LAA224 Designing with Plants

Credits (ECTS):15

Course responsible:Corinna Susanne Clewing

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Norsk

Limits of class size:Maximum of 40.

Course frequency:Annually

Nominal workload:Total workload is 375 hours, of which ca. 160 hours er structured learning activities. About 215 hours have to be used for independent work on assignments, exercises and for individual studies.

Teaching and exam period:This course starts in the August Block. Teaching and evaluation take place in August Block and the Autumn Parallel.

About this course

The course focuses on vegetation as a design element in the making of our surroundings. The functional, ecological and aesthetic qualities of plants are significant issues to be taken into account in this making. The students will get introduced to design methods as well as to judgements that are relevant to make when working with vegetation as a living material. The course will give insights into the role of landscape architects as planting designers and managers, at different scales and in diverging settings.

The course is built up as a series of exercises and assignments. Lectures and field trips support the students work on assignments. In the assignments, knowledge on using plants and design will be employed in particular situations. The use of creativity tools in project work and techniques for visual communication will be explored in several exercises. Assignment solving is gone through in plenary, so that the typical problems, which the assignments raise, will be discussed.

Learning outcome

Students who have completed the course are expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes.

Knowledge: Students should be able: - to understand vegetation as a dynamic system and the significance of maintenance for the design process, - to apply principles for plant composition that are appropriate to the situation, the intended function and appearance - to use literature, laws and regulations and other sources of knowledge for plant selection and composition. - to use relevant terms from the aesthetic field and from plant sciences in their argumentation.

Skills: Students should be able - to develop proposals for plantings in various situations and scales, - to use vegetation as a structuring and spatial landscape element and to suggest suitable plant species (shrubs, trees and perennials) to a site based on ecological, functional and aesthetic judgements, -to use analytical tools and creative methods for idea generation as the basis for design, plant composition and selection,- to explore and communicate the characteristic features and dynamics of the planting with various visual tools and techniques, to develop a distinctive design language and aesthetic qualities in their own work, - to communicate their proposals through sketches, schemes and models. .

General competences: Students should be able: - to analyse and critically evaluate their own and others' proposals, - to document their own working process and reflect on it critically, - to account for the significance of vegetation for current challenges that society is facing, as i.g. climate change - to have insight into ethical issues relating to plant use and biodiversity.

  • The course makes use of different learning activities: lectures, project work in groups and individually, site inspections, plenary discussions, independent literature studies, practical exercises in design and visual communication, visual journal.
  • The students receive frequent guidance throughout the semester.
  • Knowledge of Norwegian plant communities equivalent to PHG113 and knowledge of garden plants equivalent to the curriculum in PHG213. Competence and ability towards planning, idea generative processes, design and visisuell presentation equivalent to the compendium in the first to years of studies in landscape architecture at NMBU.
  • Portfolio evaluation at the end of the semester. The portfolio includes: a design assignment (group work; visual-written presentation of the planting proposal and a model), the oral presentation of the assignment (adjusting), a visual documentation of the working process (individual) and a written reflection note. Grade: A-F.
  • The external examiner participates in evaluating the scheme for assessing the students' achievements. The examiner also takes part in the review of the last assignment in the plenary and in the evaluation of the submitted material.
  • Exercises in form and drawing in the block period, 2 exercises in planting design. All exercises need to be accepted. Project evaluations and some field trips.
  • In case of a retry, the course has to be taken in its entirety.

    Concerning group work: The course responsible might impose individual students in a group to hand in individually, if this seems necessary to be able to evaluate the student’s proficiency.

    Students have to pay in general the travel costs for site inspections/field trips in the region themselves.

  • Lectures: ca. 24 hours. Surveys and excursions: ca. 30 hours. Joint assignment/exercise evaluations: ca. 35 hours. Assignment work with supervision: ca. 5 hours. Design workshop: ca. 65 hours.
  • M-LA.
  • Letter grades
  • Minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway (generell studiekompetanse)