Sparks

Smart Materials & Electronics in Landscape Architecture Education

Abstract

The gap of knowledge between innovative materials and their implementation for design applications— which entails both technical and human implications—places design students in an optimal space for experimentation, failure, and dealing with the unprecedented. From a pedagogical perspective, it offers the opportunity for students to be innovators and creators of technology, rather than solely consumers. Doing so provides opportunities to evaluate the role of design education in fostering technological innovation and provides insight into the value of transcending disciplinary boundaries as part of the beginning design student experience.