- ECLAS 2024 Regenerative Landscapes, September 7-10, 2024 - https://conference.eclas.org -

Workshops

During the conference, five workshops will be offered and run in the parallel sessions on 16 and 17 September. The number of participants for each of the workshops is limited and is on a first-come first-serve basis booking. In order to secure your place please book by emailing the contact person(s) directly.  If any of the workshops are not fully booked on the day, you might be able to join a workshop then.

If you have other roles at the conference (such as session chairs, paper presenters etc.), please check the programme [1] carefully to avoid any time conflicts before registering for the workshop(s). Location of rooms TBA.

 

Stonesensing: Evoking meaning with stones (90 minutes)

Block 2G. 13:30-15:00, Monday 16 September.

Organiser:
Ram Eisenberg
Israel Institute of Technology

“…Choose a particularly splendid stone and set it as the Main Stone. Then, following the request of the first stone, set others accordingly” (Sakuteiki, Ch. IX. Setting stones).

According to the cutting-edge concept of situatedness and extended mind theory, consciousness is much more than an abstract or individually embodied phenomenon. Situated thinking implies that our minds think differently in and with different places. In this workshop we will introduce a method of felt-sensing situated meaning via Stonesensing, a focusing game inspired by Karesensui, the art of the Japanese stone garden.

Written documentation of the art of evoking meaning with stones is found in what is perhaps the oldest text on landscape Architecture: The Sakuteiki, written by Tachibana no Toshitsuna at the height of the Heian era in Japan (1028–1094). The book was originally called Senzai Hishō – Secret talks of gardening. Unlike western thinking, A Secret in the Buddhist tradition is not something hidden, but rather something which requires a “key” to be understood. I propose that this “Key”, corresponds to the “Felt-sense” or “direct referent” in Gendlin’s philosophy: a bodily sense of implied meaning in situations, which is beyond language and concepts.

The stonesensing game is based on Tachibana’s instruction to “follow the request of the first stone”. It requires developing a certain sense, that enables one to pay attention to a “wanting” in the world. Playing the game heightens one’s sense of the “meaning in the relationships of things-in-the-world”, as the “feel” of the situation carries meanings which are beyond words and concepts.

To register please contact: Ram Eisenberg ram.eisenberg@gmail.com [2]


New practices of collaboration: Exploring landscape architectural teaching, learning and practice contexts (180 minutes)

Part 1: Block 2H. 13:30-15:00, Monday 16 September
Part 2: Block 3H. 15:30-17:00, Monday 16 September

Organisers:
Lisa Mackenzie, Elinor Scarth, Anaïs Chanon
Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of Edinburgh

Frits van Loon
Technical University of Delft, Netherlands

This workshop will question what it means to undertake meaningful collaborative practice in Landscape Architectural education today.

The workshop will identify key theory in this field and surface critical questions during a 40 minute introductory session. The workshop will split into two internal break-out sessions for an hour, led by different academics presenting different approaches in their work.  The workshop will conclude with a 50 minute chaired but open discursive forum to feedback conclusions from the internal sessions and open discussion to the floor.

In the break-out sessions the following topics will be addressed:

  1. Making with: how can design education embrace participatory practice and co-design within the landscape architecture studio project?

For over a decade, concern and action related to the meaningful integration of inhabitant participation in landscape architectural projects has come to the fore of landscape architectural discourse.  Although methodologies for integrating the views and needs of inhabitants in landscape architectural design is evident in both scholarship and practice this break-out workshop will address a perceived gap in discussion around how this problem context is integrated within the curricula of landscape architectural schools.  This workshop will be led by, Elinor Scarth and Anais Chanon from The Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at The University of Edinburgh.

  1. Teamwork in landscape architecture design education (master level)

Group work is often applied in Landscape architecture design studios to make, for instance, analysis work more efficient.  The students are condemned to each other and often feel that they need to survive this phase of the studio. After graduating they often have to work in teams, sometimes multidisciplinary, sometimes within their own discipline. To prepare them for this, we are developing a game in which we create a safe environment in so the students can be constructively unique. This way they can contribute, to the best of their abilities to the Team. The workshop, led by Frits van Loon will demonstrate this game that shows why unique perspectives are necessary and why everybody should be heard.

Both workshops will unite around the common ground theme by discussing the meaningful involvement of diverse views in the conception of projects:  Involving colleagues, involving communities, involving clients. This means helping people to feel safe, helping people to feel free to speak and importantly to make mistakes. It also involves, landscape architects, as both facilitators and designers, listening very carefully during the processes of facilitation to what is said and significantly not said.

If you would like to contribute your views and listen to the views of others, please join us!

To register please contact: new.practices.collaboration@gmail.com [3]


Learning to read the landscape: a methodological framework (90 minutes)

Block 3G. 15:30-17:00, Monday 16 September

Organisers:
Benedetta Castiglioni, Margherita Cisani
University of Padova, Italy

The ability to read the landscape – and to act accordingly – comprises a real involvement of the individuals and contributes to the achievement of a mature citizenship. It is a process involving not just the knowledge of landscape characters, but it focuses more broadly on the acquisition of ‘a way to look’ at the landscape in its dynamic and complex nature and to act responsibly on it.

This workshop aims at presenting, testing and discussing a methodological framework for landscape education, which is based on the concepts of landscape reading and landscape literacy. It is organised in four different paths which question the landscape in its multifaceted nature, from four different perspectives and dimensions: the material and objective dimension; the immaterial and subjective dimension; the causal relationships; the transformations. Learning to identify these dimensions in any given landscape seems a very relevant objective for educational processes, as it can lead to a complex and insightful reading of the landscape.

After an introduction of the methodological framework, the participants will directly experiment this approach during a short walk in the areas surrounding the conference venue, as an attempt to read a local landscape. Then, the workshop will proceed with a debriefing phase, with a world-café method which will animate the discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of this framework, as well as on its adaptability in different contexts, such as higher education, school education or citizens’ awareness projects.

We expect the participation of scholars engaged with/interested in pedagogical and didactic issues but also practitioners as well as teachers and educators at all levels. We kindly invite anyone who is interested in discovering and experimenting some tools for landscape education, discussing the methodological framework and sharing their own experiences in relation to it.

To register please contact: Benedetta Castiglioni etta.castiglioni@unipd.it [4] ; Margherita Cisani margherita.cisani@unipd.it [5]


An asset to education: Introducing archives of landscape architecture in academic education (90 minutes)

Block 4H. 10:30-12:00, Tuesday 17 September

Organisers:
Ulrike Krippner, Lilli Lička
Archiv österreichischer Landschaftsarchitektur (LArchiv), University of Natural resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria

Annegreth Dietze-Schirdewahn
Historical Archive of Norwegian Landscape Architecture (ANLA), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway

Hansjörg Gadient, Sophie von Schwerin, Simon Orga
Archiv für Schweizer Landschaftsarchitektur (ASLA), University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil, Switzerland

Archives for landscape architecture do not only store the discipline’s history, but also provide an exciting basis for the future. Historical material is an innovative tool for landscape architecture education, which reaches far beyond its relevance for historical studies. Documents lively tell us about styles and innovations in design, plant-use and drawing. They can also trigger creative design processes or serve as a source for learning analogue as well as digital drawing techniques. Exploring historical material fosters a sound reflection of scholarly and professional practice.

Within this workshop we will exchange experiences in introducing archival material in landscape architecture programs and generate new creative teaching methods to inspire undergraduates and master students. Through intensive exchange and discussion, we will develop new ideas of how to effectively link the profession’s history with the education of future generations of landscape architects.

The workshop will be finalized by launching the first European Network of Landscape Architecture Archives. This productive network shall support our efforts to connect historical material to future design processes.

To register please contact: Sophie von Schwerin svonschw@hsr.ch [6]


The power of imagined landscapes
—Workshop on the meaning, role and power of unsolicited and unexecuted research and design projects (90 minutes)

Block 5G. 14:00-15:30, Tuesday 17 September

Organisers:
Aurelie De Smet
Erasmus University College Brussels

Bruno Notteboom
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Academic design studios often offer platforms for out-of-the-box thinking on current (socio) spatial challenges. Unfortunately, the sometimes very innovative proposals produced in these ‘laboratories’ or ‘free zones’, may remain stored in drawers or on bookshelves. Also, when responding to research calls, research teams work out elaborated and well thought-through project proposals, aiming at answering and even formulating questions that can be very relevant to the field. If these proposals are not honoured, the envisaged questions can remain unaddressed. And even if they are carried out, it is not always evident that their results are applied to education and practice.

We ask:

What is the status of the ‘alternative realities’ that take shape in the imagined landscapes and paper projects created in an academic context? What are their strengths and weaknesses and how can they find their way out of the institution and into the real world?

The aim of this workshop is for the participants to learn from each other’s approaches. The workshop will therefore be organised in the form of a group discussion and working session. Attendants are asked to bring a case to the table, in which they took part themselves, and which, in their eyes, is either a ‘good practice’ or represents a ‘problem’ in the context of the issue at hand. The participants will be provided with a number of preparatory questions to reflect on, in relation to their case. The participants are not asked to bring any materials or to prepare a presentation.

To register please contact: Aurelie De Smet aurelie.de.smet@ehb.be [7]