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Research ArticlePeer-Reviewed Articles

Landscape Design through Maintenance: Field Case Studies in Parametric Mowing

Michael Geffel
Landscape Journal, January 2021, 39 (2) 1-16; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/wplj.39.2.1
Michael Geffel
Michael Geffel () is a registered landscape architect, Professor of Practice at the University of Oregon, and Program Manager of the Overlook Field School. With design research broadly focused on experimental landscapes, his principal method of study uses field experiment to understand the generative capacity of maintenance in the construction of novel ecosystems.Michael earned a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia and a BS in geography from the University of Oregon. He has professional experience working on public urban landscapes, landscapes on structure, and green infrastructure following a previous career in horticulture and restoration contracting.
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Abstract

Landscape architects respond mainly to changes in their designed landscapes in the first two years after final installation, also known as the “maintenance phase” of the construction contract. The seemingly banal realm of maintenance presents an important and underused opportunity for landscape architects to respond to emerging novelty in their designed landscapes. To understand the generative capacity of maintenance as a design instrument, this article introduces an approach to maintenance before presenting a series of field explorations that use maintenance design as a method for investigating the creation of new landscape. These explorations use mowing—the most apparent form of maintenance—to investigate how maintenance operations mediate the design of landscape. The article offers four principles of maintenance design to synthesize the findings of this inquiry. Despite the connotation of maintenance being solely focused on control and preservation, this article proposes approaching maintenance as a form of care. When a landscape is maintained successfully, the associated maintenance operations are far more diagnostic, parametric, and adaptive than what is suggested by a focus on their pragmatic emphasis on efficiency. Furthermore, maintenance design allows landscape architects to engage the medium in a fundamentally different way by exploring how design and implementation of a maintenance program moderates realization of initial design intent.

KEYWORDS
  • Maintenance
  • landscape care
  • field exploration
  • research by design
  • novel ecosystems
  • © 2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

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Landscape Journal: 39 (2)
Landscape Journal
Vol. 39, Issue 2
1 Jan 2021
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Landscape Design through Maintenance: Field Case Studies in Parametric Mowing
Michael Geffel
Landscape Journal Jan 2021, 39 (2) 1-16; DOI: 10.3368/wplj.39.2.1

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Landscape Design through Maintenance: Field Case Studies in Parametric Mowing
Michael Geffel
Landscape Journal Jan 2021, 39 (2) 1-16; DOI: 10.3368/wplj.39.2.1
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Keywords

  • Maintenance
  • landscape care
  • field exploration
  • research by design
  • novel ecosystems
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