LARC40450 Landscape Architectural Thesis

Academic Year 2021/2022

Students pursue self-directed project work within a particular territory of research and investigation under the guidance of studio staff. The ethos of the year is "deep landscape", which supposes an immersive landscape approach to a site. Carried out in collaboration with each other as well as with the local community, our approach supposes close observations, researching, spending time in the field, getting to know both the place and the people. Work is coordinated with that of the MArchSc programme to allow students to benefit from the shared momentum of group endeavour.

This first trimester studio takes the form of a creative analysis; it takes an interdisciplinary outlook in investigating the range of pressures that moulded this contemporary landscape, and that demand future change. A thesis proposition is developed. Maintained through readings, precedent studies, seminars and design investigations, regular tutorials support progress, with reviews involving school staff and various visitors. A report is submitted at the end of the thesis, compiling and collating the process and progress of the work and reflecting the student's thinking on the territory of enquiry and the principles of the design project. Each student assembles a portfolio of studio work and presents a final exhibition which deals substantially with issues raised by the project.