Landscape/ New Substances Analysis

The Industrial Revolution brought widespread change to the landscape and to society. The shift from anagricultural to an industrial economy created a new class of low-wage workers in European and American cities.The Industrial Revolution eroded agrarian society. People moved into cities to supply the labor force required byfactories. Urban populations swelled, causing concern for public welfare.Social reformers lobbied to improve the living conditions of the urban poor by providing public parks. Theaesthetic language of the English landscape garden was adopted as a model for the parks, and persists in theWestern imagination as an icon of nature. The physical and social structures that have come to defi ne city lifetook shape in the 19th century.The Romantic sentiment of the 19th century contributed to a conception of nature as being restorative. Peopleunderstood the political, economic and social value of the landscape, and campaigned to access its benefits.The unquestioned belief in technology prompted a backlash: Romanticism became the antidote to the ills ofmechanized society. For the middle class, emotion triumphed over reason, imagination was prized more thancultivated scholarship, and nature was elevated as the source of inspiration. Society believed sensitivity tonatural phenomena and appreciation of natural beauty to be morally and spiritually uplifting.

 The 19th-century landscape was urban, public, and Romantic.The landscape garden style, so popular in the 18th century, became less feasible in the changed economiccircumstances of the 19th century. Large estates were expensive to maintain, and many property owners had tosell or split their estates into smaller units for development. Panoramic views were curtailed. Attention shifted from the scale of the wider landscape to the scale of the individual plant.The development of the glasshouse, and the proliferation of gardening literature all made gardening accessibleand fashionable with the middle class.Essentially miniature greenhouses, enabled live specimens rather than seeds to be transported from China,India, and North America, dramatically increasing the number of plants available to the trade.Small glasshouses were marketed to homeowners who were eager to include tender plants in their gardens.Horticultural industries prospered from the middle-class zeal for flower and vegetable gardens.In addition to new technologies geared to the management of more modest-sized properties, numerousperiodicals and magazines were devoted to small-scale gardening. Garden writers focused on botany ratherthan aesthetic theory. The inexpensive publications were eagerly read by the new class of homeowners

Based on the reading and understanding of landscape as an architectural substance, architects worldwide tend to create buildings similar to what they’ve seen before, that in the from of an inspiration, and other times being really forward with their choices. Here are some examples on how that escalates.

1.       Somerset House Courtyard

The Somerset House Courtyard was transformed from a carpark to a distinctive and multi-functional open space that hosts different events throughout the year. The courtyard is situated in front of the large Neoclassical Somerset House, which overlooks the River Thames and was originally built in the late 18th century.

2.       Highline Park New York

Manhattan’s Highline Park is an exercise in eco-friendly urban reclamation, the rescue of an abandoned raised freight line for the common good of the city.  After traffic through these raised rails ceased in the 1980s, the line sat abandoned waiting for demolition.  The neighborhood of Manhattan’s west side rallied to save the raised line to create a public park with a green roof as an escape to the busy pace of the streets below.  James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro cooperated to turn this aging eye sore into a green place of peace for Manhattan residents.  The resulting park stretches across nine city blocks, featuring a contemporary design that fits well with the forward thinking people it was built to serve.  Highline Park is a prime example of the old adage that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. 

3.       Vulcano Buono Nola Italy

In an homage to the tragic history of nearby Pompei, Vulcano Buono in Nola, Italy is a giant structure with a green heartbeat thanks to a green-roofed landscape designed by Renzo Piano.  Vulcano Buono is a truly massive structure, designed as a point of commerce and tourism for one of Italy’s prime freight cities.  The structure features a shopping mall, an outdoor theater and a hotel with a 150 square meter open market within.  The landscape architecture designs for this building include 2,500 plants which wrap around the eye of the volcano.  Designer Renzo Piano and his partners are no strangers to landscape architecture, as their work is featured twice in this list.

4.       Tree Museum of Zurich Switzerland

The famed Swiss landscape architect Enzo Anea designed this stunning salute to the tree just outside of Lake Zurich.  The Tree Museum of Switzerland is a serene retreat lined with lush green grass, punctuated with rising stone columns.  The columns are a canvas upon which the shape of a collection of trees from around the world are showcased.  In this 2.5 acre “museum”, 2,000 species of trees have been carefully curated and cultivated to honor one of nature’s most majestic works of art– the tree.

5.       Crosswaters Ecolodge, Guangdong Province, China

Education is an important focus of China’s green movement, and the Crosswaters Ecolodge endears eco-education with a retreat where visitors can experience the green power of nature firsthand.  Chinese eco-tourism at its finest, Crosswaters Ecolodge provides its guests with a greater understanding of its environment while giving back to the locals living in Guangdong Province.  The compound includes terraced farming which feeds its restaurant and the local villagers alike, while a wild bamboo-sourced structural habitat wows its visitors while they enjoy their stay.  Still path-side ponds, a high-reaching observation tower and a beautiful bamboo bridge merge traditional Chinese architecture with sound landscape design techniques.