November 12, 2015 Holzman Presents Workshop at Cornell

Justine Holzman, adjunct assistant professor in the School of Landscape Architecture, recently presented a workshop, Physical Digital Modeling, at Cornell University in New York.  Holzman was invited to present the workshop by Cornell’s Brian Davis, assistant professor of Landscape Architecture, in a collaboration to support his graduate studio, “Piscinão: Problems and Possibilities of Stormwater Detention as Civic Infrastructure in São Paulo, Brazil.”

This workshop encouraged students to experiment with water tables in a fast-paced iterative fashion between physical modeling and digital drawing.  It built upon recent experiments with small interactive water tables and focused on the production of models using photography, stop-motion animation, film and digital rendering.  Water tables are classroom instruments that depict land and underwater features.

“Our design and use of models become actors in the modification of the built environment,” Holzman said.  “In the same way that an engineer must have the experience to read, shift and guide a model to a state in which it renders meaning, there is open opportunity for landscape architects to craft their physical modeling skills to resemble and bring meaning to the types of systems and landscapes that present some of the most interesting and urgent issues facing urbanism today.”

During the four-day workshop, Holzman presented three lectures and helped students develop physical modeling strategies.  Models, essential tools in landscape architecture, help students and professionals, alike, assess and develop interventions to solve landscape and infrastructure challenges.

Holzman joined the University of Tennessee in 2015 and holds a joint appointment as research associate for the Responsive Environments and Artifacts Lab at Harvard University.  She is co-authoring a book with Bradley Cantrell, Responsive Landscapes, framing a comprehensive view of interactive and responsive projects and their relationship to environmental space.

 

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