Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Landscape Architecture Design Research Studio 8

Credit Points: 24.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
ARCH1361	City Campus	Postgraduate	315H Architecture & Design	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2010, Sem 1 2011, Sem 2 2011, Sem 1 2012, Sem 2 2012, Sem 1 2013, Sem 2 2013
ARCH1361	City Campus	Postgraduate	320H Architecture & Urban Design	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2018, Sem 2 2018, Sem 1 2019, Sem 2 2019, Sem 1 2020, Sem 2 2020, Sem 1 2021, Sem 1 2022, Sem 2 2022, Sem 1 2023, Sem 2 2023, Sem 1 2024, Sem 1 2025

Course Coordinator: Alice Lewis

Course Coordinator Phone: Contact via email

Course Coordinator Email: alice.lewis@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 100.08.02

Course Coordinator Availability: Contact via email

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Required Prior Study

You must have satisfactorily completed Landscape Architecture Design Research Studio 7 before commencing this course.

Alternatively, you may be able to demonstrate the required skills and knowledge before you start this course. Contact your course coordinator if you think you may be eligible for recognition of prior learning.

Course Description

Design Studios operate as laboratories conducive to experimentation, investigation, and the exploration of design as an agent for understanding and responding to issues in the built environment of contemporary society. A diverse range of studios offered each semester celebrate and extend the multi-faceted capabilities of the Landscape Architecture Discipline to engage with these issues. Each studio is framed through a specific design approach and an inquiry into a specific field of design knowledge. The studios simultaneously support the development of an individual position and expertise.

Studios are led by academic practitioners drawn from a distinguished local and international field operating through a range of teaching and learning modes. Contemporary design projects and/or issues will provide the focus for these inquiries in order to develop scenario based design proposals.

This Design Research Studio incorporates a work integrated learning experience in which knowledge and skills will be applied and assessed in a real or simulated workplace context and where feedback from industry, community, and government bodies are integral to your experience. The intention is to develop an individual capacity to articulate and execute specific modes of design operation and therefore contribute to the discourse of Landscape Architectural practice and research.
 

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes

In this course you will develop the following program learning outcomes:

• Initiate, execute and situate substantial Landscape Architectural design research projects which demonstrate an engagement with urban and global complexities and an applied critical knowledge of the ecological, cultural, political, economic and ethical issues of Landscape Architecture
• Generate innovative outcomes for Landscape Architecture design projects at a range of scales through a mastery of practice which synthesizes creative, critical, analytical, reflective and theoretical thinking skills
• Effectively and fluently disseminate design research across disciplines to specialist and non-specialist audiences through a mastery of communication skills in a range of forms and media which shows a sophisticated understanding of the technical and theoretical frameworks of landscape architecture
• Express a high level of personal responsibility within independent design research projects combining an ability to employ a range of design processes for the generation and evaluation of design research projects
• Interrogate, question, engage and act in a broad range of social and cultural situations, and demonstrate effective teamwork and collaborative practices including an openness to others from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds
• Evidence the capacity to be an agent for change and innovation in the profession of Landscape Architecture in local and global contexts and in wider society as a whole 

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Generate design methods in relation to particular studio agendas
• Effectively integrate tools, techniques and design ideas in a design project
• Test, resolve and communicate design ideas through material, temporal, and spatial explorations.
• Display a mature reflective practice through a developed design outcome
• Clearly articulate and position a design project within the discourse of landscape architectural design, and an appropriate philosophical, theoretical, social, or historical framework.
• Work independently on design projects from initial stages through to final design outcome.

Additional specific objectives/learning outcomes/capability for individual studios will be outlined in each individual studio offered

Overview of Learning Activities

• Presentations will introduce you to key ideas and concepts in relation to your studio
• Guest speakers and lecturers (specific to each studio) drawn from practice and other related consultants (ie soil, horticulture etc)
• Project visits will allow an understanding of the formal, spatial outcomes of landscape architectural design practice
• Site visits will allow you to explore and investigate site characteristics and phenomena
• Site visits to examine exemplar projects from local practice.
• Workshops will allow you to work hands on to develop specific techniques

Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems.   There are services and resources available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student website.   Additional learning resources are available through the course Canvas page.

Overview of Assessment

You will be assessed on how well you meet the course’s learning outcomes and on your development against the program learning outcomes. 

The assessment for this course is design project-based and comprises of an exhibition, verbal presentation and design document. At those milestones, you will be given formal feedback by your supervisor and/or an external critic to guide the development of your work. You will also receive informal formative feedback and guidance on a weekly basis from your project supervisor. 

Assessment Tasks:

• Exhibition, Verbal Presentation and Design Research Document, 100% 

Assessment criteria are linked to all Course Learning Outcomes

The assessment for this course is design project-based and is inclusive of 3 parts: the presentation, exhibition, and design document showcasing your design research project undertaken across the semester, in response to the studio brief. A formal presentation and submission of your work in progress will also occur approximately midway through the teaching period. At this time, a review panel will provide you with verbal feedback, and your Studio Leader will provide written advice that detail how well you are progressing towards the final assessment. You will be informed at this stage if your progress does not meet expectations and you are in danger of failing this course.

Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks. 

If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more. 

Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies, procedures and instructions.