| Digital design and
visualization tools offer new opportunities for learning and creativity.
The department is committed to providing state of the art computing
resources that are accessible to all of our students and to integrating
the use of digital design tools into every level of our curriculum.
Underlying this approach are certain assumptions about why landscape
architecture students should learn to use computers in the first
place. We are committed to teaching digital design in the studio
because we believe it can facilitate and improve the quality of
design, design representation, and design thinking in our students.
Responding to the need in professional offices for well-trained
computer operators or a more cost-effective way to produce working
drawings is not our main concern. Our goal is to produce a student
who sees the computer as a tool that is appropriate for some tasks
and not for others. A student who accepts the computer as a design
medium that will not radically change the nature of design, but
will provide a whole new array of opportunities to explore ideas.
In order to accomplish this goal we established two important objectives;
(1) Integrate the use of computers as a design
tool into a traditional landscape architecture design studio.
(2) Have the students learn digital design principles and techniques
in the context of a design or graphics studio and not in a separate
"computer course."
|
There are a wide variety
of computing resources available here at University Park Campus. The
department owns and maintains computers in several studio and lab
spaces in our building that are for the exclusive use of our students
and are available 24 hours a day. In addition to the department facilities
the College of Arts and Architecture has several computer labs that
are accessible to our students. The University also maintains dozens
of computer labs across campus, including one specifically equipped
for digital design in the lower floor of our building. This section
will provide more details and information about all of these computing
facilities. |
