I hope that all who have discovered this unpacking of storytelling, storyboard approach to landscape, architectural, and interior design are enjoying it.
When we consider landscapes (or architecture or interiors) as texts, designers as authors of those texts, and the end-users as the readers of those texts, good storytelling becomes good design. A summary of that journey, how it got started, and how it concluded (for now) will be presented here in five parts.
Part One looks at my introduction to landscape design and the first question I asked of my first studio professor, “What’s the formula?” Part Two develops a three-tiered analogy, referred to as The Analogy and used as a learning tool. The Analogy provides a comfortable, fun way to learn about landscape architecture based upon how we learned to read, write, and tell stories. With the idea that good design is good storytelling, Part Three, introduces landscape as more than text. Landscapes (buildings and interiors) are narratives. Illuminated here is the idea that landscape narratives are authored by designers and, once built, read by those who experience them. Actually, this idea does apply to vernacular, everyday environments also. With the help of Betty Edwards (1999), John Simonds (1961), and John Conron (1974), our design process rests solidly on the fact that “People Come First.” That realization is an outgrowth of John Simonds’ epiphany that we design “…not places, spaces, or things [but] experiences (my italics). The places, spaces, and things take their form from the planned experience” (1961, 225). In this approach, the reasons why people come to and participate in your design, or stated differently, their anticipated experiences, lead the design process. The benefits derived from geometric and basic design languages and related skills are moved to the end of the process where they are most beneficial.
NOTE: bibliographic Citations are introduced as needed throughout the Landscape as Storytelling instalments. Some will be occasionally repeated so as to save you time searching previous posts:
Conron, J. 1974. The American Landscape: A Critical Anthology of Prose and Poetry. New York: Oxford University.
Edwards, B. 1999. The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence. New York: Distributed by St. Martin’s Press.
Simonds, J. O. 1961. Landscape Architecture: A Manual of Site Planning and Design. New York: McGraw-Hill.