The boundaries of the discipline of landscape architecture are a rich space for research experimentation, innovation and change. It is out of this space that Landskip Lab was formed in 2014. Combining academic and professional research, the practice emphasizes site exploration over design. Through the development of extra-visual sensing, surveying and analysis methods borrowed from the adjacent science disciplines, the “permanent laboratory” now works closely with community, local government, industry and academic institutions to develop highly specific landscape analysis outcomes.
Within its collection of research projects, two fundamental principles of adaptation and accessibility have significantly influenced its approach to landscape architectural practice, research and knowledge transfer.
Adaptation and efficiency
In the landscape architecture office and the field, a broad and constantly evolving series ofentirely new areas of application and expertise. Efficiency, automation and ease of use are often the key drivers of innovation, tool development and design workflows, yet they can result in modes of working that increase the distance between the user, the tool and the local landscape conditions. Many advancements achieve efficiency by inserting additional layers of automation between the designer and the tool, whether through the drafting implement, the camera, the surveyor measuring point or the use of a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), LIDAR (light detection and ranging) scanner, GIS or BIM. Recent advances, such as neural fields and Gaussian Splatting overlay these fundamental approaches and augment rather than replace them.
