LARCH 4970 SECTIONS 10-20-30 SPR 2014Design 7Studio Leaders: Sarah Cowles, Nick GlaseMWF afternoons

SYLLABUS

Our studio project will be conducted collaboration with the Glimcher Seminar led by visiting professorMichel Desvigne and will lead to a gallery exhibition that will open March 26.

The Big Darby Creek watershed is 25 kilometers west of Columbus, Ohio. Here the the westernmostsuburbs of Columbus interface with the dominant agricultural texture of western Ohio. Landscapetypologies within the boundary include row crops, restored prairie, oak savannah, woodlots, old fieldsuccession, strip development, residential cluster development, wetlands and riparian corridors.

The Big Darby Accord, adopted in the mid 2000s, unites public and private interests to guide currentland use and future development to protect the Big Darby Creek and its tributaries from non-pointsource pollution. The area defined in the Accord covers about 30 km on the north-south axis and 10 kmon the east-west axis. Such a model is still rare in the United States but is becoming more common.

The Big Darby Accord planning documents, publicly available, are detailed and comprehensive, andinclude land use, hydrology, and geology and soils data. These documents also specify developmentguidelines and best management practices (BMPs) for agricultural, suburban, and conservation landswithin the watershed. Specific plant palettes, watercourse setbacks, river restorations, and earthworkand drainage tactics all result in material, spatial, and subsequently aesthetic changes to the landscape.

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In time, a de facto and de jure landscape identity will define the lands within the Big Darby Accordboundaries, as BMPs, codes and design guidelines are physically implemented. Our charge as designersis to disentangle this landscape from the banality of due diligence, and tease out loopholes within thetime and territory allotted to bring forth a rich and legible new landscape.

The first project will focus on the amplification of the existing landscape to invent a new intermediatelandscape, between agriculture and public space, within the territories governed by the Big DarbyAccord. This intermediate landscape will perform the function of improving water quality in the DarbyCreek Watershed, provide a public space network, and imbue the region with an original landscapecharacter.

This territory is not within the city proper, or in a development cluster, but the vast fabric in-between.The first project is divided into several short charrettes; they are outlined under Project List. Eachcharette will have specific instructions and deliverable and review schedule that will be distributed ashandouts. This project differs from typical design studio format where individual or group projects arefocused development and resolution for final reviews. Instead, you will be given specific tasks involvedwith the design, production, execution and installation of an exhibition. To that end, it is imperative thatyou follow instructions exactly and use the specified materials. You will work in production teams forseveral of the charrettes. These teams will be led by studio members selected by the studio leaders.

This syllabus contains all the information you need about the first project, and a rough schedule of thefirst project. At the end this document, under the section heading Studio Culture are our specificexpectations from you as a studio participant.

This studio project has four parts:● A critical overview of the work of Michel Desvigne Paysagistes (MDP), theory and practice;● An interpretation of the studio’s approach applied to the design of several large-scale

landscapes within the Big Darby Creek Watershed west of Columbus;● An exhibition of the work produced in the studio, exhibited in the Banvard Gallery, opening March

26.● Exhibition documentation and production of exhibition catalog.

About Michel Desvigne PaysagistesBased in Paris, France, Michel Desvigne Paysagistes currently is leading a number of internationallandscape projects, from the garden to the regional scale. Since the 1980s, his work has engaged boththe formal and temporal aspects of landscape design. The 1992 plan for Thomson Renault plant, withChristine Dalnoky, reveals the design processes that guide his current practice: first analyze the largerscale geography, organize and prepare the “growing media” (soils, drainage, and planting materials),then continue to intervene in this highly-textured landscape as these processes unfold and take shapeover the years.

The work of MDP is often cited and claimed by the landscape urbanist camp as it exemplifies thedesign principles they champion; of process over picture, of instrumentality over representation andcomposition. Yet James Corner and others often write contradictorily about the aesthetics outcomesof work of MDP; in one paragraph lumping his oeuvre as decidedly non-pictorial, while effusively

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describing the aesthetic qualities of these landscapes-in-process in the next.1

It is in the space of these conflicts that we will work. We will familiarize ourselves with theoretical andhistorical context in which his work operates, specifically as it applies to development at therural/suburban edge. Readings will cover commentaries on his oeuvre, as well as contemporary theorieson the performative and aesthetic roles of landscape in rural/suburban edge development.

In this studio, we will meet three times with Michel Desvigne. He will present several recent projects andlead discussions and critiques of the design studies produced in conjunction with LARCH 7890, alandscape seminar led by Michel Desvigne, Sarah Cowles, and Dorothée Imbert.

ExpectationsThis seminar/studio will be operated as a laboratory, with a series of guided charettes with strictdimensional and material parameters. The pace will be very intense and the workload--both assignedreading and design studies--will be significant. Those with conflicting time commitments, such asextracurricular activities, athletics, or responsibilities outside of the program are strongly discouragedfrom enrolling in this course. Because the work created in this studio will be part of an exhibition, a highlevel of craft and care is expected in this studio. The expectations and pace of the studio will reflectreal-world studio environment.

MethodologyIn this seminar, participants will use the Big Darby Accord guidelines as a basis to develop and physicallymodel a series of landscape design typologies at a range of scales that will define and structure thelands within the project boundaries to create a legible landscape identity over the next 30-50 years.Participants in the seminar will study large-scale landscape planning projects by Michel Desvigne andothers. Two or three field trips to the area, including parklands, agricultural sites, and suburbandevelopments to collect examples of existing landscape typologies and land use practices.

Modeling and physical construction of drawings will primary method of design development within thisseminar and studio. The goal of these exercises is to produce a large array of alternatives in a shortperiod of time for evaluation and subsequent exhibition.

After the first meeting with Michel Desvigne, model concepts will be further refined using digitalfabrication tools; students will work in production teams to realize their array of models for theexhibition. We will also create models and mockups of the gallery and exhibition concepts. One groupfocus on 2D/low-relief, large scale representations (at the scale of work by Anselm Kiefer or MarkBradford) that will be installed on the walls and/or windows in the gallery as supergraphics or othermeans as determined by the students and seminar and studio leaders.

The exhibition in the Banvard Gallery will be a series of supergraphics and study models depictinglandscape conditions that illustrate the proposed landscape identity for the land within the Big Darby

1 In his essay, “Agriculture, Texture, and the Unfinished”, Corner states: “Desvigne considers landscapearchitecture as a living art form that is more about cultivation of process and change over time than it is with morefamiliar landscape architectural practices such as formal composition and representations.” One page later, hecontinues “gently swaying trees, simmery leaves, blustery grasses, and changing dapples of light and shade addup to often very beautiful tactile fields…”etc. Tiberghien, Gilles A, Michel Desvigne, and James Corner.Intermediate Natures: The Landscapes of Michel Desvigne. Basel: Birkha�user, 2009. 7,9. Print.

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Accord.Areas of study will include:

● Suburban-Rural interfaces● Transportation Corridors - I-40 (Broad Street) and future rail● “Town Center” plan (currently planned on a New Urbanist Model)● De-channelization and restoration of the Hellbranch Run and tributaries

Project ListJanuary:Landscape Lexicon modelsLarge Scale Landscape GraphicsGallery mockupsFebruary:Larger scale model developmentMarch:Larger scale model execution & Graphic productionGallery installationApril:Exhibition documentation and publication

Course ObjectivesAt the end of this studio, you will know:

● The critical conflicts that exist between suburban and rural land uses in Big Darby Creekwatershed;

● The policy and design guidelines implemented to improve water quality and reduce soil erosionin the Big Darby Creek watershed;

● The regulatory agencies that affect how landscapes are developed and managed in the BigDarby Creek watershed;

● How such guidelines can inform the development of a new landscape identity for land governedDarby Creek Accord;

● The basic principles and critiques of the theories of “Landscape Urbanism”, “New Urbanism”,“Rural by Design” and the “Intermediate Landscape” approach of Michel Desvigne;

● How to project the development of a landscape over the next 30 years;● How to use iterative physical modeling to develop a landscape language(planting, topography,

hydrology);● How to apply this landscape language at a range of scales● How to work efficiently as a member of a production team● How to speak clearly about your design proposal:

○ the aesthetics of your proposal and what influenced your results○ the adherence or intentional contradiction of Big Darby Accord design guidelines○ how your project its critical position within contemporary discourse

Format● Class meets MWF afternoons.● Activities such as group pin-ups or reading discussions will take place on all days not scheduled

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for project reviews or introductions.● We will meet with the seminar group during Michel Desvigne’s visits to work on charrettes● The schedule is subject to revision as field trips and guest lectures are added. Project

assignments will contain more detailed schedule information.

Evaluation of Studio PerformanceGradesYour studio leaders hail from a time in the past century when a C was considered average. There is adepartment-wide initiative to combat grade inflation. If you have concerns about your GPA please let usknow, especially if your scholarship or visa is GPA dependent. Those in danger of a C or less will bealerted and we will meet privately to discuss what challenges you are having and set up a plan toimprove your grade.. You will fill out a self-evaluation at the end of the course and grade yourself on thefollowing topics. In the studio culture section, there is more information about the self-evaluationprocess and expectations.

Grades will be awarded using the following letter scale:A Exceeds expectations in every way, with distinguished mastery of materialB Consistent and strong work that meets requirements and evidences moments of

exceptional development with good mastery of materialC Satisfactory work, meets basic requirements with basic mastery of materialD Unsatisfactory work. does not meet all requirementsF Failing or incomplete

Self EvaluationThe following criteria will be used in evaluation of a participantís progress during the semester, and willbe used to determine the participantís final grade.

1. Theory to Practice: Give examples of how you engaged the theoretical topics investigated andpresented in precedent research and readings:

2. Productive experimentation and risk taking: Did you consistently draw, model, and test ideas,creating a clear series of experiments that lead moments of resolution and definition? Giveexamples when you created rigorous, scaled study models and drawings with new iterationsready for review in each class meeting. Did you build on these studies?

3. Participation and collaboration: . Did you productively collaborate and share information andtasks with other students? Were you able to participate in constructive internal critique withinyour group?

4. Response to Criticism: Did you develop your work based on feedback from your critics? Did youask for clarification if you did not understand the terms or concepts used?

5. Self-direction and ambition: Did you actively seek out information and resources outside of theexamples and assigned readings presented in the studio by the studio leaders?

6. Site exploration: Did you re-visit the site to ground-truth analysis and design concepts. Did youutilize rigorous methodologies for your fieldwork and record the results of your fieldwork clearlyin analytic drawings? Did you explore the neighborhood as well? Presentation: Did you clearlycommunicated the intentions of your project verbally and graphically. Did your presentationsuccessfully not only communicate the content of your design, but also defend the reasoningbehind your decisions?

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Studio CultureCommunicationYour studio leaders will provide information to you in handouts, documents that are posted to a folderon Google Drive or other file sharing sites, and by email. Please do not email or text your instructors withthe details of any personal academic, health, or interpersonal relationship issues you are experiencing. Ifyou need to discuss these issues, contact us in class or send or email us to set up a meeting time todiscuss the issues in person.

ScheduleBecause this is a production studio, and we are working with real objects and machinery and arecreating design experiments, the schedule may change due to successes or failures of particularphases of the project.

Assigned ReadingYou will be assigned a number of readings during this semester. They are from a variety of sources, fromplanning, ecology, geography, urbanism, and landscape theory, so the language and vocabulary may bediverse and challenging. It is your responsibility to look up words you do not understand in the dictionaryor to ask us. Try to read the articles at least twice. It may take a third or fourth reading of some of thepapers throughout the semester for the concepts to sink in as you develop as a designer. We will havebrief discussions of the reading in the beginning of class sessions.

Class discussionsDo not feel shy about talking in class. This project will thrive off of collective knowledge. You areexpected to come to discussions with printouts of the reading that you’ve highlighted. If there’ssomething the author wrote you think applies to what we’re trying to do, underline it and discuss it. Ifthere’s a passage you don’t understand, underline it and bring it up in class for discussion. If somethingthe author wrote particularly upset you, underline that and open up the discussion.

Precedents and Case StudiesYour studio leaders will also periodically suggest you read or research a particular article or designer orproject. You are expected to follow this advice. If it is not clear why you were referred to the project, asin “what in the heck did they want me to get out of this?” then please come ask us to explain theconnections we hoped you’d make.

Field TripsWe will have a number of field trips during the semester. Bring a camera and sketchbook. Wearappropriate footwear and clothing. Take pictures of where two conditions meet, of textures, of tones,of land and water interfaces; capture the big and the small scale. Consider future views you might makein your project.

It is extremely important that you return to the site whenever you have time. As you get to know the sitemore from investigation in the studio through data (map) analysis, site visits help you develop a morecomplex and nuanced mental model of the site. Getting outside in the real site will help you reconcilescale issues in your project, as in, “Oh my, I didn’t realize that 100 feet isn’t really that long in thiscontext”. A site visit may also toggle your brain that may have gotten stuck working over the same badidea. And, wasn’t the outdoors the reason you got into this line of study in the first place?

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Time ManagementWe believe that the studio atmosphere to be positive and energizing, but we also know the environmentis both physically and mentally toxic at times. If you’re overwhelmed and tired, please don’t saw yourfinger off on the table saw. We also know there are late nights at the studio. Get sleep and manage yourtime. The screen also devours time - some procrastination even masquerades as “research”. To combatthis, spend time physically making models or sketching at tables or working in the shop. Use the libraryinstead of Google for research-it has nice light, a pretty garden, good chairs, and many new faces.

Contact us if think you are experiencing fatigue or have health issues. (See Communication)

Criticism

“Admittedly, [design] is somewhat like spit. It does not repulse us or even worry us when it isinside us, but once it exits our body, it becomes disgusting” Ivan Brunetti, Cartooning,Philosophy and Practice. p73.

As stated in Brunetti above, the process of making ideas real is not pretty. Design development takesphysical work, in drawing, diagramming, and modeling. If you don’t draw your idea, it does not yet exist.That is why we will have small group pin-ups in class meetings, rather than desk crits. The small grouppin-up allows you to see how others are progressing, and allows us to address problems that all projectsshare. Always be prepared - have something new for each class meeting.

When a critic says “test this idea” or “you need to be rigorous” it means that we can see potential inyour sketches , but you must develop those ideas in scaled models or drawings (using your base files),to see how that idea might play out in a particular part of the site.

Design criticism can be difficult to understand, dissect, interpret, and apply. It can also seem like thecomments are personal. You personally spent hours and days on your project, thinking you were doingwhat was asked, and the feedback sounds only negative. You may want to defend yourself in light ofthe fact that you’ve just put heart and soul into something and the critics seem to tear it apart. Becauseyour critics have trained eyes, they can see the places in your project that have potential, and theplaces where you cut corners - or - maybe just didn’t know what to do. Always have someone take notesfor you; you will be expected to respond to criticism in further development of your project. .

MaterialsTake your tools as seriously. By now you should have a favorite marking device but also try out new onessuch as a cartridge pen or graphite crayon to see the difference in expression. Use the right tool for thejob or use the wrong one deliberately. Bring to table crits and small group pin-ups trace, scales, markers,pencils, and the assignment or exercise brief. Please don’t come with a blue bic or a micro-mechanicalpencils. Blue bic pens are for prison drawings and micro-mechanical pencils are for calculus homework.

Some words on performance and evaluation:First we will meet with each of you privately in the first half of the semester to discuss your academic,studio, and career goals. This meeting serves as a loose contract between us and you. If you say, you’dlike an A, and you need to maintain a 4.0, and you want to go on to the ETH in Zurich for your MLA andthen become a principal at AECOM, we can do our best to keep you on that path and will expect anoutput that is consistent with reaching those goals. If you just want to have some cool stuff in yourportfolio, or if you just want to finish your degree and establish a design-build studio, we can adapt our

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shared expectations to help you meet those goals. We also want you to be honest about yourperformance in the studio as it progresses, so there are no surprises when grades are received.

Keep in mind those seeking careers in design or those that want to continue to graduate school areevaluated almost entirely on the quality of work in the portfolio and personal recommendations fromemployers and professors. GPAs rarely used in the evaluation of a job candidate, and even less so todaydue to the widespread trend of grade inflation.

From your studio leaders:You can expect clear communication of project requirements and deadlines. You can expect us to beavailable during studio time for questions. If you have technical issues during non class time, you cancontact us by email and we will do our best to troubleshoot problems with you.

We welcome your comments on our performance during the semester when we can still act upon yoursuggestions. It does not help anyone to get this information at the end of the year in an SEI. As this is anintensive production studio in the first portion of the semester, we encourage you to speak up if youknow a faster or smarter way to do something.

OSU Student Conduct Policy & ResourcesStudents are required to adhere to all codes and academic policies of The Ohio State University and theKnowlton School of Architecture. In particular, plagiarism (the use of the ideas, words or works ofintellectual content of another person as if they are oneís own or without crediting the source) is strictlyforbidden. The Student Code of Conduct (http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/resource_csc.asp) definesacademic misconduct as: any activity that tends to compromise the academic integrity of theuniversity, or subvert the educational process. All students are required to review the code andunderstand the implications of a code violation. If there is any suspicion of academic misconduct, thefaculty member/instructor will report the alleged violation to the section head and the Committee onAcademic Misconduct (http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/home.html) for investigation and any further action.

Other misconduct includes damage to, alteration of or other improper use of university equipment andproperty. The facilities of Knowlton Hall are for your use, but they are also for the use of students whocome after you. Please take appropriate care in your use of the facilities.

Since Knowlton Hall is a 24/7 facility for our students and faculty, it is imperative that all safetyprocedures be followed. With regard to maintaining secured access after normal business hours, do notprop doors open. Maintain and secure your personal items in lockable storage or by other approvedmeans. Work and study in a responsible manner so as not to create or provide potential fire/safetyhazards in the building or its environs. If you observe such conditions, please report them to the buildingcoordinator or the Directorís Office.

Attention is called to the Universityís Sexual Harassment Policy 1.15 (https://hr.osu.edu/policy/policy115.pdf). Prompt action will be taken to report and correct any problems should they occur. If astudent feels they have been the subject of harassment, or if others observe such harassment, it shouldbe reported immediately to the faculty member in charge, section head or director of the school.

STUDENT RESOURCES If you need an accommodation related to a disability, you should contact theOffice for Disability Services or the ADA Coordinatorís Office for assistance in verifying the need for

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accommodations and developing accommodation strategies. Your needs and potentialaccommodations will be considered relative to the course format. If you have not previously contactedthe Office for Disability Services, you are encouraged to do so. ADA Coordinatorís Office:http://ada.osu.edu Office for Disability Services: http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu/ (614) 292-3307 | Fax:(614) 292-4190 | TDD: (614) 292-0901

Other resources for students can be found at: http://studentaffairs.osu.edu.

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