Contemporary landscapes of contemplation

Abstract

This book has its origins in a seemingly straightforward question: What is a contemplative landscape? It’s a question that my colleague, architect Randall Imai, and I asked when we were commissioned to design a contemplative landscape for a private residential community on Cape Cod. This opening query soon led to many others: Is a contemplative landscape a place of relaxation, designed to still the mind of thoughts? Is a reductive design vocabulary imperative? Or is it a place that should prompt new insights to emerge – perhaps by providing an intense or unique visual focus? And while our project has been constructed and found to be quite successful by its constituents, it was difficult for us to find research to help us answer our questions on contemplative space. This work inspired a larger series of inquiries that I am continuing to explore: What is the role of contemplative space in a postmodern world? What ideas of nature and culture affect the design or interpretation of contemplative landscapes? Are there any specific aspects of physical design that can be found cross-culturally that contribute to a contemplative realm? To deepen speculation and develop scholarship and practice in this area, I organized a symposium “Contemporary Landscapes of Contemplation” held October 18 and 19, 2002 at the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota. The symposium led to the essays by John Beardsley, Heinrich Hermann, Lance Neckar, Michael Singer, Marc Treib, and myself that are collected in this volume. I invited this group of contributors for three key reasons. They all possess a wealth of knowledge and insight on the history of designed landscapes as well as current theory and practice. Second, in addition to their scholarship, many of these contributors are makers of landscapes themselves, primarily Michael Singer, who has built many works of art and design that address the idea of contemplative space. And finally, the depth of experience and thinking this group can bring to the investigation of contemporary landscapes of contemplation is esp