LA.X

This book is about the first ten years of the master track in Landscape Architecture at the Department of Urbanism in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft. It delves into the personal, educational, didactical, organizational and, above all, substantive dimensions of the teaching of this appealing and highly relevant discipline at the academic level.

The book has three parts. The first part – PROFILE – discusses the context and events that led up to the development of the master track and influenced its further development – from the very first landscape architecture related appointments and initiatives in the 1940s to the first day in September 2010 when the programme began with seven participants, and on to the celebration of its tenth anniversary in 2021. Infographics show the numbers and profiles of the student population and illustrate the structure of the master curriculum.

The second section – WORK – contains snapshots of drawings, photos, collages and other graphic material produced by our students. The images are loosely grouped according to the five stages in the design process: exploring, understanding, conceptualizing, modifying and engineering the landscape. Interspersed with this kaleidoscopic variety of images you will find a series of short essays on key topics in landscape
architecture education written by the present staff of the Landscape Architecture section.

Finally, at the end of the book you will find a few lists – PEOPLE – of all those involved: students, staff and guest lecturers. They are the ones who made and still make the master track such a wonderful community to belong to.

Over the past ten years the master track has remained relatively small, with an average of 25 to 30 new students each year. It is this limited number that has enabled staff and students to get to know each other so well. Our staff still keep in touch with many alumni from all over the world who now work in private practice or the public sector, are studying for their PhD or have taken up a teaching position. Staff and alumni met again during an online gathering last summer as part of our tenth anniversary celebration. It was great to listen to their stories and hear them talking about the projects they are working on.

Landscape architecture is a crucial profession with much to offer for meeting the current challenges in the spatial domain in the Netherlands and abroad. The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment has therefore whole-heartedly supported the establishment of the master track and will continue to do so in the efforts of the section and the department to further develop, both in terms of capacity and content. Ten years on, we see evidence that those trained in Delft have a lot to offer and can help to make our planet healthier and our everyday landscape more beautiful. We are proud of what the section has achieved so far.

This is also the place to extend my fullest appreciation to the members of the Landscape Architecture section who have devoted their time and energy to building up a solid curriculum and worldwide network. In particular, I thank Inge Bobbink, who has been responsible for coordinating the track during all those years. She has generously borne a substantial share of the formal and informal responsibilities for organizing the track and developing the content of higher education in landscape architecture at Delft.

Compiling a book such as this, which depends on pulling together contributions from a wide variety of sources, has not been an easy task, especially during the Covid pandemic. Inge Bobbink and Bieke Cattoor, thank you for your commitment in the process of coordination. Thank you very much, staff and student assistants for your contributions, thank you Hans Gremmen for your dedicated design work and Derek Middleton for carefully translating. You have all done a great job!

And all of us hope that you, reader, will enjoy it!