Communication of landscape character by presentation graphics : this dissertation has been completed in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Diploma of Landscape Architecture, Lincoln College

Abstract

The basic premise of this study is to investigate whether the essential elements which create the holistic image, landscape architects call "landscape character" can be communicated by the use of presentation graphics. Landscape character has been analysed and methods of defining it outlined by many landscape architects, but these are primarily used for written and verbal communication or testing. When a landscape architect presents a scheme to a client, that scheme will have emerged from such a detailed study of the site's landscape character and the design will not only be sympathetic to the area's landscape character but much of its logic will be derived from that base. If the essence of the landscape character can be conveyed in the presentation graphics in a holistic way, this must reinforce the message of the design. It is felt that this would assist the client in their understanding of their site and the proposed scheme and if accurately conveyed should also indicate the dynamic processes so important in a landscape, which a static design solution drawing may conceal. This study attempts to see if visual communication via presentation graphics of the visual and dynamic qualities of landscape character can be achieved in such a way as to benefit the landscape architect's communication with a client. Part One begins with an investigation of the use of graphics in landscape architectural communication, and indicates how this is a continuum from self-analytical graphics through to the presentation drawing for a client. Landscape character is then investigated with an aim of isolating what elements and processes are essential in its communication, yet also applicable for visual communication. The separation of elements must be done in such a way that the holistic nature of landscape character can be recreated by a bringing together of those parts. This process is repeated for graphic techniques, which is also a holistic communicator, composed of individual techniques. These two subjects, graphic techniques and landscape character, both holistic yet both composed of component parts, are then brought together in a methodology which attempts to link the two in visual communication. Part Two uses two case studies to put this methodology into practice. Tongariro and an area on the Port Hills were chosen as having a similar geological history, although separated by time. This similarity of geological base was seen as an important element of the two case studies landscape character, which must be conveyed in graphic communication. However, because of time and its many processes, these landscapes are also intrinsically different, and this essential difference must also be communicated. An analysis of the success and failure of the methodology in the individual case studies indicates the practicality of communicating a specific landscape character by graphics. A comparison of the two case studies indicates to what extent the similarities and differences between landscape areas based on time and process can be conveyed. Finally, the hypothesis is discussed in the light of the study and the potentials and limitations of these ideas are outlined.