F E AT U R E By Saruhan Mosler
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Grounds for education Writtle School of Design makes use of its campus grounds and plant collections in a cross‑disciplinary approach to learning
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he soil, water, and air quality that support our habitats and biodiversity are the fundamental elements of landscape and is foremost in the teaching of students in landscape. As future landscape professionals, they need to understand and value the ground we stand on and respond to it as designers. The 220 hectares of campus grounds at Writtle University College (WUC), set within an historic landscape, offer great opportunities to understand these fundamental elements and provide a rich and varied facility for teaching and
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learning. They form an integral part of the methodology of our accredited undergraduate and postgraduate landscape courses, first established in 1995. Writtle School of Design’s (WSD) cross-disciplinary approach to the curriculum reflects the ethos of land-based studies evolving from its inception as a land-based college in 1893, to its university college status today 2 . With a tradition of linking agriculture, horticulture, conservation and landscape architecture, WSD offers a truly grounded and responsive learning experience for future
landscape professionals addressing environmental emergency. Today, it is more important than ever that land-based professions work across disciplines to develop and support sustainable practice. Landscape architects constantly need to reconsider the human relationship
1. Writtle University College’s campus in Chelmsford. © WSD 2019
2. As then ‘Writtle Agricultural College’ during WWII where the front lawn was planted with cabbage as part of the “Dig for victory” campaign. © WSD 2019
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