97466 - Digital represention of the Landscape Project

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows the theoretical bases and the operational tools for the use of computer science to support the representation of the green and landscape project. The student acquires the basic knowledge of computer science applied to digital graphic representation, and the methodologies and tools for its use in the field of representation of open space projects. In particular, the student can: - use applications to manage various graphic formats; - use computer tools of the CAD type; - represent the territory and the project of open spaces, managing and elaborating drawings and tables with specific applications.

Course contents

The aim of the course is to provide students with the cultural and critical tools and theoretical bases related to the ever-changing disciplinary landscape of relief representation and landscape design; tools and explained operative devices will be provided for the use of information technology as a support for the representation of the landscape project and for making choices considered in the context of digital representation in order to communicate, control and present the work produced.

At the end of the course, the student is provided with cultural, methodological and technical knowledge that allows him access, orientation and management in the fundamentals of the digital graphic dimension, alongside communication and organizational tools of the graphic drawings in support of effectiveness and autonomy in future professional practice.

In particular, the student acquires the basic knowledge of computer science applied to digital graphic representation, the methodologies and tools for its use in the field of relief representation and open space design and can:

• Organize and manage the digital graphic rendering of relevant data and any project formalisms through coherent and professionally effective presentations;
• Use applications to manage various graphic formats, in particular the AutoCAD software and image processing programs (in the latter case only notes);
• Represent the territory and the project of open spaces, managing and elaborating drawings and tables with appropriate graphic applications.

Teaching unit 1. Theoretical contents: general culture on digital representation (8 hours)

Expected results:

The student knows the programmatic architecture and the functions of the main software for design representation and digital design with particular attention to their application to open spaces; acquires awareness and knowledge in the organization of the survey and project table, in the digital graphic representation of a project as a whole, as well as in the relevance and potential of this type of representation in the graphic drawings, in a look also retrospective on the evolution of the instruments of graphic software.

Main contents:

• Overview of the software for the representation of the open space project envisaged in the educational application phases;
• Analysis of the existing and photographic documentation survey;
• The role of the digital representation of the project in the works of the profession and of possible competitions;
• Study of different techniques of digital representation of the project through the analysis of international examples of landscape architecture projects.

Teaching unit 2. Theoretical contents: vision, perception and landscape survey (8 hours)

Expected results:

Considering the representation as a language and the reading of the context and places as a form of knowledge, the student acquires the conceptual and technical principles of perception of the environment and graphic transposition of this perception with attention to the ways of representing the relief and the project of site applicable both in the urban and extra-urban context and in the landscape. In this way, in the awareness of the visual process as an environmental, cultural and aesthetic cognitive process, it perceives the signs in the landscape developing the rudiments of the ability to think in visual and graphic terms, starting that process of morphological and conceptual perception of the site and its translation digital iconology.

Main contents:

• Methods and survey techniques and landscape representation;
• Instrumentation for drawing: from sketch to digital drawing;
• Techniques of digital graphic representation of the survey;
• The difference in scale in the representation of a landscape project;
• Techniques for the representation of vegetation in landscape design;
• The communication of a project through the study and analysis of digital representations and not of some international reference studies in the field of landscape architecture.

Teaching unit 3. Practical content: AutoCAD software (20 hours)

Expected results:

The student knows the Autocad software interface and delves into the main tools and commands for its correct use in the field of landscape design.

Main contents:

• The AutoCAD interface: the main toolbars and their use, the meaning of the drawing unit;
• Layer management, line types, the Properties panel;
• The blocks: drawing and modification;
• Object snap, the modification of an object using ‘grip’;
• UCS management;
• Inserting and managing images;
• Print management through the Paper Space and table setting;
• Special commands (Purge, Rigent, etc.)

Teaching unit 4. The logical organization of tables and image libraries (4 hours)

Expected results:

Through the correct use of the drawing tool in two-dimensional form the student acquires the ability to manage the structure and the logical succession of the tables for a correct representation of the project; moreover it acquires the awareness of the importance of the creation of that precious resource, in continuous increase during the whole period of activity of a professional, constituted by the graphic libraries.

Main contents:

• Structure and organization of the tables: layout and layout of the table, sequence, heading;
• Organization and management of libraries related to the representation of a landscape project.

Teaching unit 5. Practical contents: computer assisted drawing (20 hours)

Expected results:

The student can use the computer tools for the elaboration of graphic and photographic works aimed at the representation of the landscape project. It is also capable of ichnographically translating the reading of a place, of coherently organizing the structure of a table and the reasoned succession of tables for the purpose of exhaustive communication of one's work.

Main contents:

• Digital drawing of a survey and related project;
• Final layout of the tables and their succession;
• Preparation of print files.

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography of fundamental consultation on the themes of representation (texts and magazines available in the library of Plesso Vespignani and / or Istituto Scarbelli, Imola):

• Rivista PAISEA 014 / representación
• Rivista PAISEA 027 / representación 2
• Hutchison E., Drawing for Landscape Architecture. Thames&Huston, NY 2011
• Wilk S., Construction and Design Manual. Drawing for Landscape Architects. DOM Publisher, Berlino 2014
• Pasquali M., a cura di, Archipel: l’arte di fare giardini. Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2008 (in particular the chapter on "Disegno")

It is also considered essential to consult the following two articles that will be made available to students at the beginning of the course via ‘Online teaching’:

• ‘Speaking about Drawing. An exploration of representation in recent landscape architecture’ di S. Noel van Dooren, in TOPOS 80/2012, pag. 43-54
• ‘The critical visual landscape’, in JOLA 3-2015, pag. 38-51

The individual lessons of the course which will be made available to the students in the form of a dispensation are also considered of fundamental consultation for the exam.

Any other bibliographical references will be provided during the course.

AutoCAD manuals useful for those wishing to deepen the study of the software:

• Santapaga Luigi, Trasi Matteo, Autocad 2015, Apogeo, 2014

Teaching methods

The fundamental concepts of drawing and digital graphics are illustrated with particular orientation to the potential applications in the garden, landscape and open spaces in general. Being the ‘Rappresentazione Digitale del Progetto’ course following the ‘Disegno CAD’ course, it takes into consideration that the students have already acquired digital design bases; consequently, this course is a further study of AutoCAD drawing software.

Through the knowledge of the architecture, the interface and the applications of the software, as well as through their use in the representative purposes of the course and field exercises, the close integration between the theoretical part (teaching unit 1 and 2) and the practical part is highlighted (teaching unit 3 and 4).

The illustration and study of international cases in the field of landscape and application of software tools offers the student the opportunity to understand and deepen the appropriate techniques to be used in different cases of design and representation of the project of open spaces.

In class, theoretical lectures will be alternated (both on the representation in general and on the AutoCAD software) to workshop sessions on the design of the exercise. During the first lesson of presentation of the course the complete program of the course will be presented, with the line-up of theoretical lessons, laboratory moments and public revisions (the revision is intended as a moment of confrontation for the whole class). The general program will be put online in ‘Online courses’ to facilitate working / non-attending students who will then be able to evaluate, well in advance, whether to be present punctually at some lessons.

Non-attending students must contact the lecturer at the beginning of the course.

The course is a very dynamic course in which students will be prompted on several occasions to small interventions in order to develop the oral presentation skills of their project.

Assessment methods

The evaluation of the results of the course considers both the level of knowledge and skills acquired by the student in relation to the contents of the various parts of the course (theory and practice), and the exercises carried out. All the materials, both theoretical and the bases for the performance of the exercises, will be made available to the students of the course on ‘Insegnamenti online’.

Specifically, regarding the knowledge and skills acquired, the final assessment takes place in the following ways:

Test 1 (individual): compulsory for all students. Theme: CAD exercise, the digital representation of a landscape project. In addition to the drawings (which will be evaluated in a particular way in their overall graphic rendering and in the ability to represent single elements) the oral ability to present the work will be evaluated.

Test 2 (individual): compulsory for all students. Verification of knowledge of AutoCAD software.

To pass Test 1, the subject will be given at the beginning of the course by the lecturer. The documents required vary from year to year according to the theme to be developed. In principle, drawings will be requested for the representation of a project of a garden and/or space of limited dimensions in which there are materials that make up the softscape (vegetation) and the hardscape (other materials, such as flooring, furnishings, etc.); the drawings will concern: plans and sections at different scales and with different techniques, with the representation of the actual state and of the project; study of vegetation and related seasons; planting detail, drawing ‘in the manner of’; any other graphic materials, at the discretion of the student, necessary to explain the project as a whole (other sections, sketches, images with different techniques learned from the theoretical contents of the course, etc.). This exercise will be evaluated during the exam and the complete pdf must be sent via email to the lecturer approximately 5 days before the exam date. During the presentation of the work and the related discussion questions may be asked about the theoretical program carried out during the course.

In order to pass Test 2, the student must demonstrate that he is able to use AutoCAD software. The verification will be done on the student's or school's PC and on the drawings related to the test 1.

The exam is an oral exam in which the student presents and discusses the various individual tests. The overall duration of the exam is variable.

All the explanatory materials for the correct development of the tests, as well as the teaching materials on the theoretical program, will be made available to the students (on 'Insegnamenti online') so that also the working / non-attending students have all the information to carry out the course program correctly. In this regard it is emphasized that working / non-attending students will have to take the exam in the same manner as those attending and who must contact the lecturer at the beginning of the course.

It should also be remembered that online registration for the exam is mandatory for all students, under penalty of exclusion from the appeal.

Teaching tools

PC and video projector for frontal lessons.

Students can work on their laptop (on which the AutoCAD software is installed) or on the PCs of the school's computer room.

Computer room with appropriate software for exercises.

Office hours

See the website of Anna Costa