“Inventing” groundbreaking concepts in a domain as technical and complex as landscape architecture is a very hard task. Try to imagine creating a workshop where people from various artistic domains could engage in brainstorming on proposed technical concepts in landscape sketches! Who exactly has managed to come up with this new idea worth your attention? Noël van Dooren, landscape architect from the Netherlands, in a design experiment that was part of his Ph.D. research, called “Drawing Time”. Background What exactly does “Drawing Time” mean? Time in landscape is not often shown in drawings, although a lot of landscapes grow and change from the stage in which they are designed. Van Dooren organized the design experiment “Drawing Time Now!” at the Academy of Architecture Amsterdam. The intent of this workshop was to “invent” a proper way to draw time within the present context and with the available means. Inspiration was taken from landscape architect Lawrence Halprin’s concept of scores, representing who is doing what and at what moment in a landscape architecture project.
Discussion about drawing time and time drawings
Why is this innovative? “Drawing Time” could be very useful to landscape architects and students, and even to the innovation of the very domain and profession itself. Traditionally, drawings have been mostly concentrated on the spatial composition.
With this new concept, landscape architects would be able to understand the principles of the evolution of a landscape better and use that knowledge in designing. Van Doreen requested the 24 participating students to come up with at least one representation on the time aspects.
“In making their design, they had to do a drawing that represents time, or more specifically, a score, as I wanted to test out this concept. In this case, the design was not a goal in itself but the vehicle to be able to make time drawings,” says Van Doreen.
‘Drawing’ by Els van Looy (Be), Esther Brun Nl) and Zuzana Jancovicova (Se). The product is a book with a series of drawings depicting the possible development in time in a metaphorical way.
What are the possibilities? Neighboring domains such as film, art, theater design, and gaming were invited into the design experiment. Scores — or time-oriented drawings — can serve a purpose in all developing and evolution-oriented fields. But how were these innovative concepts put together? “Drawing Time Now!” included a public seminar with the purpose of informing, provoking, and stimulating the participants about the issue of time. Landscape architecture historians, film-music makers, dance historians, and landscape architects — all provided a diverse spectrum of abstract opinions on the concept of time.
Importance So why should we care about this new concept? “It is very interesting that landscape architecture has a certain niche as it has expertise on slowly changing situations,” states Van Doreen. A drawing, like a score, can help landscape architecture to claim such a position.
It would also help designers to reflect more on the time aspects in their design, and start to think on juvenile situations as a design challenge, not just a nuisance. 
Exercise on Saturday afternoon with artist Frank van den Broeck: drawing intuitively first impressions.
The results and the evaluation will be part of a book, which will be ready in one or two years. As to the future of “Drawing Time Now!” Van Doreen says:
“This design experiment certainly confirms the relevance of thinking about time and drawing time. It is time to be decisive. I hope to be able to give a sound definition of the score in some time and by that offer a new tool to our discipline.” The lesson in LA? Analyze, think, and innovate! Check out more at:
www.drawingtimenow.com Article written by
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