Glyphs, planes and pictorial tales: Restoring hand graphics to centrality in landscape architecture education

Abstract

Landscape architecture has been transformed in recent decades by technological applications which have displaced a long-established tradition of manual graphic expression. Although advantageous for private enterprise, this development has not been entirely salutary in academia, as the discarding of manual graphics also eliminated an invaluable medium of teaching design thinking, creative exploration and ideological values. This article summarizes the results of an experimental course on advanced hand graphics taught within a technology-dominated landscape curriculum. Intended to cultivate cognitive and analytical abilities vital for successful design practice, it was simultaneously foreseen as a template for future applications to reinforce design education’s connection to manual graphics. An overview of philosophical objectives, structure and implementation is supplemented with student feedback and work specimens, parameters which were collectively evaluated to assess course performance, success and future viability.