About this talk

Running time: 48 minutes

Contemporary landscape architecture.

The American-born Kathryn Gustafson went to art school in New York, then trained in fashion before turning to landscape architecture which she studied in Versailles, France, where she set up her own studio in 1979. At first her work was mainly in that country, but now it has spread to Britain and the USA.

In her recording she talks about contemporary landscape, what that means, the methods she tries to work towards, and what she feels is important to establish in contemporary landscape. She aims to restore garden textures into her work - not just visual textures - and creates working layers topped by layers of concept and idea, to convey meaning.

She starts with words and issues, followed by sketches and clay models. From that point, plaster positives are made, the moulds are digitalised and, from them, working drawings are made.

Learning from the past is important, but she does not try to recreate history. She concentrates on working on only built environments, leaving natural environments to the ecology specialists.

A number of her projects illustrate her personal very perceptive sensitive aesthetic.

Please note that a transcript of this talk is available - please contact us for further details.