Abstract:

Problem-Based Learning is the theoretical underpinning for students’ studying to be design professionals. Typically, design and construction courses are the delivery framework for landscape architecture (LA) programs. In many cases construction courses are technical focused. This approach has merit related to building competency in a specific domain, but it often lacks contextual meaning that can limit student learning. This paper presents a project that integrates place-based pedagogy in a LA construction course.

LA Construction Documents (CD) is a split-level course that culminates in each student preparing a set of CD. The CD preparation process simulates a basic package produced in a professional office and includes a Cover Sheet, Existing Conditions, Demolition Plan, Site Plan, Layout Plan, Grading Plan, Planting Plan, and Construction Details. In a design firm, a designer submits a drawing for review by a supervisor who ‘red-lines’ the drawing for corrections. The teacher reviews these drawings twice prior to the final CD set submission. The course’s primary learning outcome is the technical aspect of CD production. However, this course goes beyond technical skill development by using a culturally meaningful place as the site for the design project.

A historically African American cemetery in the Southeastern United States is the project site. In 2014, the Starkville Colored Cemetery received designation on the National Register of Historic Places from the United States National Park Service. The Starkville Colored Cemetery is a 2.0-acre site on the north side of University Drive near downtown and Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. The Colored Cemetery has scattered gravestones, and many are broken. Trees and other plants are on the site, but there is no pattern of planned landscape design visible.

The cemetery’s surrounding context is multi-family to the north, mixed-use to the east/west, and separated by University Drive to the south is Odd Fellows Cemetery. The Starkville Colored Cemetery lot rises roughly 2 meters from the street with approximately 36 meters of street frontage. The cemetery does not have records of a formal plan for the burial sites and there are no features that distinguish the lot. Local historians believe the cemetery served as a black burial ground from the late 1800s to the mid-1950s. For generations the cemetery was not maintained and it became overgrown, which led to vandalism and deterioration of grave markers.

The project’s scope requires students to design the area from the street to roughly 5 meters into the cemetery, approximately 186 square meters. The design parameters are to enhance the public realm by improving pedestrian mobility, seating, and commemorating the heritage the cemetery represents in a profound manner. The design project’s scale and scope are an important consideration due to the time needed to complete the project’s technical portions. Furthermore, this site ensures that students’ design and document landscape features routinely used in practice like flatwork, stairs, walls, railings, signage, and so on to further their technical competency. Layering the cultural and equitable considerations stimulates the students to design the space and detail the elements beyond the technical. This approach drives students to think creatively and develop solutions that resonate a profound sense of place.

Keywords:

Design pedagogy, Problem-Based Learning, Placed-Based Design, Creativity, Design Thinking.