EngagingInvoluntary Attention

through Planting Designof American Botanic Gardens

Caleb MelchiorCandidate for Master of Landscape Architecture

Landscape Affordances NetworkMajor Professor Mary Catherine Kingery-Page

Department of Landscape ArchitectureCollege of Architecture, Planning, and Design

Kansas State University

THE ALCHEMIST’S GARDEN, PERUGIA, ITALY

TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA

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INVOLUNTARYnondirected miltisensual awareness, offering a wide range of possibilities for responsive action(Berman, Jones, Kaplan 2008, 1207; Kaplan & Kaplan 1995)

DIRECTEDcognitive awareness, usually offering a limited range of posibilities for responsive action (Berman, Jones, Kaplan 2008, 1207; Kaplan & Kaplan 1995)

TYPES OF ATTENTION

Today, we lack rich,

embodied knowledge of the world around us (Pallasmaa 2011).Urban forester Gustavvsson describes our situation as a

“culture of headlines instead of an honest belonging to knowledge” (Gustavsson 2005).In order to understand how to physically design to cultivate deep understanding,it is essential to understand how physical environments capture attention.

centers of knowledgemediating relationships between humans and plants (Monem & Craig 2007, Hohn 2008, Rakow & Lee 2011). Their functions include

acquiring preserving researching interpreting collections of living plants in designated places (Hohn 2008). These places provide

experiences that:

BOTANIC GARDENS

PROVIDE PLEASUREIMPART KNOWLEDGE

CONDITIONAL BETRAYAL BOTANIC GARDENS HAVE ATTEMPTED TO IMPART KNOWLEDGE BY CAPTURING DIRECTED ATTENTION

SUCH ATTEMPTS FAIL WITHOUT ENGAGING INVOLUNTARY ATTENTION

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RESEARCH QUESTION

How can the planting design of a botanic garden instigate involuntary attention, creating conditions for affective experiences?

FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT

APPLICATION TO DESIGN

PRECEDENT STUDY

LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPMAN BOTANICAL

GARDENAPALACHICOLA, FL

THE MEADOW KANSAS STATE

UNIVERSITYMANHATTAN, KS

METHODS FOR UNDERSTANDING

EXTENT BEING AWAY FASCINATION COMPATIBILITY

INFORMED BY LITERATURE REVIEW

PRECEDENT STUDIES

INFORMED BY PRECEDENT

STUDY

By focusing on the lowest common denominators of landscape experience, the study hopes to achieve a resulting framework that allows for wide applicability to gardens that will realize a wide variety of concepts and appeal to a wide variety of audiences.

DEFINE CONDITIONS THROUGH LITERATURE REVIEW

EXTENT BEING AWAY FASCINATION COMPATIBILITY

CHARLES JENCKS: Garden of Cosmic Speculation

GILLES CLEMENT: Serial Gardens, Parc Andre Citroen

PIET OUDOLF: Lurie Garden, Millennium Park

OEHME VAN SWEDEN: Native Plant Garden, New York Botanical GardenHITCHMOUGH, DUNNETT & PRICE: London Olympic Park PlantingsDARRELL MORRISON: Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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Contemporary planting design fights for attention in a technologically-saturated society.Planting design’s value has often been minimized,causing current practitioners toseek new waysto capture the visitor’s attention.

EXTRACTING PHYSICAL DESIGN STRATEGIES

ADAPTED FROM NOEL KINGSBURY’S MODEL OF CONTEMPORARY NATURALISTIC PLANTING DESIGN OVERVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY NATURALISTIC PLANTING

PIET OUDOLFLurie GardenMillennium ParkChicago, Illinois

GILLES CLEMENTSerial GardensParc Andre CitroenParis, France

CHARLES JENCKSGarden of Cosmic CirculationDumfries, Scotland

FORMALISM MASS PLANTING INFORMAL PLANTING

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ADAPTED FROM NOEL KINGSBURY’S MODEL OF CONTEMPORARY NATURALISTIC PLANTING DESIGN OVERVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY NATURALISTIC PLANTING

DARRELL MORRISONNative Flora GardenBrooklyn Botannic GardenBrooklyn, New York

HITCHMOUGH, DUNNET & PRICE2012 London Olymic Park PlantingsLondon, England

OEHME VAN SWEDENNative Plant GardenNew York Botanical GardenNew York City, New York

STYLIZED NATURE BIOTOPE PLANTING HABITAT RESTORATION

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Critical drawing offers the possibility of getting to know the proposed design at both a cognitive and kinesthetic level (Dutoit 2008, Treib 2008, Dee 2012).

Critical drawings for each project will consist of a plan and three sections.

CRITICAL DRAWING TO UNDERSTAND & EXTRACT

Critical Drawingcolored pencil drawing based on planting plan by Piet Oudolf published in Piet Oudolf: Landscapes in Landscapes.Oudolf and Kingsbury 2011.

Planting Plan: Nantucket Section X.06published in Piet Oudolf: Landscapes in Landscapes.Oudolf and Kingsbury 2011.

EXTENT BEING AWAY FASCINATION COMPATIBILITY

CHARLES JENCKS: Garden of Cosmic Speculation

GILLES CLEMENT: Serial Gardens, Parc Andre Citroen

PIET OUDOLF: Lurie Garden, Millennium Park

OEHME VAN SWEDEN: Native Plant Garden, New York Botanical GardenHITCHMOUGH, DUNNETT & PRICE: London Olympic Park PlantingsDARRELL MORRISON: Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

INFO

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INFORMED BY PRECEDENT

STUDY

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:

•INFORMING NEW PLANTING DESIGN

•OFFERING INCREMENTAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

•EVALUATION OF EXISTING SITES

FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN

REDESIGN: CHAPMAN BOTANICAL GARDEN

APALACHICOLA, FLORIDAChapman Botanical Garden is intended to memorialize a Florida botanist, Dr Alvin Wentworth Chapman (Cox 2010). Today, however, the site (approximately 10 acres) is barely a fitting tribute. It fails to support pleasurable human experience. The process for inquiry through design of Chapman Botanical Garden will involve contextual and site research, compilation of base maps, programming, and planting design development.

SITUATING CHAPMAN BOTANICAL GARDEN

Western Florida is home to many National Forests and other sensitive natural habitats, many of these strictly limit public access. Chapman Botanical Garden offers the potential to trigger mindful human involvement with landscape in an area that has deep ecological and social needs. Chapman Botanical Garden could be a highly utilized resource for both residents of the Apalachicola region and tourists who come to enjoy the beauty of the west Florida coast.

THE MEADOW

EVALUATING EXISTING PLANTING & INFORMING INCREMENTAL DESIGN• PARTICIPATE IN ADDITIONAL PLANT SELECTION AND PLANT PLACEMENT

• CREATE GRAPHICS FOR A TOUCHTABLE INSIDE BEACH MUSEUM TO AUGMENT MUSEUM EXPERIENCE

• CREATE INTERPRETIVE SIGNAGE TO AUGMENT INVOLUNTARY ATTENTION WITH DIRECTED ATTENTION

How can the planting design of a botanic garden instigate involuntary attention, creating conditions for affective experiences?

PRECEDENT STUDIES

FRAMEWORKDEVELOPMENT

LITERATUREREVIEW

DESIGN APPLICATION

LANDSCAPE AFFORDANCES NETWORK MAJOR PROFESSOR MARY-CATHERINE KINGERY-PAGE

JAMES HITCHMOUGH, UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD

for more about Calebwww.calebmelchior.weebly.com

emailcalebm@ksu.edu

mail409 PCR 316Perryville, MO 63775

instagram@onlythehellebored

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unless attributed otherwise,all images are by author

THANKS!

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