Materializing Design | Sketch Landscape Modeling

The Materials Lab continued the ‘Materializing Design’ series with an in-person demonstration from Maggie Hansen. Maggie Hansen is an assistant professor at the School of Architecture and a landscape designer whose work investigates how ‘care taking’ (of space, of shared histories, of caretakers) serves to maintain and build community. Her work draws on training in architecture, landscape architecture, theater, and contemporary art.

Maggie’s demonstration focused on crafting simple ‘thinking’ models that represent formal landscape relationships. Stepping back from AutoCAD and the computer, the aim of this workshop was to create ‘sketch’ models out of cheap materials with high quality craft to quickly make notes in section. These models investigated how landforms and vegetation conditions create spaces and form edges. The models utilized unique innovations to test different materials to see what is possible. Using salt, vinegar, and ammonia, Maggie demonstrated a method of pretreating mesh to patina metal and represent different vegetation conditions. These simple notations for different kinds of vegetation and terrain provided a fast way to think through the design of spatial edges in landscape architecture and how vegetation and terrain contribute to varying degrees of enclosure and distinct experiences. The session concluded with participants combining their simple ‘sketch’ models and using them as building blocks to form an imaginary yet cohesive landscape.