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Wild By Design: Strategies for Creating Life-Enhancing Landscapes
Can nature—in all its unruly wildness—be an integral part of creative landscape design? In her beautifully illustrated book, Wild by Design , award-winning designer Margie Ruddick urges designers to look beyond the rules often imposed by both landscaping convention and sustainability checklists. Instead, she offers a set of principles for a more creative and intuitive approach that challenges the entrenched belief that natural processes cannot complement high-level landscape design.
Wild by Design defines and explains the five fundamental strategies Ruddick employs, often in combination, to give life, beauty, and meaning to Reinvention, Restoration, Conservation, Regeneration, and Expression. Drawing on her own projects—from New York City’s Queens Plaza, formerly a concrete jungle of traffic, to a desertscape backyard in Baja, California, to the Living Water Park in Chengdu, China—she offers guidance on creating beautiful, healthy landscapes that successfully reconnect people with larger natural systems.
A revealing look into the approach of one of sustainable landscape design’s most innovative practitioners, Wild by Design stretches the boundaries of landscape design, offering readers a set of broader, more flexible strategies and practical examples that allow for the unexpected exuberance of nature to be a welcome part of our gardens, parks, backyards, and cities.
Wild by Design defines and explains the five fundamental strategies Ruddick employs, often in combination, to give life, beauty, and meaning to Reinvention, Restoration, Conservation, Regeneration, and Expression. Drawing on her own projects—from New York City’s Queens Plaza, formerly a concrete jungle of traffic, to a desertscape backyard in Baja, California, to the Living Water Park in Chengdu, China—she offers guidance on creating beautiful, healthy landscapes that successfully reconnect people with larger natural systems.
A revealing look into the approach of one of sustainable landscape design’s most innovative practitioners, Wild by Design stretches the boundaries of landscape design, offering readers a set of broader, more flexible strategies and practical examples that allow for the unexpected exuberance of nature to be a welcome part of our gardens, parks, backyards, and cities.
264 pages, Paperback
First published August 4, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 30, 2020
Love the frankness.
January 10, 2016
(I received a free PREVIEW of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
Wild by Design defines and explains the five fundamental strategies Ruddick employs, often in combination, to give life, beauty, and meaning to landscapes: Reinvention, Restoration, Conservation, Regeneration, and Expression. Drawing on her own projects—from New York City's Queens Plaza, formerly a concrete jungle of traffic, to a desertscape backyard in Baja, California, to the Living Water Park in Chengdu, China—she offers guidance on creating beautiful, healthy landscapes that successfully reconnect people with larger natural systems.
A revealing look into the approach of one of sustainable landscape design's most innovative practitioners, Wild by Design stretches the boundaries of landscape design, offering readers a set of broader, more flexible strategies and practical examples that allow for the unexpected exuberance of nature to be a welcome part of our gardens, parks, backyards, and cities.
*This preview copy only contained the preface and chapters 2 and 3, totalling just over 110 pages.*
This book preview was very interesting to read. The town where I live is currently putting together the biggest changes to the urban environment since, well, forever, and this book is something I urge those in charge to look at. There is more to urban planning than just what colour pavers to use on the footpath or what kind of tree goes with what colour paint. This book sets out some brilliant ideas for both domestic and commercial sustainability.
The photographs are stunning - I would imagine it could be very hard to get "that" image just right when it comes to illustrating a point in a book like this. In this preview, the photography does an awesome job in putting the reader directly in line with the text, letting us see - not just read - the changes that can be made.
I think this is going to be a vital book for the future of urban/city planning and recommend those tasked with looking after that in each local government to get their hands on it and have a look. There is so much to take in...and I only saw the preview.
Paul
ARH
Wild by Design defines and explains the five fundamental strategies Ruddick employs, often in combination, to give life, beauty, and meaning to landscapes: Reinvention, Restoration, Conservation, Regeneration, and Expression. Drawing on her own projects—from New York City's Queens Plaza, formerly a concrete jungle of traffic, to a desertscape backyard in Baja, California, to the Living Water Park in Chengdu, China—she offers guidance on creating beautiful, healthy landscapes that successfully reconnect people with larger natural systems.
A revealing look into the approach of one of sustainable landscape design's most innovative practitioners, Wild by Design stretches the boundaries of landscape design, offering readers a set of broader, more flexible strategies and practical examples that allow for the unexpected exuberance of nature to be a welcome part of our gardens, parks, backyards, and cities.
*This preview copy only contained the preface and chapters 2 and 3, totalling just over 110 pages.*
This book preview was very interesting to read. The town where I live is currently putting together the biggest changes to the urban environment since, well, forever, and this book is something I urge those in charge to look at. There is more to urban planning than just what colour pavers to use on the footpath or what kind of tree goes with what colour paint. This book sets out some brilliant ideas for both domestic and commercial sustainability.
The photographs are stunning - I would imagine it could be very hard to get "that" image just right when it comes to illustrating a point in a book like this. In this preview, the photography does an awesome job in putting the reader directly in line with the text, letting us see - not just read - the changes that can be made.
I think this is going to be a vital book for the future of urban/city planning and recommend those tasked with looking after that in each local government to get their hands on it and have a look. There is so much to take in...and I only saw the preview.
Paul
ARH
February 22, 2016
This book is about how to surround and transform human artifice, designs, to wildlife. It is a study to rethink the landscapes and create a bridge between the world of designers and the world of ecologists. The chapters I got to read were about restoring, bringing back to life parks and rivers, and reinventing places by changing the way it function and is perceived. Restoring the connection between the wild and the city is a lot about creating new living spaces.
"Restoration can mean re-ignition of a spirit. it can mean retrieving lost uses, such as a market, without reconstructing the original. In landscape, restoration means, in one way or another, a return to life."
The book covers subjects from reinvention, restoration, conservation, regeneration and expression. It is meant to be an "encouragement for people to change the environment and follow their intuition".
I was expecting more photography about designs and wildlife. There isn't as much as I thought there would be, I guess I was kind of expecting a beautiful coffee table book. Instead it is more technique, great for people who are truly interested on knowing haw it's made. The why of designs and the how they do landscape like this. It is still an interesting book but it not my type personally.
This book was provided to me to review by Net Gallery, all opinions are my own.
"Restoration can mean re-ignition of a spirit. it can mean retrieving lost uses, such as a market, without reconstructing the original. In landscape, restoration means, in one way or another, a return to life."
The book covers subjects from reinvention, restoration, conservation, regeneration and expression. It is meant to be an "encouragement for people to change the environment and follow their intuition".
I was expecting more photography about designs and wildlife. There isn't as much as I thought there would be, I guess I was kind of expecting a beautiful coffee table book. Instead it is more technique, great for people who are truly interested on knowing haw it's made. The why of designs and the how they do landscape like this. It is still an interesting book but it not my type personally.
This book was provided to me to review by Net Gallery, all opinions are my own.
August 18, 2016
Overall: 4/5
Cover:4.5/5
Writing: 5/5
Although I'm not a student of landscape architecture design major (and will not be one), but I do love architecture design, and this book caught my eye the first time I read the description. Btw, 5 stars to the fantastic cover. I admit I didn’t understand every professional term written in the book, but the examples were pretty interesting. This book made me thought of a movie I watched a while ago, “Dare to be Wild”, over these years people are more and more aware of environmental problems, and then people started to remember how beautiful the nature is.
I do hope to see more photos, though, those included in chapter 2 and 3 were stunning.
I will definitely recommend this book to a few of friends of mine, who are likely to study landscape design and dream of becoming landscape designers or architects.
I received an advanced reader's copy from NetGalley.
Cover:4.5/5
Writing: 5/5
Although I'm not a student of landscape architecture design major (and will not be one), but I do love architecture design, and this book caught my eye the first time I read the description. Btw, 5 stars to the fantastic cover. I admit I didn’t understand every professional term written in the book, but the examples were pretty interesting. This book made me thought of a movie I watched a while ago, “Dare to be Wild”, over these years people are more and more aware of environmental problems, and then people started to remember how beautiful the nature is.
I do hope to see more photos, though, those included in chapter 2 and 3 were stunning.
I will definitely recommend this book to a few of friends of mine, who are likely to study landscape design and dream of becoming landscape designers or architects.
I received an advanced reader's copy from NetGalley.
November 29, 2016
This book is one of those who give a template to unscrupulous individuals to get away. Empty wordings about nothing, but a nothing that sounds good. So what can you do if your boss is building a cement jungle and you are the uninspired son or daughter of a PR person? Take a book like this and call the press with the chosen paragraphs.
Where is this book? I don't know. It is void of content beyond slogans and colorful pictures. But I can't say I have any proof or a conspiracy.
Where is this book? I don't know. It is void of content beyond slogans and colorful pictures. But I can't say I have any proof or a conspiracy.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews