LARCH 340 – Landscape Architecture: The Villa and the Garden

Formerly ARCH/AAH 430 – Special Topics: The Villa and the Garden

Description
The course explores how cultures, in different times and places, transformed the landscape for leisurely purposes, reflecting their relationship with Architecture and Nature. We focus on the dynamic relationship between historically relevant landscapes and multifaceted villa-and-garden systems in Ancient, Renaissance, and Modern Italy. Renaissance Tuscany shaped the early Formal Garden as an extension of the architecture of the villa. We study the appearance of the Landscape Garden as a philosophical response to the ‘rational’ geometrical garden of the Renaissance, as well as the rebirth of interest in the Formal Garden in the early twentieth century. Since villas hosted private collections of both ancient and avant-garde art (and their gardens displayed collections of botanical rarities) we explore how both the container and the content were a status symbol. Introductory lectures (based on PowerPoint presentations) will be followed by discussion and on-site visits to villas, gardens, and landscapes in Florence and Rome.

Objectives and Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students will be able to:

– look at the architecture and landscapes of villas, gardens, and palaces from a new perspective;
– provide a vocabulary (regarding form, style, function) so as to express what we see;
– investigate the function, context, and ideas behind the form of the landscapes and villa-and-garden complexes studied;
– explore what the landscapes and villa-and-garden complexes that we study can tell us about the society that created them.

Course descriptions may be subject to occasional minor modifications at the discretion of the instructor.

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