LA Talks is a quarterly event to discuss research within the section of Landscape Architecture.
The first edition of LA Talks ‘Modelling the Terrain’ took place in the model hall standing around a sandbox, which invited the participants to engage physically in the discussion. Dr. Janneke van Bergen, Landscape approach for natural adaptation: Shorescapes and Dr. Ilmar Hurkxkens, Digital Fabrication in Landscape Architecture: Designing the unfinished, presented their work.
Dr. Inge Bobbink and Dr. Rene van der Velde guided the discussion and posed questions and statements for all to react. Where Janneke showed how the dynamics of nature can help shape the landscape, Ilmar introduced the possibility of a computer program that can respond to site changes over time. At the end of what seems to be very different approaches towards creating new topographies, the group discovered cooperation opportunities. Moreover, we concluded that at the end of the day, landscape architectural knowledge is still needed even if we use advanced digital, automatic techniques. Instead of delivering a design, the landscape architect participates in the transformation process, a plea for long-term involvement in assignments.
