Design through Time: Evolving Landscapes, from Alcatraz to Prospect Park

Understanding landscape design as a dynamic, not static, art form

Landscape architects do not situate their work in a vacuum. It exists in a state of constant change and is better understood as a product of continual evolution than as a work of pure design. In Design through Time, Mark Hough offers case studies of parks, gardens, campuses, communities, and cultural sites—from the Missouri Botanical Garden and Mount Auburn Cemetery to Tuskegee University and Dumbarton Oaks Park—to answer several crucial questions: Who is the proposed landscape conceived to please? How will it change, affected by both natural and societal events? How will stewards address the need for landscapes to remain relevant, attractive, and accessible?

To address these concerns, Hough analyzes the influence and impact of generations of administrators, advocates, horticulturalists, institutional leaders, elected officials, and others whose collective decisions compel landscapes to grow and change in ways that strive to respect their established legacies while adjusting to shifting cultural, ecological, and economic realities. The resulting work is a dynamic look at landscape design that reflects its status as an art form that is ever changing, never static.

Mark H. Hough is the University Landscape Architect at Duke University.