ABSTRACT

Parametric Design for Landscape Architects provides a sequence of tutorial-based workflows for the creation and utilization of algorithmic tools calibrated toward the field of landscape architecture. Contemporary practice and projective theory in landscape architecture require the processing and design of data associated with complex systems to adequately represent composite, emergent scenarios.

Aligning to both traditional and nascent processes of analysis and digital modeling, this book unpacks and decodes the characterization of algorithmic-based automation, leveraging software that is widely accessible in both academia and professional practice. Curated throughout are workflows that apply to a multiplex of computation programs that widely support the design, analysis, and production of landscapes, primarily concentrated on digital modeling tools Grasshopper and Rhinoceros. It is a much-needed, visually accessible resource to aid in more efficient understanding and creation of tools that automate and re-examine traditional calculations, analyses, drawing standards, form-finding strategies, fabrication preparations, and speculative assessments/simulation.

This primer provides professionals and students with multifaceted skill-sets that, when applied in practice, expand and expedite conventional and speculative design workflows applicable to spatial design, and more specifically landscape architecture. The book includes over 200 full-colour drawings, images, and tables to illustrate and support examples throughout.

chapter Chapter 01|23 pages

Transformations, Translations, and Vectors

Leveraging geometric data

chapter Chapter 02|45 pages

Landform Creation

Base modeling, site design, field conditions

chapter Chapter 03|25 pages

Landform Analytics and Calculations

Automation of site dynamics

chapter Chapter 04|22 pages

Construction Documentation

Mechanization of standards

chapter Chapter 05|19 pages

Digital Fabrication

Facilitation and file preparation

chapter Chapter 06|19 pages

Urban Morphology and Analysis

chapter Chapter 08|13 pages

Cellular Models, Agent-Based Behaviors, and Simulation

Speculation

chapter Chapter 09|13 pages

Case Studies

Deconstructing the use of computational tools in professional landscape architecture projects