EVDS 1600 D-01 | Introduction to Enviromental Design | FALL 2025
Week 3
To Design a Landscape
TO BEGIN
Read the excerpt from Ian McHarg’s “Designing with Nature” carefully. Make notes and critique the material as you read.
STEP 1 – PICK A PROJECT
+ Find a work of Landscape Architecture that you find compelling.
+ You may choose any project, and if you get stuck or don’t know where to start, try using the sources listed below for assistance.
+ Sources:
https://landezine.com/
https://worldlandscapearchitect.com/?v=5435c69ed3bc https://toposmagazine.com/ https://www.landscapeinstitute.org/ https://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/ https://www.scapemagazine.com/ https://www.jola-lab.eu/ https://www.platformspace.net/ https://terragrams.com/episodes
STEP 2 – WRITE A BRIEF COMPARTIVE ANALAYSIS
+ Each student is to write a brief, one paragraph compartive analysis that describes how the project either endorses or critiques McHarg’s ideology based on this week’s reading.
+ Some useful questions to frame your analysis: Does the project align or depart from McHarg’s approach, context or philosophy? Does McHarg’s framework still apply in today’s context? Why or why not? Speculate on how McHarg might respond to the project if he were alive today. Reflect on your own design instincts: do they personally align with McHarg’s ecological determinism, or with projects that resist it? What kind of design intervention could either strengthen the project’s alignment with McHarg or push it further away?
+ This analysis is open to interpretation, but regardless of the question (again, feel free to pursue any above or your own), it should be a critique of a project through a McHarg lens.
STEP 3 – MAKE A VISUAL DIAGRAM TO SUPPORT YOUR ANALYSIS
+ Alongside the written analysis, students are to create a diagrammatic representation that shows how their chosen project either aligns with or resists McHarg’s “Design with Nature” philosophy.
+ Use existing photographs of the project to your advantage.
+ Other strategies:
Layering Analysis (McHarg-inspired)
Overlay ecological and cultural layers (e.g., hydrology, topography, vegetation, built form, circulation, human use). Use color, or symbols to differentiate layers. Students highlight where the design follows ecological constraints/opportunities versus where it ignores them.
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EVDS 1600 D-01 | Introduction to Enviromental Design | FALL 2025
Week 3
To Design a Landscape
Interpretive Graphics
Arrows, callouts, or icons to indicate key moves:
Does the project preserve wetlands?
Does it build over natural drainage?
Does it integrate native planting or impose artificial landscapes?
STEP 4 – SUBMISSION
+ Digitally submit all materials on one to two 8.5” x 11” letter-sized documents.
+ At the top left-hand corner of the page, create a Title that lists the assignment number, the project name, the designer/landscape architect, and the year of completion, if known.
+ Below the title, place your diagram. This should take up the top half of the page.
+ Below the diagram, place your written analysis. Written analysis should be 11pt, single-spaced, leftaligned, with a sans-serif font. Write your name and student number in the same text style as the written analysis below.
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