In landscape-architectural design, studying the site is a crucial step. This book explores how to analyze preexisting layers, traces, and elements to create a new landscape composition. It offers an extensive typology of approaches to site work, showcasing over three hundred landscape designs from various times and places. The methods discussed include reduction, decomposition, fragmentation, montage, and collage, applicable to a wide range of topics from architectural details to gardens, cityscapes, and cultivated areas. Notable examples include New York’s Central Park, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italian gardens, and the Seine landscapes in Paris. An appendix with comprehensive indices, including landscape-architectural terms, enhances the book’s value as a practical design manual. Clemens Steenbergen, the author, is a professor at TU Delft and a highly experienced educator in landscape-architectural design.
