Moulding an Institutional Culture: A Microcosm of Society

An educational institution is one of society’s most influential cultural landmarks. It is a place for cultural exploration, promotion and advancement amongst thinkers and students alike, and an incubator of new cultural practices. The symbolism of institutional culture is manifested in its built environment and forms an unforgettable part of the residents’ memory, an ideal world that they aspire to achieve through their personal endeavors. The studio explores design of institutional landscape as a means of establishing and enhancing institutional culture and imbibing ideal societal values. It shall study examples of cultural landscapes through design case studies from institutional projects. It will also outline the role of landscape as a process, observed by campus residents and ideals of landscape communicated as integral to creation of an institutional culture. The studio will blend practical issues of landscape design for large campuses with conceptual constructs that can foster cultural landscapes. Students will experience the challenges of a multi-faceted problem, and learn to develop responsive master plans, in the process creating their own design development frameworks.