The Methodology Of Landscape Architecture Design

Landscape Architecture (LA) has become a first class discipline in parallel with Architecture and Urban Planning. But compared to the other two, the bas-ic theory of LA is relatively weak. The task of building the first class discipli-ne of LA is arduous. Methodology as the source power of a discipline is a b-asic theory of a discipline. As a discipline with very strong practicality, the th-eoretical research of LA can not do without design practice. Therefore, it’s a basic issue of LA that should be addressed to find a way to combine the desi-gn research and design practice.This article drawed on the research achievements of design methodology, a-ttempting to explore the methodology of LA design. The LA design methodol-ogy in this article is defined as:"It is a research way of no gap between desi-gn and research in which the science and humanities methods are used interdi-sciplenarily under the peculiar LA designer’s cognitive way and expertise." It i-s the exploration of applying the Research Through Design (RTD) in LA, refe-rred to as LA-RTD.Firstly, based on the summary of previous studies, this article put forward the problems that need to be solved on LA-RTD research. The problems are t-he theoretical basis of LA-RTD and the realization way of LA-RTD. The rese-arch on the theoretical basis of LA-RTD is to ask the question—Why is it ne-ed to conduct the LA-RTD? The research on the realization way of LA-RTD is to ask the question—How to integrate the design process and research proc-ess in order to inform the process of LA-RTD?Secondly, this article studied individually the LA design process and resear-ch process. The studies of the LA design process included three aspects—the construction of LA design problems, the generation of solutions and the evalu-ation of solutions. The LA design problems were divided into theoretical const-ruction (Starting from the hierarchy of human needs, the LA design problems were divided into five levels—eco-design problems, security design problems, f-unction design problems, aesthetic design problems and culture design problems) and practical construction. In the part of the practical construction, this article pointed out that the process of LA design is the process of co-evolution of pr-oblems and solutions, but also the process of the cycling up of designer’s und-erstanding on site. And this part explored the applying of the ethnography me- thod into LA design process, pointing out its possiple important role in the co-nstruction of design problems, in the proposal of solutions and in the evaluate-on of solutions. The studies of research process included three aspects—establi-shing the research subject, designing the research method, evaluating and publi-shing the research achievements. Before that, it is need to answer the question —what’s the design knowledge? Through comparing the science humanity and design, this article pointed out that design is a way to cognize the world in c-ommon with science and humanity and design knowledge is the cognition gai-ned through designing. Then according to the process of scientific research pr-ocess, this article put forward the research process of LA.Finally, according to the studies of LA design process and the research pr-ocess, combined with relevant philosophical theory, this article put forward the theoretical basis of LA-RTD and the realization way of LA-RTD. The theoreti-cal basis of LA-RTD included two aspects. The one is the essence of design kowledge—design knowledge is the cognition gained through designing. The o-ther one is the logic of design—abduction. Its characteristics of pragmaticism d-etermine that design knowledge come from the consistency of design process, design results and the actual effects after the project having been constructed, which determines that design research should be conducted through design. Th-ere are two premises of the realization way of LA-RTD. The one is the meth-od of describing the uncertain, vague design process with designer’s subjective judgment. The ethnography is perhaps an effective method. The other one is t-he criterion of evaluating the design knowledge. The criterion comes from the logic of design’s pragmaticism, i.e. the consistency of design process, design r-esults and the actual effects after the project having been constructed. There a-re two types of LA-RTD, referred to as LA-RTD-1 and LA-RTD-2. LA-RTD-1 is the design itself, in which the research problems are same as the design problems. In the LA-RTD-2, research problems are included in the design pro-blems. The process of LA-RTD-2 follows the basic process of scientific resear-ch, i.e. "proposing the problem—put forward the hypotheses—testing hypothes-es—conclusion". But the hypotheses must be tested through design. The proce-ss of LA-RTD-2 includes the process of LA-RTD-1.