This studio is the second in the core master of landscape architecture design studio sequence. Preceded by Design Studio I, which focuses on form and space making at the human scale, and followed by Design Studio III, which places paramount importance on the technical delivery of a landscape design, Design Studio II sets itself apart by focusing on urban and ecological concerns. Necessarily implicated by the study of the urban and ecological are scales larger and smaller than the human and an understanding of the landscape as an expression of flows and forces which change through time.

This studio will seek to establish a firm foundation for understanding the city as a dynamic expression of multiple competing pressures registered in measurable, and at times long lasting, design decisions. Representation will rely heavily on the core drawing techniques of the profession such as plans, sections, and other measured drawings which are objective and repeatable. However, the design exercises will always favor experimentation over optimization and from a sturdy base, the studio will encourage invention to propose how else life can flourish in the urban environment. An in-depth understanding of site will be complimented with exposure to contemporary approaches to city making though the field of landscape architecture. The studio aims to use the city of Vancouver as a living laboratory to study the relationships between built form, ecology, infrastructure, and landscape.