A New Understanding of Landscape Architecture by Kevin Lei

A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF LANSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Kevin Lei LA 203 Spring 2015

Table of contents

Lexicon Entries

1-10

Theory Responses

13-21

External Discussion Responses Individual Insights

33-35

23-31

Taken at Whittier Narrows Park, this picture shows a duck family as they thrive in the shallow waters of the pond. The amount of trash that pollute the area is apparent but the ducks seem to adapt with their surrounds as they live among the trash.

LEXICON

Adaption is the means of changing in order to fit into a certain situation where it will be suitable to social standards. People, places, and most certainly wildlife are prone to adaptation because of change. Whether its change from natural disasters, social culture, or even land, as it continues to be manipulated due to human culture, changes happen in order to fit into the social standards.

ADAPTION [ad-uh p-tey-shuh n] noun.

This diagram shows the adaptation of people who settle in front of rivers back in the early ages of civilization. Each square represent and individual house and the idea of it shifting is because of how the houses adapt to the land and also its orientation to face the lake.

The Watts Tower had a sense of anachronistic quality during the time Simon Rodia built it. Rather than been accept in the community, it seemed too futuristic within that time due to the use of colors of the tower. It wasn’t till later on when the community started to accept the tower as part of the community.

Anachronism is the act of placing people, object, meaning, or tradition into a place where it would be considered outdated and out of place. It could also be the other way around where new forms of people, object, etc… are placed in older site contexts. The juxtaposition of contemporary and ancient creates a whole new meaning for the site and rather could be a positive characteristic.

The Anatidae family comprises of a whole diversity of avians which include Gooses, Mallards, and American coots. Whittier Narrows has a whole variety of these avians where they thrive and adapt to its surroundings

Diversity is the idea of being different or having different thoughts, context, appearance, or meaning. Even with differences, diversity can always relate back to a homogenous whole idea but still be able to point out distinguishable characteristics. Diversity comes in many forms and sizes and supports the idea of ecology.

ANACHRONISM

DIVERSITY

[uh-nak-ruh-niz-uh m] noun.

[dih-vur-si-tee, dahu-] noun.

This diagram shows the idea of ‘futuristic’ in an outdated setting. The cube is meant to be placed on a piece of farmland to represent the idea of the new in the old. Also the colors use of pinkish orange coveys the idea of modernism. This diagram shows the diversity within a building. Each window conveys diﬀerent colors due to the diversity of people who live in this building. But even with the diversity, it is under one homogenous structure.

The imprudent acts that the locals have done to a certain part of Peck Road Park have left the lake filled with trash and pollutant. Not only was there trash but also dead fishes and frog which has left a bad impression on the society in general.

Imprudent is the act of being rash and or not taking responsibility for a consequence of an action; “Im-” meaning not and “prudent” meaning wise. An imprudent person would be one to receive negative criticism for making poor choices. It may even leave a bad impression of something or someone for such poor decisions.

IMPRUDENT [im-prood-nt] adjective.

The Rio Hondo Channel was a human intervention by the city in which it was placed in order to prevent floods and a place where sewage water can collect and move downstream to the Pacific Ocean. This also serves as a natural intervention because wildlife are capable of thriving and creating habitats on the channel.

Intervention is the act of altering a course of a certain thing. Whether it is a human intervention or a natural intervention, this type of action is usually used to improve a situation; where it could be used by force or naturally happening.

INTERVENTION

[in-ter-ven-shun n] noun.

This diagram shows the idea of a person not taking responsibility for an action he has previously committed. Such consequences may lead to bad impression, hence the X on his face, and also one is capable of aﬀecting others as well, hence the person being dragged along.

This diagram shows the idea of this layering aﬀect that happen during human intervention, especially in design. Design Interventions have the tendency to layer new design over old ones in hopes to generate positive ideas.

The paradigm of how the bridge is built is set standard in which the rhythmic pattern serves as the form of the bridge and the function in which it can only be functional if it was built like this. If we were to change the rhythmic pattern, it may cause a paradigm shift and how we build bridges to keep it functional maybe be changed.

Paradigm is a set of standards or principles where it has a rhythmic patterning to it. It is usually a standard that happens consecutively and once shifted to a new standard, that would be called a Paradigm shift.

PARADIGM

My perception of the Rio Hondo channel might be diﬀerent than any other peoples’ perception. How I smelled, touched, heard, and saw the channel created a whole set of memories for me and also a new set of experiences.

Perception is the way one understands a place or concept through the five senses of a human being. The smell, taste, hear, sight, and touch are ways in which we understand and create experiences of something that can be memorable and allow it to be recorded in our memories.

PERCEPTION [per-sep-shuh n] noun.

[par-uh-dahym. -dim] noun.

This rendering from my Rio Hondo Design project depicts the idea of perception in which how one sees this site might be diﬀerent than how another person sees it. One might see the darkness of the site too dark which is more negative but another one might see the lights coming through and see it as a more positive.

This diagram shows the rhythmic pattern of a specific principle. Altering the course of it may result to a paradigm shift and recreate a separate rhythmic pattern.

The idea of resilience was shown here in a way that the fences at Rio Vista Park were bent. However these bars weren’t broken and so the idea of how these bars are capable of going back to its natural state if there were human or natural intervention shows the idea of resilience.

Resilience is the ability to return back to its original form after being obstructed by humanistic or naturalistic interference. Humans that are faced with harsh circumstances have the ability to get better with the idea of resilience. This term has a connotation of elasticity to it where things would recoil back to its original state after a great amount of tension.

RESILIENCE

The idea of this image is to be up close to the fire ants that thrive on our Rio Hondo site. The reason for its close up is to see how the fire ants live and type of surroundings they thrive in; also to see the factors in which creates or disrupts them of their colony.

Umwelt is the idea of how an organism sees the surrounding environment and the many factors that aﬀect the living being. This idea is generally opinion based in which various living beings perceive their surroundings diﬀerently based on their lifestyle choices.

UMWELT [oo-om-vee-lt] noun.

[ri-zil-yuh ns, -zil-ee-uh ns] noun.

This diagram shows the idea of resilience in which the beginning and ending state would always be neutral. But the idea of what happens in the middle is due to human or natural interventions.

This diagram shows the idea of how one organism sees something might be diﬀerent when another organism sees the same thing. This may be true due to the surrounds that might aﬀect that one specific organism.

10 10

THEORY RESPONSES

WEEDING THE JUNGLE RAMBUNCTIOUS GARDEN EMMA MARRIS

This diagram shows idea of how we should see this ‘new nature’ in which it isn’t the greens on the outskirts of town, but in Los Angeles, it’s more of the surrounds that we live in.

The paradigm of the term ‘nature’ has definitely shifted since the early ages of Olmstead’s design philosophy to the now modern day urban structuring. When we fantasies about ‘nature’, we often think about the pristine wilderness. This idea of a pristine wilderness is termed as a perfect setting where the connection of urban and wilderness blend harmoniously together. Unfortunately, nature isn’t like we imagined anymore. This connection of urban and wilderness is apparent, but in a more concrete setting. From this, it has formed a new set of translation for the term ‘nature’ in a non-pristine way. Los Angeles was once new to me. Coming from Northern California, the idea of seeing nature in a new way has definitely shifted when living in Los Angeles. Northern California is more open in a sense that the people aren’t really opposed in seeing nature in a new way since there is a wide amount of ‘green’. The city of Los Angeles, though, is over populated with various ethnic groups as well as various types of wildlife and vegetation. The mixture of all three creates chaos in a sense that people experience more of a concrete setting where most matter are static. This forces us to change our perception on the definition of nature and maybe see the weeds growing through the cracks, or even the invasive castor beans growing alongside the freeway banks as the new translation of an urbanize nature.

DO LANDSCAPE LEARN? ECOLOGY’S ‘NEW PARADIGM’ AND DESIGN IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ROBERT E. COOK PROJECTIVE ECOLOGIES

CHRIS REED AND NINA-MARIE LISTER

This diagram shows the idea of how nature can take over a design over time, whether it is culturally or naturally.

Landscape Architecture is ever changing in a way that a place may show progression over time. Whether it is vegetation growing over a design or even how a culture takes over it, this is idea is branched of the main idea of an ecosystem. When we think of an ecosystem, we tend to associate it with wildlife species. But in this case, an ecosystem can be associated with many various types of living organisms. As designers, it’s rather hard to design for the future because we don’t know what would happen. It’s the idea of spontaneous occurrence that throws designers oﬀ because such occurrence is hard to predict. This example is seen along the Rio Hondo channel, especially at Rio Vista Park. There was a certain section of the park where it seemed neglected. Overgrown weeds and rusted metal where apparent and it was obvious that the ecosystem had taken over its course. Now this was obvious that it wasn’t intentional but it has definitely been neglected. Designing with the progression of ecosystems might do wonders to a site because a design could encompass diﬀerent types of moments created over time as the design grows. By doing so can emerge a great design in which various ecosystems can adapt to.

THE DESIGN EXPERIMENT COMPOSING LANDSCAPES CLEMENS STEENBERGEN

This diagram shows the idea of a design experiment in which hatches are used in order to convey certain information. The overlap hatches and the types used create this layer in which allows us to investigate even deeper.

Design isn’t necessarily about re-creating a new place, but it may also require the analysis and research to formulate schemes and ideas for a design. This idea is called the Design experiment in which investigative measures are put into action in order to explore existing principles and what would be the result if you implement these principles into a new place or new design. This whole idea of investigation and formulating principles is the basis of the Rio Hondo Project because of the layering aspects. The process part is the most important stage in this project because it allows us to investigate the various types of layers and how it would be aﬀected if we were to implement more or subtract certain layers. My group was able to accomplish this by drawing techniques such as hatching and rescaling certain aspects of the mapping in order to find places of opportunity. This definitely guided us into the foundation of our design and the programs that would be implemented in order to add characteristics into the site and the surrounding urban context. Design experiments can also lead up to the future of the design due to its progression over time as the design ages because as designers, we shouldn’t focus just on the aesthesis, but also its functionality over time. This idea definitely generates spatial potency over time as research on a design is being explored.

SYNTHETIC PATTERNS KAREN M’CLOSKEY

BLACKBOARD STUDIO READINGS

This diagram shows the idea of a pattern and how ideas or usages are generated from it. It also sets certain principles on the usage of it as well.

The use of patterning in design is a strong force that can be derived into ideas and ways of thinking because they are the bridge between the form and function. Almost everything in the world has a certain pattern to it and majority of the time they are specific types of patterns in order to formulate specific uses. For instances, the Los Angeles area is heavily dominated by vehicular transportation. To get from Point A to Point B, roads and freeways are definitely the main source to transport on. If one where to look at the roads and freeways at a plan view, patterns emerge from it in which it creates specific directions on how the vehicle should move. For example, the curve on rampsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; form adds function in which it allows vehicles to get from one freeway to another in a curved motion. By doing so, it wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t disrupt other patterns that the freeways create on the freeway above the on ramp and below the on ramp. Another example would be the patterns on the road where there are various types of lines. These lines function as dictators for cars in motion in which each line has specific functions to it. Whether it is a solid line which cars cannot cross or dash line in which cars are able to change from lanes to lanes, patterns are specific in ways that create these paradigms in our society to allow forms and also function.

EXTERNAL DISCUSSION RESPONSES

Gregory Ain: Low-Cost Modern Housing and the Construction of a Social Landscape WUHO GALLERY (WOOBURY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE) APRIL 4th, 2015 Gregory Ain (1908-1988) was a renowned architect who had the ambition to design for the common people. He was known for designing low-cost housing in the Los Angeles area which allowed the communities to connect with modernistic architecture. He designed housing that constructed a social landscape through the integration of Architecture, Landscape, and Planning in making low-cost housing. This idea really spoke out to me because I questioned “How?” How can this integration construct a social landscape? How does one benefit from a social landscape versus a private one? These were some one the questions I wrote down in my sketch book when the curator was talking about Gregory Ain. What I thought was a social landscape was a communal space. Spaced shared by the community at a public property setting. Ain created homes where communal spaces where shared at a private property setting. He accomplished this with the Dunsmuir Flats by orienting the houses at a 10 degrees angle and not incorporating fences. By doing so, he constructed a social landscape through architecture. When the curator talked about his accomplishment, it really amazed me in how a simple concept could aﬀect the whole residency of the Dunsmuir Flats in a positive way. As a student of Landscape Architecture, the idea of a social landscape does speak to me because it is what we are trying to do within our projects; especially for the Rio Hondo site, how could we create a social landscape that incorporates the whole Rio Hondo ecology? I think this is something a good idea to grasp because I know I can’t attack every single aspect, but I can only choose the best ones in order to tell my team’s story.

Liam Young and the City Everywhere: Kim Kardashian and the Dark Side of the Screen Machine Inspired Art // MIA APRIL 15th, 2015

This diagram shows the idea of how Gregory Ain established the social landscape in his low cost-housing design. By eliminating the fences, it accomplishes the idea of social interaction between families. The blue fences in this diagram shows the idea of transparency between each houses that create the social landscape by in the end, the fences are still there in the diagram to distinguish whose property is whose.

Through the experience of Liam Young, contemporary gadgets have created factories and distance landscapes. His way of telling the story through exaggeration and a fictional character, Kim Kardashian, does help us think more about what these contemporary gadgets have done to us as a society. I believed that Liam chose Kim was because of her popularity through social gadgets. The pictures she has produced, the videos she has produced, and even being with celebrity Kanye West has made her one of the top people to search on social networks. But where do these gadgets come from in the first place? How has making these gadgets aﬀected us personally? These are the questions that fly over our minds because as a society, we don’t care about how it’s made or where the materials come from, but rather what is its latest function or how new it is. This principle actually got me thinking about the technology that we have because sure we have the newest iphone or the latest computer, but why isn’t it treated as jewelry. Why isn’t it being passed down from generation to generation? It seems like technology is a temporal use but how it is made is similar to the process of making jewelry. His studio ‘Unknown Field’ really makes me want to be a part of it because instead of traveling to places of visible architecture sites or visiting existing architecture, they go to places to where these trends are born; Sites that are unknown but have great impact in peoples’ lives. I believe that being a designer of the future, these sites have to be studied and understand the change and impact and where it leads to because these concept can hold great complexity in the future of architectural designs and how they can connect with people, places, or matter.

Leo Marmol of Marmol Radziner Architects Cal Poly Pomona College of ENV Atrium APRIL 24th, 2015

History isn’t just an irrelevant past, but it’s educational. The idea of preserving historical architecture is Leo Marmol’s prime concept and it really made me change my perception of the idea of preservation. To begin with, Leo Marmol is a part of MARMOL RADZINER, an architectural firm that provides landscape design, furniture design, prefab, as well as architecture. Their attack on design is more about preservation the history rather than slamming a new building over an old one. This idea of preservation really interested me because when I think of preservation, I think of making the old look new; and by new I mean innovative technologies that would transform an old craftsman style home looking modernistic. Now in Marmol’s case, that wasn’t the idea. His main reason for preservation and why great architecture should be preserved is because it not only looks beautiful and it gives us a glimpse of the past, but because it gives us motivation to design. When he stated the reasons why we should preserve, I intently listened as I jotted down in my sketchbook. “1. Is it old enough? 2. What is its significance? 3. Does it have enough integrity?” These questions really spoke out to me because it makes you think how valuable historical architecture is. It talks about the importance and the symbolic meaning that the architect wanted to convey to the community. Rather than demolishing the old, we should rather celebrate and preserve the new, even though it isn’t used for its original intention.

This diagram shows the idea of products and how we should focus on where they came from. Liam Young’s ‘Unknown Field’ studio travels to site where products come from and they learn the social aspects of it and how they could tie that into design.

Artist Talk: Thomas Heatherwick

Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio

The Hammer Museum at UCLA APRIL 30th, 2015 Thomas Heatherwick is a British designer who focuses on designs for architecture, furniture, and personal accessories. Before going to see him talk, I walked into his exhibit, Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio and I was impressed at everything that was in there. It was eye opening because it made me realize that he was once in my position; going to school as a young designer and now he is a renowned architect doing big project such as the cauldron for the London Summer Olympics, to designing the new Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Since I didn’t get the chance to sit in the theater where he was talking, sitting at the annex while watching his lecture live stream still seem realistic. His idea of creating something that was memorable and unforgettable was achieved when he went about designing the cauldron. I feel that this is something that we, as designers, should follow because he talked about how his design intention is to leave a memorable mark on people. Not to design just to design, but design in hopes that ten to even thirty years from now that people would still remember the design.

This diagram shows the idea of Leo Marmol’s ways or persevering a piece of old architecture. The idea of modernism is put into play but still keeping it back to the roots of the old architecture. The red building depicts that ‘old architecture’ in which the new modernistic building is derived from the old one.

This diagram shows the idea of what Thomas Heatherwick wants people to do after they see his piece of architecture. The idea of memorable and unforgettable and still remembering it after a certain amount of years is what makes a design successful.

INDIVIDUAL INSIGHTS

4/22/15

End of Project One. What Have I Learned So Far?

At this point, the Rio Hondo isn’t just a blur to me but engaging it more and more has emerged findings where it has opened up a lot to me for the mapping project. Every little detail wasn’t ignored at all and I really feel that it has made me pay attention to certain details a lot more. By doing so, it has allowed me to interpret ideas and formulate them into various types of drawing techniques. That’s when the mapping project came into play where exploring patterns and diﬀerent types of hatching to convey ideas were put into work. Creating patterns was definitely a challenge because generating what that pattern conveyed or why it should be that pattern rather than another was diﬃcult to articulate. All in all, I really value this exploration process because it has definitely allowed me to open up my way of thinking and to take risks that I shouldn’t be afraid of failing.

Special Thanks

6/4/15

End of Final Internal Review. What Have I Learned So Far?

Almost everything I have learned so far throughout this quarter has really prepared me for the workload during third year. I can honestly say that my drawing techniques have improved and the way I articulate materials has me better understand various types of readings at a deeper level. As for the Rio Hondo Project, what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve mapped and the taxonomies that came out of it has really derived our project in ways that has allowed us to explore our main ideas and to find ways that will allow us to take risks. The project name does live up to its own words, building complexity and translating that into a design has really challenged my group since our design calls for major risk taking. To be able to stand strong and to support our main ideas is definitely a challenge but I hope to be able to do so for the final presentation in front of the jurors. I know that if the way I articulate our project isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t up to my standards, I would be able to do so for the next two-three more years I have here as an undergraduate Landscape Architecture major.

Ray Senes Rennie Tang Andy Wilcox and the rest of the LA 203 studio