The Olmsted landscape architecture park Observation.
Description
The goal of this assignment is to get out and look at both park design and the social activity in parks. The Olmsted landscape architecture firm began in 1857 when Olmsted partnered with Calvert Vaux to design Central Park. Olmsted retired in 1895 and his sons, John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. took over the firm, which operated into the 1970s. Olmsted’s design philosophy resulted in a particular landscape aesthetic. In going out to examine an Olmsted park there are common elements you should notice–we will spend time going over the Olmsted design philosophy so you’ll know what to look for. ****Please read the guideline thoroughly**** For this assignment, you need to spend several hours walking and observing Forest Park Massachusetts. You should look at the design elements from the pictures and research from online on Forest Park Massachusetts and included the following information on the essay. (Ex: How are the pastoral and picturesque (please research what is the meaning of this two) represented in the landscape?, How are water features used? How are the pathways laid out?). By walking the park you will get a sense of the whole scene. You can sit at times and observe how people are using the space (Ex: What activities are people engaged in? Are people using the grass? Are there signs telling people to keep off the grass? Are people engaged in active or passive forms of recreation?). You may need to sketch out a map of the park so you can make notes and remember where you were and what happened in different parts of the park. Questions also need to be answer on the essay: 1. If it’s a park designed by the Olmsted Firm (usually his sons or sometimes Charles Eliot), what elements of the Olmsted park philosophy are visible in the current park landscape? 2. What is the social life of the park? Is it active? (yes) How do you know? (green open field was used for sports, The field was full of different sports from little young ones that are 6 years old playing soccer, high/middle school sport…etc.. few of people such as runner, at farmers market there are couples and families buying things, walking their dogs, walking, lot of parked cars for the games, there were NOT anyone out for picnic due to the weather being chilly .. etc) 3. What are the demographics of the park users? What are they doing? 4. Keep in mind that Olmsted park you should write about the connections between what you know about Olmsted’s park design philosophy (the 7 S’s) and what you viewed in the park. so please include the philosophy on the park regarding that. Here some resources may help with the paper http://ww3.rediscov.com/Olmsted/ https://www.nps.gov/frla/index.htm http://www.olmstedonline.org/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/olmsted_archives/