflected in the divergence of disciplines of landscape architecture and architecture. A recurring dynamic of form first and landscape second has led modern architecture to often neglect design that sensitively responds to its landscape, environment, and thoughtfully integrate ecology. Along with this, renowned academic and architect Louis Kahn has long advocated for 'architecture as landscape event' reflecting the importance of symbiotic practice of landscape and architecture (Ashraf, 2007). This manifesto will explore the need for architecture to meaningfully consider landscape, ecology and environment in architectural form and thinking, in response to rapid climate change and the demand for sustainable practice.

Contextual design originates in the earliest examples of Australian architecture. First Nations people stand as the one of the worlds oldest living cultures that exhibit a vernacular architecture adaptable to Australia's harsh climate and subsiding social structures. Early examples of Indigenous architectural structure exhibit context-bound design, utilizing materials from the land, responding to its people and embedding an understanding of its adjacent environment. First Nations' architectural practice exemplify a sensitivity to the landscape with low impact structures which provide the modern design principles to practice (Memmott, 2007). Although in the 21st Century context of urbanization, need for fast and affordable housing, environmental degradation and the climate crisis, striving for contextual and sensitive architecture seems out of reach.

Firstly, this manifesto will explore why architecture should deploy ecologically driven design methodologies and thoughtfully integrate context, through a lens of theory and precedent, to combat the changing world. Secondly, principles of landscape architecture and the methods of practitioners will be analysed in order to mobilize design frameworks translatable to the architectural discipline. Finally, examples of how architectural form can position itself in context with the landscape re-instating a more symbiotic relationship, will be analysed alongside innovative case studies and precedent. This manifesto advocates for merged thinking and methodology that runs through the entirety of the conceptual and construction process in aim to produce sustainable, contextual outcomes.

PART 1 // WHY SHOULD ARCHITECTURE BE MORE ECOLOGICALLY CONTEXTUAL AND INTERACT WITH REMNANT ENVIRONMENTS?

Architecture as a discipline has experienced globalisation and cultural shifts driven by artistic practice, wealth disparity and conceptual advancements. Although architecture aims to engage with its environment on some level and apply principles of sustainability, collective thinking and action around meaningful progress in contextual and ecological architecture is limited and misguided.

Unlike in landscape architecture, the notion of integrating ecology into form and steering a building to positively impact the environment is not so straightforward. Repairing the landscape in all its layers, hydrology, habitat, soil, vegetation, and microorganism, is a complex task taken on by few architects, but more often neglected (Wright & Baracco, 2019).

Architecture as Landscape Event

Retracing earlier architectural theory regarding the relationship of landscape and architecture, theorist and architect Louis Kahn explored this dynamic. Kahn understands architecture as ‘landscape event’, which proved as a major turning point in the discourse of modern architecture. Kahn’s ideas have often been misunderstood. Although architectural theorists have identified their relationship (between landscape and architecture), their dualism has been reiterated by descriptions such as “interdependence” and “in-betweenness” (Ashraf, 2007). Kahn strongly establishes that landscape is part topography and climate and therefore architecture stands for the forms that are generated from its environment or landscape. Kahn’s idea of “nature” also reiterates inscrutably how architecture and landscape are intertwined as he states that nature records everything it makes and is the “source of all material, psyche, expression and art” (Ashraf, 2007). This notion, he believes, must extend to architectural form relating to the idea of architecture as landscape event. He states that form must be a reflection and record of its surrounding environment and therefore embedded in the landscape narrative (Ashraf, 2007). Kahn’s ideology of nature and architecture foster an argument for contextualism and an undivided existence between landscape and architecture.

Landscape Architecture’s Misguided Identity

The identity of the landscape architect has long been debated, regarding their scope of work, intellectual prowess and design contribution (Waldheim, 2014). In contrast to architecture, landscape architecture as a discipline is younger in its development and widespread respectability. As a side-effect of landscape architecture’s increasing presence in design discourse, architecture and landscape architecture have widened the gap between the symbiotic relationship of landscape, context, material and form. Although the repair of remnant landscape is at the forefront of landscape architects design thinking, an inherent division of tasks and skillsets has led to architect’s neglect of the landscape context and ecological processes on-site. Drawing on Kahn’s perception of architecture as part in the landscape narrative alongside the consideration that architectural form ‘takes up land’, multidisciplinary collaboration must be routine. This inter-disciplinary cohesion will aid in diminishing climate impacts and result in application of a critically thought-out composition of landscape and form.

Requirement for Sustainable practice

The role designers play in ecological disturbance can be misunderstood and unrecognised in discipline circles despite the very core of architectural practice encompassing ‘adding’ to the landscape. Architecture must call for effective sustainability and ecologically driven design to be weaved into practice principles whilst facing an escalating climate crisis.

Less than 1% of temperate volcanic plain grasslands in South-West Victoria remain undisturbed due to encroachment of urbanization and persistent agricultural practice (Australian Government, 2006). This statistic emulates a range of widespread devastations the Australian environment has faced in the age of the Anthropocene. To ensure the act of adding to the environment has as minimal ecological disturbance as possible, architecture must focus its attention to the notion of repair instead of exercising creative ego and abundance in built form. Increasingly popular process of rewilding has come into spotlight in landscape architecture, as it allows for ecological repair to occur passively through self-reproducing species and succession. These processes revive remnant landscapes and exist almost indefinitely. Moving into the future, adapting a sustainable intervention to the realities of the built form may be a methodology to transfer from landscape systems.

PART 2 // LANDSCAPE

PRACTICE AS PRECEDENT

PART 2//

Landscape architects work directly with the landscape to produce design outcomes. Application of landscape methods in architectural practice can steer the built form to integrate landscape orientated thinking from a design’s ideation. Methods such as landscape mapping and layering models introduced by influential landscape architects Ian McHarg and Phil Lewis, can drive architectural thinking to consider how must the ground form, spatial form, metaphorical form and programmatic form of the landscape coincide with the built form. Ultimately these layers overlap and inform one another and when deployed in architectural practice will eventuate in transforming an “architectural composition into a composed landscape” (Jauslin et al., 2014) (Figure 1 & 2). Upon consideration of these layers, the often-convenient boundary to separate design disciplines is broken down and seen as arbitrary.

The role of the landscape architect is to fold program into the landscape to ensure meaningful interaction occurs between human and nature. This relationship due to urbanisation and industrialisation has been increasingly tampered with, making the role of the landscape architect essential to bring nature to people in urban settings. Subsequently, architecture has played a role in cementing the boundary between inside and outside and human and nature. However, designing with concepts of landscape layering principles allows architects to consider the landscape and the built form as one ‘whole’. Practice will then produce fluid designs that bring form in to contact with the remnant landscape.

Figure 1 & 2. Ian McHarg ‘s landscape layers - plan & axonometric

Relationship of human and nature and its path to sustainable architecture

The conception of inside and outside should be unified to reconcile the relationship between built form and humanity. Overtime, human as primary subject has often been lost in architectural form conception as notions such as bigness and megastructure have departed so starkly from its context and human microclimates. To re-establish social context and fulfil the demand for sustainable buildings, ecologically integrated architecture with the collaboration of landscape architecture will result in the repair of the pre-industrial ecologically centred human-experience (Jauslin et al., 2014). Weaving this cultural relationship into collective design methodologies will restore environments and foster beneficial social outcomes allowing for cohesive practice. Landscape architects and architects can bind together scales of thinking and methodologies to address sustainability. Fluid practice can be a way forward for human-centered outcomes.

Examples of this approach, embracing context, local materials and foregrounding of the human to nature connection is architect Alistair Knox and landscape architect Gordon Ford’s 1950’s houses in the Melbourne suburb of Eltham (Figure 3 & 4). This series of houses embodies sensitive design in a range of lights. Social consideration of the suburban context is a driver in the house’s designs. Eltham stands as a community of artists, makers and environmentalists in a context of established indigenous trees such as eucalypts, wattle and paperbarks bordered by Diamond Creek. The clay soils along the creek bank make up the bricks of homes, inclusion of large windows framing landscape views and connection the ground plane is consistent throughout. Knox and Ford offer a methodology of designing ‘with the landscape’ mirroring its people and the suburb’s ethos. The combination of local landscape architect and architect allows for a strongly contextual and sustainable outcome.

Figure 3 & 4. Eltham Houses, Victoria. Designed by Alistair Knox & Gordon Ford, 1950s.

Figure 5 & 6. Eltham Houses, Victoria. Designed by Alistair Knox & Gordon Ford, 1950s. Drawn by Mary Keyser

Garden House designed by Baracco + Wright Architects simplifies the idea of contextual architecture and sensitively combines landscape into architectural form (Figure 7 & 8). A largely undisrupted site, the Garden House, although acknowledging its utilitarian nature, conveys an understanding of the value of its setting in Victoria’s bushland. The floor is raised so that floodwaters can travel through the form and its untraditional walls are defined by existing vegetation. The material choice of transparent polycarbonate was considered for its low impact visually and spatially in its surrounding environment. This precedent provides example of architecture prioritising its environmental context and sensitive use of material. It also establishes place in an argument of fluidity in disciplinary practice blurring the lines of outside and in, the nomenclature of architecture and landscape architecture.

Figure 7 & 8. Garden House, Victoria. Designed by Baracco + Wright Architects, 2014.

PART 3 // LANDSCAPE AS ARCHITECTURE – HOW CAN THIS BE ACHIEVED?

A portion of architects attempt to integrate ecology into design usually involving green roofs or green walls aiming to mitigate climatic elements, introduce biodiversity to the building envelope and add aesthetic value. However, such interventions reinforce the boundaries of inside and outside and reinforce the perception of ecological integration as a non-human element. In order to depart from this binary-thinking, multi-species architecture is an innovation in the field which prioritizes ‘more-than’ human program and functioning weaved into its form.

Co-habitation: Multi-Species Architecture

Multi-species architecture aims to integrate ecological systems that continue to function overtime alongside the built form itself. These ecological systems comprise of integrating non-human users into the building’s program and design of a suitable habitat (Weisser et al., 2023). These types of forms exemplify how architecture can include systems that embody working with nature. However, the challenge of this conception is the need for the building systems to function autonomously after the construction phase and continually accommodate for non-human user adaptations (Weisser et al., 2023). Alongside this, careful assessment must occur to ensure ecological systems thrive alongside built form and human interaction.

Although multi-species architecture has not widely come to fruition, an example of co-habitation and multispecies space exists in Madrid, Spain. This building designed for the Adiestramiento Educan School is programmed for human and non-human users. These users include local species of owls, bats, birds, dogs and larger animals as well as the adjacent remnant environment which architects Enrique Espinosa (Eeestudio) and Lys Villalba aim to restore through presence of fauna (Figure 9 & 10). The school has built-in systems such as thermal inertia and bioclimatic controls which are conducive to the fauna’s requirements (Corradi, 2022). Other species such as sparrows have spontaneously joined the self-regulating ecosystem from outside. The building’s adjacent flora and biome is thriving with the presence of pollinators as well as fertiliser from the co-habiting fauna species in and around the building (Corradi, 2022). The building has been thoughtfully detailed to house both human and non-human species to function within a space.

Enrique Espinosa (Eeestudio) and Lys Villalba aim to restore through presence of fauna (Figure 9 & 10). The school has built in systems such as thermal inertia and bioclimatic controls which are conducive to the fauna’s requirements (Corradi, 2022).

Other species such as sparrows have spontaneously joined the self-regulating ecosystem from outside. The building’s adjacent flora and biome is thriving with the presence of pollinators as well as fertiliser from the co-habiting fauna species in and around the building (Corradi, 2022). The building has been thoughtfully detailed to house both human and non-human species to function within a space.

Figure 9 & 10. Adiestramiento Educan school, Madrid. Designed by Enrique Espinosa (Eeestudio) and Lys Villalba.

Integrating this process into architectural form calls for practitioners to consider its context integral and ecological processes at its core. This will lead to the mirroring of its climatic and environmental context is essential and attribute to new habitat’s longevity.

Other approaches include biophilic and regenerative design methods. Regenerative architecture aims to repair the impact humans have had on the environment and the buildings form aids in this process through integration of energy systems (Weisser et al., 2023). Although this method does not explore blurring the boundaries between human and nature, it strongly advocates for sustainable futures.

An example of regenerative architecture is Splitterwerk and ARUP’s BIQ House located in Hamburg, Germany (Figure 11 & 12). BIQ House has a SolarLeaf bioreactive façade allowing the building to use, store or share energy from agal biomass and solar heat (Gattupalli, 2023). Although these regenerative forms instil restorative processes into its form for the repair of the environment, contextual thinking can be neglected, the human to nature connection overlooked and ‘greenwashing’ superseding the other construction elements of the building. This is why a deeper understanding of how technology can aid in the bigger picture of ecologically integrated architecture in fulfilment of landscape as architecture conception.

Figure 11 & 12. BIQ House, Hamburg, Germany. Designed by Splitterwerk and ARUP, 2013.

Conclusion.

Landscape as architecture is a concept that encompasses theory, precedent, technology and shift in disciplinary culture. All of which allows for a greater understanding of our environment and how architectural form can become a thoughtful composition in the landscape ‘whole’. The re-intergration of Kahn’s position of architecture as landscape event serves as foundation for many interpretations and innovations of unifying landscape and architecture. Landscape conscious architects such as Alistair Knox and Baracco and Wright have integrated their surrounding context in functional, semiurban contexts reflecting the feasability of the proposal of landscape as architecture in a modern world. Distilling these processes discipline wide will allow architects to routinely minimise the effect on the ground plane, thoughtfully use local materials and marry the built form and landscape form. Further still, ecologically integrative design technology can form part of a building’s footprint redefining what it means to have landscape as part of the architecture whole whilst performing sustainably. Alongside this, inviting humans and animals into cohesive environments steers designers to consider the needs and desires of ‘outdoor’ organisms in ‘inside’ settings. Ultimately, the prioritisation of landscape and sustainability, guide us toward achieving ‘landscape as architecture’ with the sentiment of a cooperative future between place, form and people.

References

Ashraf, K. K. (2007). Taking Place: Landscape in the Architecture of Louis Kahn. Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), 61(2), 48–58.

Corradi, M. (2022). Espinosa+Villalba: Educan multispecies architecture in Brunete Madrid | Floornature. Floornature.com. https://www.floornature.com/ espinosavillalba-educan-multispecies-architecture-brunete-ma-16844/

Australian Government. (2006). Threatened Ecological Community Profile—White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland. Australian Government Department of the Environment. Retrieved May 10, 2023, from http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity. pl?id=43

Farmer, G. (2013). Re-contextualising design: Three ways of practising sustainable architecture. Architectural Research Quarterly, 17. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S1359135513000468

Gattupalli, A. (2023, March 5). What is Regenerative Architecture? Limits of Sustainable Design, System Thinking Approach and the Future. ArchDaily. https:// www.archdaily.com/993206/what-is-regenerative-architecture-limits-of-sustainabledesign-system-thinking-approach-and-the-future

Jauslin, D., Skjonsberg, M., & Curiel, F. (Eds.). (2014). Design Analysis—Contextual Architecture with Landscape Methods. Book of Proceedings ECLAS 2014, Landscape: A Place of Cultivation.

Memmott, P. (2007). Gunyah Goondie + Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia. Thames & Hudson.

Waldheim, C. (2014). Introduction: Landscape as architecture. Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, 34(3), 187–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/1460117 6.2014.893140

Weisser, W. W., Hensel, M., Barath, S., Culshaw, V., Grobman, Y. J., Hauck, T. E., Joschinski, J., Ludwig, F., Mimet, A., Perini, K., Roccotiello, E., Schloter, M., Shwartz, A., Hensel, D. S., & Vogler, V. (2023). Creating ecologically sound buildings by integrating ecology, architecture and computational design. People and Nature, 5(1), 4–20. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10411

Wright, L., & Baracco, M. (2019). Architecture’s role in the repair of the natural environment. Environment, 1, 1–19.

List of Figures

Fig. 1. Composite “physiographic obstructions”: Ian McHarg, Design with Nature,... | Download Scientific Diagram. (n.d.). ResearchGate. Retrieved June 12, 2023, from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Composite-physiographic-obstructions-IanMcHarg-Design-with-Nature-1969_fig3_329001724

Fig. 2. Fleming, B. (n.d.). 50 Years After Design With Nature, Ian McHarg’s Ideas Still Define Landscape Architecture. Metropolis. Retrieved June 12, 2023, from https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/mcharg-design-with-nature-50th-anniversary/

Fig. 3. Blackwood, G. (1998, May). 67 Batman Road, Eltham [photograph]. Victorian Collections. https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/5adabf6321ea700dd42c0e3e

Fig 4. Keyser, M. (2021). Sketch of Alistair Knox house. Blackwood, G. (1998, May). Laughing Waters Road, Eltham, Victoria [photograph]. Victorian Collections. https:// victoriancollections.net.au/items/5adabf6321ea700dd42c0e3e

Fig. 5. Keyser, M. (2021). Sketch of Alistair Knox House, Eltham.

Fig. 6. Keyser, M. (2021). Sketch of Alistair Knox Batman Rd House, Eltham.

Fig. 7. Abdel, H (2021). Garden House / Baracco+Wright Architects. Arch Daily.

https://www.archdaily.com/968360/garden-house-baracco-plus-wright-architects

Fig. 8. Abdel, H (2021). Garden House / Baracco+Wright Architects. Arch Daily.

https://www.archdaily.com/968360/garden-house-baracco-plus-wright-architects

Fig. 9. Corradi, M. (2022). Espinosa+Villalba: Educan multispecies architecture in Brunete Madrid | Floornature. Floornature.com. https://www.floornature.com/ espinosavillalba-educan-multispecies-architecture-brunete-ma-16844/

Fig. 10. Corradi, M. (2022). Espinosa+Villalba: Educan multispecies architecture in Brunete Madrid | Floornature. Floornature.com. https://www.floornature.com/ espinosavillalba-educan-multispecies-architecture-brunete-ma-16844/

Fig. 11. Gattupalli, A. (2023, March 5). What is Regenerative Architecture? Limits of Sustainable Design, System Thinking Approach and the Future. ArchDaily. https:// www.archdaily.com/993206/what-is-regenerative-architecture-limits-of-sustainabledesign-system-thinking-approach-and-the-future

Fig. 12. BIQ house by Arup | Apartment blocks. (n.d.). Architonic. https://www.architonic.com/en/project/arup-biq-house/5101636