HKU-Landscape-Annual-2013-14

MLA
ARCH7040
Special Topics in
Landscape Architecture
Instructors:
Matthew Pryor
Special Topics in
Landscape Architecture
Much of what is built in the modern world is visually
unattractive, and disguising objects is a key (if somewhat
under-rated) skill that landscape architects, architects,
and urban designers need to make objects visually more
acceptable in their setting. Yet what makes an element
attractive (or not) derives from the complex inter-relationship
between the viewer, the object, and the environmental
context.
This new research seminar course looked at concepts
of visual preference (in the environment), the different
values and qualities we give to the environment around us
(psychophysical, cognitive, experiential, phenomenological
etc.), the underlying environmental psychology that has
been used to explain them, and the different strategies and
techniques that designers can employ to mitigate visual
impacts and to change views.
1
Changing Perceptions
The class studied the HK Landscape Value Mapping Study
and EIA project case studies for a number of high profile
developments in Hong Kong to investigate the range of issues
relating to the siting of objects in the landscape and different
strategies and techniques that had been tried to mitigate
the visual impact. Students then undertook their own siting
project based on the scenario of introducing a 180m high
chimney and new waste incinerator somewhere within the
wider Tolo Harbour catchment area, with the least visual
disturbance. Students mapped ZVIs and visually sensitive
receivers, and developing landscape and architectural options
for mitigating the visual inevitable impact.
1
River
Liu HE
2 — 3
Students on a field trip
to the Tolo Harbour
catchment area
62 63
2
3