- Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

OS03: Architecture, Urban Planning and Design
INNOVATION IN TEACHING URBAN LANDSCAPE DESIGN
STUDIO
Sumaiyah binti Othman¹, Zainul Hakim Mohd Zain², Hisyam Rasidi³ and Muhammad Farid
Azizul
Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
reasonable technical information as a basis in the
1. ABSTRACT
rd
The urban landscape design studio is for 3
solution of urban landscape design.
year
students at Department of Landscape Architecture,
2. INTRODUCTION - PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi
The course SBL 3066, Urban Landscape Design
Malaysia is to introduce students the important
Studio is introduced to third year students in the fifth
aspect of landscape architecture that involves the
semester of the landscape architecture programme.
role of the profession in the organizations and
This studio carried six-credit hours and this course
design of outdoor spaces within the urban context
is designed to introduce students the important
which form the basis of the success of a good city
process of problem solving that relates to man and
planning and design. The aim of this paper is to
his built environment. This process deals with the
describe the innovative of teaching method as an
functions of urban spaces, their relationship and
added knowledge in the urban landscape design
visual impact in relation to the urban context, be it
studio. The method comprises such lecture inputs,
private or public spaces, indoor or outdoor. The
literature review, graphic exercises and also digital
urban landscape should be recognized as a platform
management data analysis by using Geographic
for the people as the actors or audience. This studio
Information Systems (GIS) and Sketchup to analyze
also will prepared and required the students to be
spatial urban design information. Results shows
creative and intuitive approach together with design
urban landscape design rationales were applied into
principles and technical knowledge to be formulated
the design development to produce a sustainable
into guidelines in the creation of urban spaces
scheme through creative and intuitive thinking ideas
suitable for places such as live, work and play.
with
application
and
scientific
principles
and
Therefore, urban landscape design studio involves
aspects such as the economics, social and cultural
factors of the people creating a conducive and safe
At the end of the exercise, the students will
environment. The subject been conducted based on
understand urban landscape languages and their
project
group
relationship in the urban context and will be able to
assignments and projects. The introduction such
apply these languages in the designing and
lecture inputs, literature review and graphic exercise
presentation of the urban landscape design.
basis,
involving
individual
and
were given and expected in every project given.
3. TEACHING METHODS
There are two main teaching methods: lecturing and
case study or field trip visit. Students need to
participate in this programme from beginning of the
individual assignment till major design project in
group and last detail area in individually.
3.1 Project 1: Study on Townscape and Urban
Languages
Figure 1a: Examples of students understanding and
In Project 1, it was an outdoor learning experience
definition of the urban languages: urban pattern.
regarding the study on townscape and urban
language, students are given one urban vocabulary
individually and they need to explain the meaning
and give examples through the urban trail around
Johor Bahru downtown, Malaysia and Singapore as
their case study. This exercise is to test their
understanding of the terms and observation skills of
urban spaces. Students were arranged within
program to take advantage of the trip to have firsthand
experience
of
the
urban
spaces
and
Figure 1b: Examples of students sketches of the
terminologies and vocabulary. According to Ian
urban languages: urban pattern.
Nairn, the first stage towards doing something is to
know what is wrong. In this exercise, the students
are tested on their individual understanding of urban
landscape languages and their relationship in the
3.2 Project 2: Urban Design Concept and its
Manifestation
urban context. They are also required to do
Referred to Lewis Mumford, survey on actual
freehand sketches of the interesting urban spaces
resources
is
a good
starts
in planning the
and activities as part of their record.
landscape, the people, and the work-a-day activities
in a community. Good planning does not begin with
an abstract and arbitrary scheme that seeks to
impose on community; it begins with knowledge of
existing conditions and opportunities.
Project 2 is about urban design concept and its
manifestation and the site study is in Melaka. This
assignment is made up of two parts. The first part is
basically to study, understand and appreciate the
established
design
concept
for
urban
design
namely; Garden city, eco-city, heritage city, creative
Figure 2a: Detail plan of Eco-City concept.
city, transit oriented development city (T.O.D), safe
city, Islamic city, urban village and science city
concept. Students divided in groups and required
having a literature review studies regarding 9
different concepts that can be applied in planning
and designing landscape in urban area. On the
second part of the assignment, they are tested on
creativity and the sensitivity in problem solving by
taking consideration of the existing site condition
that they have chosen in relationship with the
concept they have studied. They have to come out
Figure 2b: Illustration of Eco-City concept.
with a master plan of the proposed landscape
design of their area.
Students will be aware of the aspects of the
3.3 Project 3: Urban Landscape Design of
Segamat Town and Kota Tinggi Town, Johor.
urban landscape and the relationships in the
organization and design of urban open spaces.
They will also understand the design principles and
the application related to urban landscape design.
Lastly project 3 was an urban landscape design for
a selected precinct of Majlis Daerah Segamat and
Majlis Daerah Kota Tinggi, Johor. The stages of
design began with getting the secondary data from
the Local Plan Report (RTD) and prepared the base
plan using Google map and CAD software. Here the
students are given lecture input by the local
authorities officer regarding the current and future
planning of that particular town. Students also
required to do site survey to have physical
connection and understanding of the site and do
data correction regarding their secondary data.
technologies use digital information where data
Later on, the students continued doing the analysis
creation is digitization, students used their hard copy
and synthesis using GIS and sketchup tools before
map or survey plan, Google map and inventory data
they enter the conceptual development, master plan
are transferred into a digital medium through the use
planning and detailed area.
of a computer-aided design (CAD) program, and
geo-referencing capabilities. The layering system
helped students to organized their inventory data
that they have gathered earlier and been presented
in a systematic information which easily been
analyzed after that. GIS applications are very useful
tools that allow the students to create interactive
queries and displayed geographic information for
informing decision making. Students can analyze
spatial information, edit data, maps, and present the
results of all these operations.
Figure 3a: Example of conceptual and design
rationale board.
Figure 4: Example of landuse plan.
Figure 3a: One of detail design plan of Segamat
town.
3.3.1 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Students get benefits from their GIS class which
they also need to take in their fifth semester. The
Figure 5: Example of landuse information.
theory and knowledge are been applied and
practiced
throughout
the
semester.
The
GIS
3.3.2 Sketchup
and rationale on urban design. Evaluation was done
by studio coordinator, landscape architecture’s
Sketchup is a very useful design tools that the
lecturers and assisted by town planner officers from
students managed to use in this studio. From the
the Segamat and Kota Tinggi’s Local Authorities
information that the students gathered in GIS they
whom shared the information and knowledge of that
creatively transferred the necessary information into
specific town. This teaching method enabled the
sketchup program. The sketchup allowed the
students to gain self learning experiences, design
students to draw the way they want by emulating the
practices, and thinking ideas to be creative and
feel and freedom of working with pen and paper in a
intuitive with application and scientific principles and
simple and elegant interface, that would be fun to
reasonable technical information as a basis in the
use and easy to learn. This three-dimensional
solution of urban context.
modeling also allowed the students to draw the
outlines, or perimeters, of objects in a twodimensional manner, similar to pencil and paper,
already familiar to them. The students also can play
with their designs in a way that is not possible with
traditional design software. At the end of their
analysis, the students managed to do a simple
simulation showing the typology of their study area
Figure 6: An ariel view of Segamat town.
using sketchup and later how users can experience
their proposed sites which really beneficial to them
in understanding further their study areas in different
views.
Students able to apply an approach in
identifying and evaluating urban landscape spaces
and able to developed design philosophies and
Figure 7: An ariel view of Kota Tinggi town
approaches of urban design and applied them onsite as part of the process of developing an urban
4. CONCLUSION
landscape design based on rationales which tjey
developed form these two software.
As a conclusion the urban landscape design studio
is a very complex in terms of depth of studies
4.4 Presentation and Evaluation of Students’
needed because of the scale of the site or project.
Work
This is because the city of today is the result of
The design was evaluated using 5 criteria: design
several
clarity and contents, development of conceptual
together varying from all sorts of aspects; economic,
idea, verbal presentation skill, graphic composition
social and cultural issues. To have understanding
complex
historical
processes
coming
and knowledge of the conditions and environment
which are at times inter-related is very crucial in
order to create and provide a conducive and
sustainable relationship between an individual and
his city.
Any design aided tools such as CAD, Sketchup
to project a 2-dimensional or 3-dimentional images
and program such as GIS program to stored,
analyzed and displayed information which at the
same
time
helps
students
to
have
better
understanding for their study area in order to have
more concrete rationales behind their design.
5. REFERENCE
Cullen G (1976), Townscape, Architectural Press, London
Llewellyn – Davis (2000), Urban Design compendium, English
Partnerships, London.
Lynch K (2001), The Image of The City, The M.I.T Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts and London
Sumaiyah binti Othman received
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture
(2008) and M.Sc. (2010) degree in
Urban Design from University
Technology Malaysia (UTM). She is
a Tutor at Department of Landscape
Architecture, UTM. Her current
interests include urban design and
green technology.
Zainul Hakim bin Mohd Zain
received his Dip. Agric.(U.P.M.),
B.Sc. Horticulture(L.S.U.), M.Sc.
Landscape
Architecture(L.S.U.),
AILA. He is an Associate Professor
at
Department
of
Landscape
Architecture, UTM. His current
interest includes ethnobotany and
cultural landscape.
Mohd Hisyam Rasidi received
Ph.D in Regional Environment
Systems (2009) from Shibaura,
Japan, M.A (Urban Design) (2005)
from Oxford Brooke, B.L.A (Hons.)
in 2000 from(U.T.M.). His current
interests include urban design,
microclimate study and landscape
architecture.
Muhammad Farid Azizul received
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture
(2008) and M.Sc. (2010) degree in
Planning-IT
from
University
Technology Malaysia (UTM). He is a
Tutor at Department of Landscape
Architecture, UTM. His current
interests
include
resource
assessment and planning