Philosophy of Landscape Construction

Bruce K. Ferguson is a landscape architect whose research, teaching, and practice have focused on the environmental and technical dimensions of urban design for four decades. He was formerly Franklin Professor and Director of the School of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia. He earned the AB degree at Dartmouth College and the MLA degree at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a Past President of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, and a recipient of the Council’s Outstanding Educator Award, North America’s highest award for career contributions to landscape architectural education.

"Bruce K. Ferguson’s A Philosophy of Landscape Construction, coupl[es] technical considerations and details—decisions about materials, assemblies, sizes, etc.—with their real-world effects, the interactions they afford,and the values that underpin them. Ferguson convincingly argues that construction design does not merely translate or implement the concepts, commitments, or intents identified during previous design phases, but ratherextends and refocuses the design process itself, unlocking new horizons of action and possibility."Simone Ferracina, review in Landscape ResearchAdding to Bruce K. Ferguson’s array of publications in refereed periodicals and books is A Philosophy of Land>scape Construction, a qualitative “essay in the ways built landscapes interact with values” that will supplement university landscape architecture, architecture, and urban design students’ technical textbooks and references, helping to advance young professionals’ technical training.Rob Kuper, review in Landscape Journal, Volume 41.

• Preface; Why Now; What this Book Is Based On; How to Use this Book in Learning Landscape Construction; What this Book Is; Notes; Chapter 1. Introduction: The Call of Values; Built Landscapes and Landscape Construction; Values Waiting Within; The Yearning for Values in Construction Design; Your Aspiration and Your Development; Notes; Chapter 2. Between Structure and Vision; Pavement; Wall; Span; Structures in Interaction with Values; Notes; Chapter 3. Building toward People; Floors for Moving; Seats for Staying; Social orientation; Bodily comfort; Covers for Sheltering; The Importance of Durability; People in Built Landscapes; Notes; Chapter 4. Building toward Living Things; Living Soil; Spanning Structures; Inert Subgrade Soil; Permeable Structures; Rootable Structures; What is at stake; Structural soil; Return to spanning structures; Living Things around Structures; Living Things in Built Landscapes; Notes; Chapter 5. Building toward Meaning; Compositional Articulation; Functional Articulation; Cultural Articulation; Ecological Articulation; Meaning in Built Landscapes; Notes; Chapter 6. Building toward Thrift; Material Resources; Newly made materials; Previously made structures and materials; Financial Resources; Investment with exclusively financial values; Investment with multiple values; The Importance of Complete Investigation; Thrift in Built Landscapes; Notes; Chapter 7. The Open Way; A Drainage Outlet; Native in Material and Ecology; Evolution of Structures with Realization of Uses and Values; Pursuit of Values in the Act of Design; Notes; Chapter 8. Between Stone and Sky; Core Values; Specific Types of Values; Value Interactions and Priorities; Why Pause Now; Ideals: The Sky in the Stone; Notes