Landscape Architectural Drawings - Early Days As A Student

Landscape architecture is a creative profession which combines art, science, design and the environment in order to improve the quality of peoples' lives. A Landscape Architect has to explore landscapes and design in response to associated issues including natural processes, historical approaches, planning and urban design; and the human response to these environments.

 

Talking about the landscape architecture course, I remember during my college days, we used all the basic graphics techniques in our landscape designs. In 1990s, digital tools for design were still new, that was the beginning of the digital revolution in architecture.

The design process, basics of drafting, lettering, conceptual diagramming, perspective drawing, section elevations, isometric & orthographic projection and more.....you name it, were done manually in those years. I did my technical drawings manually too! To be honest, my position is a conservative one but is common in the profession, especially among the generations of architects trained before computers. And now, computers have replaced many manual tasks over the past 20 years in professional practice. Today architects typically use computer-aided design software with names like AutoCAD and SketchUp.....makes life easier. Thanks to technology !

 

However, with the proliferation of computers, the drawing skill set is rapidly disappearing. My experience is that most clients relate to and better understand hand drafting more clearly than CAD drawings especially during the preliminary design phase. I personally feel drawing by hand stimulates the imagination and allows us to speculate about ideas; they are part of the thought process of architectural design.

I took a few photos of the drawings of my final year project - and all of them were manually drafted!! (But... please bear with the photos quality- it's not that great and some of the drawings already faded slightly)

 

I chose Putrajaya as the site for my final year landscape architecture project. The site was formerly known as Prang Besar, that was once home to oil palm and rubber plantations. The development of Putrajaya began in mid-1990s.....and fortunately, I had the opportunity to see the development from scratch!

 

.....yupp! That's me in front of Mercu Tanda at Taman Putra Perdana. That was the first structure erected in Putrajaya to commemorate the ground breaking of the Putrajaya project in 1995.

Now here's my final year project..

 

Site  Feasibility Study and Analysis

Conceptual Study and Preliminary Design



Design Development and Detailed Drawings