Digital design and creativity: A reflection on curriculum change in landscape architecture education
Abstract
In comparison to the allied design disciplines of architecture and urban design, the creative potentials of digital media have been slow to influence landscape architecture. Many landscape architects consider digital media to lack the intuitive capability of more traditional means of design such as hand drawing. This paper argues for the creative potential of digital technologies in design pedagogy of landscape architecture. Drawing on the experience of the first year of the professional Master of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Melbourne, we outline a shift in design curriculum from planimetric design techniques to a focus on three- dimensional digital modelling including parametric design. We argue that immersing beginning design students within a three- dimensional understanding of space disrupts the linear problem-solving emphasis supported by conventional landscape architecture design techniques. We identify three avenues for creative exploration provoked by digital technologies –topographic form, creative unpredictability and a focus on experience and demonstrate how these moments encourage the beginning design student to develop a complex enquiry of program, form and experience.
Keywords
creativity, landscape architecture, pedagogy
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.116
Citation
Rahmann, H.,and Waliss, J.(2013) Digital design and creativity: A reflection on curriculum change in landscape architecture education, in Reitan, J.B., Lloyd, P., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Digranes, I., & Lutnæs, E. (eds.), DRS // Cumulus: Design Learning for Tomorrow, 14-17 May, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.116
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Digital design and creativity: A reflection on curriculum change in landscape architecture education
In comparison to the allied design disciplines of architecture and urban design, the creative potentials of digital media have been slow to influence landscape architecture. Many landscape architects consider digital media to lack the intuitive capability of more traditional means of design such as hand drawing. This paper argues for the creative potential of digital technologies in design pedagogy of landscape architecture. Drawing on the experience of the first year of the professional Master of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Melbourne, we outline a shift in design curriculum from planimetric design techniques to a focus on three- dimensional digital modelling including parametric design. We argue that immersing beginning design students within a three- dimensional understanding of space disrupts the linear problem-solving emphasis supported by conventional landscape architecture design techniques. We identify three avenues for creative exploration provoked by digital technologies –topographic form, creative unpredictability and a focus on experience and demonstrate how these moments encourage the beginning design student to develop a complex enquiry of program, form and experience.