University of British Columbia
School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Landscape Architecture IV/V
Option Studio

Teaching Faculty: Fionn Byrne

Description:
Undoubtedly a concern for the environment remains a major motivation for designers today, but so too are new ethical imperatives. It is increasingly common to hear designers speak about social justice, economic inequality, gender discrimination, racism, and the rights of nature for example, none of which would have concerned Kent or Brown. Instead, as the introductory quote from Raymond Williams suggests, at times the English landscape gardeners were practicing in ways and supporting a social system which we would find objectionable today. And here then we arrive at a central question of this studio: if the organic style, designing with nature, is the best physical expression of an environmental ethic, what forms can other ethical imperatives take in the landscape? Or even more generally, how do formal design strategies express ethical values?