The History of Landscape Design from 1860 - 1960
Taught by Dan Silverstein
Dan blames his obsession with built and natural landscapes on many childhood years pouring through back issues of Architectural Digest and hiking as far as possible from the suburbs. He now designs and builds gardens through his Brooklyn-based company Greenzone Landscape and tries to do something new and unexpected in each project. This past winter was probably the biggest challenge to his gardener’s sense of patience. Thankfully, the daffodils are now blooming in his treepit/garden.
Anyone with a vacant space can create a decent garden based on their budget, needs and esthetic tastes. But with a better understanding of and appreciation for the evolution of garden design over time you’ll have a much better chance of making a great garden.
In this class we’ll begin with a brief overview of early seminal gardens prior to 1860. Their makers and the context of their creations will be discussed.
The main focus of the lecture will explore the roots of modern garden design in America and its profound reshaping of the suburban and urban landscape. Dramatic social, political and technical changes between the Civil War and just after WWII uprooted many assumptions about the use and appreciation of private and public spaces domestically and abroad.
It’s pretty easy to take for granted an endless list of possibilities for creating a modern garden or public space. We'll explore how we got to where we are today.
A Q&A will follow the presentation.
