Sensing Beauty?!

How can landscape architects design sustainable and beautiful landscapes in the Anthropocene and what role do theories of interconnectivity play in their design process? Taking these questions as a starting point, we want to use the design lab "Sensing Beauty ?! Beyond Mapping in Breitenlee" we will explore creative methods of capturing and analysing urban landscapes. At the end, the results of this multidimensional site analysis will be presented in an exhibition designed by the students themselves.

The aim of the design lab is to analyse theories of interconnectivity and their potential for the design of urban landscapes in the Anthropocene. To this end, students will study Hartmut Rosa's resonance theory and urban commons as well as practices of cocreation and cohabitation and derive qualities and criteria for a landscape design practice based on interconnectivity and relationalism. Building on this, the students use the former marshalling yard in Vienna-Breitenlee to investigate which topics, actors and contexts need to be considered for this and develop suitable methods for observing them and analysing and documenting the results of their observations. Creative and artistic approaches and methods of visualisation are expressly encouraged.

The students present the results of their observations of a specific situation in the study area over the course of 6 weeks. All presentation methods from live performance to music composition, videos, photos or cartographic representations are possible and welcome.