MLA+U

LA525 is the first in a sequence of representation courses in the IIT MLA program that aims to provide a foundational understanding of the visual vocabulary of landscape architecture. At the core of this course is an express intent to collapse the boundaries between “landscape”/“architecture”/“art” as singular entities and instead develop an understanding that the art and science of visual representation and observation across the design disciplines have shared identities, grounded in the fundamentals of representing objects, space, time and process. To that end, we will explore, test and analyze methods that shape this body of knowledge. Specifically, we will develop a capacity to see, organize data, analyze information, draw space, represent change, and model futures. Students will also build a visual vocabulary with an emphasis on narrative development.

LA526 is the second in a sequence of media courses in the IIT MLA program, expanding on the core methods and visual vocabulary of landscape architecture established in Media I. Urban landscapes are dynamic agents of change at the intersection of infrastructure and the built environment, biological processes and human use. Representational clarity of these landscapes spans somewhere between the physical description of site and unseen ephemeral processes. At its core, this course seeks to develop a critical capacity to see, analyze information, represent change and model futures. Students will generate diagrams, maps, models, sections and perspectives to document spaces through the lens of built landscape design precedents.