Massachusetts-based firm speaks at Landscape Architecture Series
Tyler Will
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: Campus
"I had always thought that Greek and Roman architecture was pretty simple," Burck said. "But I started to run into these very angular views."
Burck said that when entertaining, Romans would designate seating through their invitations and certain guests were given better viewpoints of the house.
Another element of procession in Rome is the strategic layout of the city, Burck said. A medieval pope placed churches at high points in the city and centered them on a road that went through the city so pilgrims could visit them all, he explained.
Burck decided to incorporate these techniques into some of his company's projects, which include a garden installation in a graduate housing complex for Harvard graduate students, a quadrangle-like space at Georgia Tech University and an outdoor layout for a historic area of Beirut, Lebanon. The area has relics from the Crusades, Burck said.
The Harvard graduate housing complex, Burck said, was a low-budget project to beautify a weight-sensitive roof. A pre-project picture showed a grimy, unattractive roof.
The post-project picture showed a garden with several kinds of shrubs, benches and walkways. Burck said that to keep weight concerns minimal, the soil on the roof was only about five inches thick and the shrubs were specially selected to be able to grow in low-soil conditions.
Burck said that when entertaining, Romans would designate seating through their invitations and certain guests were given better viewpoints of the house.
Another element of procession in Rome is the strategic layout of the city, Burck said. A medieval pope placed churches at high points in the city and centered them on a road that went through the city so pilgrims could visit them all, he explained.
Burck decided to incorporate these techniques into some of his company's projects, which include a garden installation in a graduate housing complex for Harvard graduate students, a quadrangle-like space at Georgia Tech University and an outdoor layout for a historic area of Beirut, Lebanon. The area has relics from the Crusades, Burck said.
The Harvard graduate housing complex, Burck said, was a low-budget project to beautify a weight-sensitive roof. A pre-project picture showed a grimy, unattractive roof.
The post-project picture showed a garden with several kinds of shrubs, benches and walkways. Burck said that to keep weight concerns minimal, the soil on the roof was only about five inches thick and the shrubs were specially selected to be able to grow in low-soil conditions.
