Community Open Space Studio

The studio will engage with public open spaces of varying sizes and characters, to achieve an understanding of their evolution and present functioning. The intangible attributes of a space will also be studied, including it's connections to the art and traditions of the place, and the cultural meanings that it holds for it’s varied set of users. After completing this studio unit, the students will have studied a public open space in detail through different lenses including geography, society, art, culture and heritage, ecology and microclimate. The spaces will also be looked at in connection with the temporality and seasonality of their uses. This study and the need to develop multiple methods of engaging with public space, will call for creative thinking to find ways to strengthen community engagement in planning and design, over varying economic and social strata, genders and ages. Students will be asked to write concisely and clearly about the topics covered in the Studio, including the design process and the final design. The studio also has a strong potential to connect to theories and writings related to landscape architecture and open space, such as theories of landscape Perception and Place, Critical regionalism, Ecological determinism and Landscape Urbanism.