Keywords

1 The Importance of Perception and Representation in Landscape Studies

The term “landscape” has evolved over time to acquire the holistic character that defines it today. The paradigm shift was marked by the European Landscape Convention, in which landscape appeared as a major heritage resource, combining natural and socio-cultural elements, with a predominant role of perception, and the role of the landscape as a cultural resource [1]. Landscape was defined as: “an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors”.

Its perception depends both on the physical elements and on their relationship with other people and their individual experience, combining social and cultural factors [2].

Concepts such as “sense of place”, “meaning”, “attachment”, “belonging” or “identity” have been related to place in different disciplines and approaches.

Among the many paradigms that define the approach to landscape perception, Lothian defines two: the “objective” approach and the “subjective” approach, related to what has also been called “expert analysis” and “non-expert analysis” [3, 4]. The objective approach (generally associated with “expert analysis”) is based on “immutable elements on which an absolute judgement can be made, independent of time and place”, and the subjective approach (generally associated with “non-expert analysis”), argues that the aesthetic sense of place depends on the interaction between landscape and observer [5].

The origin of “landscape” is linked to painting, where it appears as another character in its narrative [6]. Drawing allows us to reflect in a synthetic way perceptive, empirical and ponderable elements, as well as different layers of experience that include time and movement, allowing for a complex design and acting as an instrument of analysis [7].

Representing something subjective such as the perception of a landscape brings a “conflict of landscape representation”. This is due to the dichotomy that exists between represented landscapes (stereotypes, archetypes) and real ones [8]. To overcome this conflict, it is necessary to generate tools, techniques and/or methods that combine objective and subjective elements, qualitative data with qualitative data, and reality with memory and experience.

2 Objectives and Methods

Cartography, and specifically Land Use Plans, are probably the most common way of representing the experience of a place. They combine different layers of information in a single document, combining processes that bring together the interpretation of the practice of a place and the meaning of the landscape. However, it is important to generate tools at the human scale that incorporate perceptual aspects that are not visible from a distant scale [9].

The aim of this paper is to analyze how the representation of subjective elements can provide a broader view of the natural or urban landscape that surrounds us, through a review of graphic strategies based on the subjective paradigm defined by Lothian.

3 Perceptual Approaches for the Graphic Representation of Landscape

Many landscape architects today use complex graphic schemes to guide analysis and design processes, including James Corner, who states that there are three approaches to landscape representation: “projection”, or the direct analogy between graphics and construction (plans, elevations, sections, axonometrics), “notation”, or the identification of the parts of a scheme, allowing its reproduction, and “rendering”, graphing a given landscape in an attempt to reproduce the experiential elements [10].

It also identifies the problems that can arise from placing too much emphasis on the drawing itself, or, on the contrary, limiting itself to using it as a technical tool.

In this section we will share examples of landscape representation strategies developed in the Graphic Expression Area of Universidad San Pablo-CEU.

3.1 Serial Visions

The use of scenes to analyze the landscape is based on the theories of Gordon Cullen, who transferred tools of perceptual analysis from picturesqueness to urbanism in his work The Urban Landscape [11, 12].

He understood the city as a scenic space that arouses emotions in the visitor, based on its formal relationships. Perspective acted as a tool for understanding the postmodern city, attempting to reflect the emotional connection between citizens and place. His “serial visions” were sequences drawn from a tour of the city, in which he depicted, for example, the excitement and surprise of discovering new urban scenery when turning a corner.

The following drawings made by the students allow us to distinguish different depth planes, landscape sequences of a route through the urban area of Buitrago de Lozoya (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Source: Form Analysis Archive (Universidad San Pablo-CEU). Technique: acrylic on paper

Serial views of Buitrago de Lozoya made by the students of Life Drawing.

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These serial views were also complemented by aerial approaches to the site (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Source: Form Analysis Archive (Universidad San Pablo-CEU). Technique: acrylic on paper

Aerial approaches to Buitrago del Lozoya made by the students of Life Drawing.

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3.2 Graphing Time

Landscape cannot be understood as something static. To represent it, time is a key factor. Lights, shadows, the number of people or changes in color shades are some of the elements that vary throughout the day, and which can be graphed to reflect this experience.

Depicting how time passes is something that has obsessed painters, especially Romantic and Impressionist painters such as Turner and Monet. They depicted the dispersion of light, the atmosphere of the place and the play of light and shadow [13].

To follow this strategy, students drew Madrid’s Gran Vía, throughout a whole day, from morning to night (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Source: Form Analysis Archive (Universidad San Pablo-CEU) Technique: acrylic on paper.

Drawings of the passage of time in Gran Vía (Madrid) made by the students of Life Drawing.

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3.3 Sensory Mapping (Cartographies)

The study and representation of perception cannot be understood without cognitive maps. Edward C. Tolman defined them in 1948 as the representation of a mental schema based on memory; the way of mentally representing the understanding of the space that surrounds us [14, 15].

Kevin Lynch applied this concept to the urban landscape by defining the “image of the city”. He used a series of symbols to graphically represent the city, based on psychological and cultural factors.

As an experiment, students generated drawings integrating in a single document the record of data obtained during a day's work in situ, using different systems of graphic representation (plans, sections, perspectives, etc.). They combined different graphic and conceptual scales, including parameters such as temperature, sounds and objects found in the landscape that characterize the site (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
figure 4

Source: Form Analysis Archive (Universidad San Pablo-CEU). Technique: Collage and acrylics on wooden board.

Sensory cartographies made by students of the workshop ‘Muévete’.

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This way of understanding the image of the city is also related to movements such as Situationism (1957–1972), led by Guy Debord, which proposed a renewed way of connecting with the city through movement, the phenomenology of landscape and architecture [16]. These walks, or “derives” (drifts), resulted in maps representing the random interaction between city and citizens, beyond the conventional structures of architecture and urbanism, with characteristics common to “environmental geography” or “psychogeography” [17, 18].

The following drawings show the relative motion, both of passers-by when the observer is still, and the variations perceived when in motion (in this case, from inside a car driving along Gran Via) (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.
figure 5

Source: Form Analysis Archive (Universidad San Pablo-CEU). Technique: Watercolor on paper.

Sensory Drawings made in Gran Vía (Madrid) by students of Life Drawing.

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3.4 Collage and Landscape Abstraction

The combination of papers, textures and prints, together with painting, make collage a plastic strategy that allows the synthesis and representation of reality [19, 20].

Collage applied to the representation of landscape allows us to capture its atmosphere from another point of view, emphasizing color, transition of materials and textures, and creating abstract compositions of personal interpretations.

Students generated synthetic and direct answers by working with spatially charged conceptual pairs, such as the figure-ground relationship, full and empty, or the treatment of different depth planes (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6.
figure 6

Source: Form Analysis Archive (Universidad San Pablo-CEU). Technique: Mixed media on paper.

Collages exploring landscape abstraction made by the students.

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By contrasting opposing elements, we can generate dialogues between the different planes of perception, allowing us to approach a place through opposition (positive/negative).

The building and the vegetation generate a clear silhouette with the sky as a backdrop. The analysis of the form clarifies its geometry and facilitates its representation. This two-dimensional understanding also favors a simple reading result for pupils who have not yet mastered the three-dimensional language (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7.
figure 7

Source: Form Analysis Archive (Universidad San Pablo-CEU). Technique: Acrylic on paper.

Positive/negative strategy made by students of Life Drawing.

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4 Conclusions

Landscape is a multidisciplinary and holistic concept, and its analysis necessarily involves the study of how it is perceived. In this paper we have presented diverse strategies and tools that allow us to represent and analyze different landscape perceptions.

It presents a journey through the representation of the landscape based on perceptual strategies such as ‘serial visions’, the graphism of the passage of time, the incorporation of levels of information in the same document, the superimposition of information (‘sensorial cartographies’), to finally show strategies that incorporate a greater interpretative load while advancing along the path towards abstraction, supported by the use of collage, to reach the simplification of the landscape into two opposing concepts (antagonistic dichotomy).