Courses

Please click on course titles below to see course descriptions.

Landscape Design courses offered in Spring 2013

Complete listing of Landscape Design program courses

Foundation Courses
Studio Courses
Plant Materials and Technical Courses
Internship
NOTE

For course information including meeting times, instructors, class locations and call numbers, please refer to the Columbia University Directory of Classes.

Fall course information is posted to the Directory of Classes in February; summer course information is posted in March; spring course information is posted in June. For additional course information, please contact the department or program.

LAND K4200. History and Theory of Gardening and Landscape Design. 3 pts.

Description

Not open to undergraduates.

A survey of the traditions of human intervention in the landscape from antiquity to the present, with a focus on Western practices. Study of the history of landscape design and the latest theories of landscape opens up the political, social, philosophical, and artistic aspects of the relationship between the designed landscape and culture. Discusses design as a means of cultural expression. Students are encouraged to develop a visual vocabulary of formal practice.

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LAND K4210. Graphics and Landform Modeling. 3 pts.

Description

An introduction to a wide variety of drawing and graphic techniques as well as the various drawing media most popular today. Both “loose” and “tight” graphic techniques are studied. Loose techniques are relaxed, quick, free, bold, and expressive, while tight techniques include lettering, landscape plans, sections, and perspectives. Several different methods of graphic communication and the design process are discussed, including sketching, plan, section/elevation drawing, rendering, one- and two-point perspective, and axonometric drawing for layout and composition. Various drawing media are explored during class assignments. A final investigation into landform modeling completes the course.

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LAND K4220. Advanced Planting Design. 3 pts.

Prerequisite

LAND K4102 Plant Materials I, LAND K4103 Plant Materials II and LAND K4406 Landscape Design Studio III: Planning and Design of Landscapes

Description

Explores the ecology of plant communities growing in specific human-modified environments and how their aesthetic characteristics create gardens and landscapes that are aesthetically rich, environmentally sensitive, expressive of place, and change over time. The course considers the professional responsibilities of the landscape designer, such as moisture, light, and soil conditions in selecting and placing plant species, and specifying  necessary procedures for soil modification and/or pest-control using environmentally sound practices. The final project is a detailed planting plan, complete with supporting documentation, to be implemented as part of landscape design developed for Landscape K4407 Residential and Smaller Scale Design. To foster an understanding of planting design as an “ecological art” emphasis is placed on four topics: spatial formation with plants, plant communities as a foundation for planting design, art and music as inspiration for planting design, and technical requirements of the planting design.

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LAND K4404. Landscape Design Studio I: Site Analysis and Schematic Design. 4 pts.

Prerequisite

LAND K4200 History and Theory of Gardening and Landscape Design, LAND K4210 Graphics and Landform Modeling.

Description

The first of four studio courses in landscape design teaches how to read, inventory, interpret, and analyze a landscape and how landscape impacts the successful implementation of design intentions. Covers how to conceptualize and articulate design ideas graphically and to give form to these ideas through drawing and modeling, as well as how design ideas relate to and are expressed in a material landscape. Landscape program and functional requirements are introduced, but the emphasis is on the understanding of space and form in the landscape and how landscape design can convey meaning while fulfilling programmatic requirements.

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LAND K4405. Landscape Design Studio II: Design Development. 4 pts.

Prerequisite

LAND K4404. Landscape Design Studio I: Site Analysis and Schematic Design.

Description

The second of four studio courses introduces real landscape design problems with case studies that are limited in scope and complexity. Emphasis is placed on the process of developing a design, from conception to preliminary plan, as well as on the relationship between a design program and the physical parameters of a site. The capacity for visual representation and the graphic ability to convey a design intention are reinforced. The studio addresses three key topics: idea formation, spatial volume, and spatial and program synthesis. Introduces theories of spatial design that explain the link between ideas and three-dimensional spaces, addressing the question of how design concepts materialize into physical forms. In addition, it examines how designed spaces, which originate in ideas, influence human activity and how human beings interact with and ultimately inhabit spaces. And finally, the course focuses on how designers work with the physical parameters of a site to achieve desired design intentions.

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LAND K4406. Landscape Design Studio III: Planning and Design of Landscapes. 4 pts.

Prerequisite

LAND K4405. Landscape Design Studio II. Design Development.

Description

The third of four core studio courses introduces landscape design problems of increased scope, size, and complexity. Focusing on relatively large sites, the course considers a range of social, cultural, and economic conditions that influence landscape design. Emphasis is placed on the challenges a site presents to designers, such as architectural adjacencies, topography, facilities, and human functions. The ever-changing dynamics of landscape systems and the interdependency between landscape systems and environmental, social, and economic parameters are discussed.

The studio addresses four key topics: idea formation, spatial volume, human scale and human interaction, and spatial and program synthesis. It covers the spatial design theory that links ideas to three-dimensional space as they address the question of how design concepts are realized in physical form. Explores further the techniques that transform design concepts into physical spaces that reflect human movement and inhabitation. In addition, the studio examines the relationship between landscape form and human scale, and how the placements of objects in space impact and influence human activity. Finally, it examines the relationship between a creative idea and the physical parameters of a site.

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LAND K4407. Landscape Design Studio IV: Residential and Smaller Scale Design. 4 pts.

Prerequisite

LAND K4406. Landscape Design Studio III: Planning and Design of Landscapes.

Description

This is the fourth of four core studio courses. Returning to a smaller scale, the studio is devoted entirely to the design of a residential garden or public sector project, with a real site and a realistic program. Students develop and carry through to final design the range of drawings and documents required of such design projects. The studio is taken in conjunction with Landscape K4220: Advanced Planting Design; as such, students prepare working documents for planting plans and construction details for their designs. In addition to the planting and construction documents, a detailed, rendered plan and final working drawing is required. The studio is intended to present realistic problems that students will face in professional practice. The class is labor intensive and requires a substantial time commitment in class and at home.

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LAND K4102. Plant Materials: Woody Trees and Shrubs I. 1.5 pts.

Description

7-week module
Module one of a two-part course on the identification of woody trees and shrubs of the Northeast. This first module commences preferably during the onset of fall, allowing for maximum exposure to hardy trees and shrubs during a dynamic period of their lifecycle. Direct field experience teaches a working vocabulary—in Latin and English—of trees and shrubs suitable to residential landscape design. The course covers character, physical characteristics, and maintenance requirements of trees and shrubs, as well as a sense of their optimum uses as elements in landscape design. Emphasis is on the ornamental attributes, cultural requirements and tolerances, historical origins, and ecological characteristics of plants used in residential design. Plant community associations are also introduced. Additionally, the course stresses the design uses of plant materials, acknowledging their value and potential in influencing and enhancing a design intention. The course, which covers both native and introduced species, conducted in Central Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the New York City streetscape.

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LAND K4103. Plant Materials: Woody Trees and Shrubs II. 1.5 pts.

Prerequisite

Landscape K4102 Woody Trees and Shrubs I is not a prerequisite, though it is advisable to begin the plant material sequence with that course.

Description

The second module of a two-part course on the identification of woody trees and shrubs of the Northeast. Direct field experience expands the working vocabulary of trees and shrubs suitable for residential landscape design, with emphasis on spring characteristics of plant materials and how such characteristics can individually and collectively convey ideas and enhance design intentions. Covers the character, physical characteristics, and maintenance requirements of trees and shrubs, as well as a sense of their optimum uses as elements in landscape design. Ornamental attributes, cultural requirements and tolerances, historical origins, and ecological characteristics of plants used in residential design are considered. Further attention is paid to plant community associations. Additionally, the course takes advantage of the onset of spring to introduce the seasonal concerns such as the preparation of the ground for planting and the optimal time to plant individual plant species. Ornamental, hardy perennials are introduced. The course, which covers both native and introduced species, is conducted in Central Park, the Conservatory Garden, Battery Park City, and the New York Botanical Garden. 

During the summer term, Plant Materials courses are offered at night, in six weeks.

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LAND K4112. Landscape Technology: Site Grading and Drainage. 1.5 pts.

Description

7-week module
An introduction to reading landscapes rendered in topographic maps, to the means and methods of site manipulation (grading), and to the control and management of water on a site (drainage). The course covers site grading and storm water drainage systems as they apply to residential landscape design, and how to represent site improvements and drainage information in a set of contract documents. Topics examined include sustainable (environmentally compatible) approaches to the collection, detention, and redistribution of water on a site; distribution of water around structures, subsurface drainage, layout and grading for circulation; and calculations of cut and fill. An overview of irrigation design is also presented.

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LAND K4113. Landscape Technology: Construction and Site Details. 1.5 pts.

Prerequisite

LAND K4112. Landscape Technology: Grading and Drainage.

Description

An introduction to the site, planting, and basic construction details related to residential-scale landscape design projects, the course discusses how construction details (dimensions, materials, color, etc.) influence and affect design intentions. The materials and methods for constructing basic landscape design features such as structures, retaining walls, masonry stairs, paving, decks, small pools and fountains, site amenities, and planting details are presented. The course also covers preparation of the construction contract documents used in residential design.

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LAND K4215. Internship. 3 pts.

Description

Designed to immerse students in a professional setting prior to graduation, supervised internships allow students either to serve as apprentices in professional landscape design firms or complete a practicum in a privately owned garden. Students are required to work in a professional setting and to make a significant commitment of time, at least 80 total hours. Depending on the nature of the project and firm to which a student is assigned, a given internship might extend over the entire summer and involve part-time work or it may be condensed into a shorter period of time and involve full-time work. Students are expected to play an active role in shaping their internships, thus enabling them to choose a project that fits into their schedules. Internships may be arranged locally or anywhere throughout the world. Any additional costs for travel, lodging, food, and incidentals are incurred by the student.

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AutoCAD and Digital Representation. 0 pts.

Description

AutoCAD and Digital Representation are two sequential seven-week modules that are free, non-credit and optional. Enrollment is in priority order, with fourth semester students having first choice. These classes are open only to students matriculated in the M.S. in Landscape Design program.

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