This course introduces first-year Master of Landscape Architecture students to the representational and computational foundations of the discipline. The course builds proficiency in two areas: core representational tools — freehand drawing, digital drafting (AutoCAD), and graphic communication (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign) — and computational methods including three-dimensional modeling (Rhino 3D) and parametric design (Grasshopper), with optional, self-paced AI-assisted design workflows. Throughout the semester, students maintain a sketchbook as a sustained practice of observation, ideation, and analog reflection alongside digital work.
The representation workflows introduce students to the instruments of landscape communication: how to draw, draft, and visualize space. The computation workflows introduce students to the logic of parametric and algorithmic design and to working critically alongside AI tools (see Agentic AI — Course Stance). The course is built around several hands-on workflows, each a self-contained assignment that builds cumulatively toward a final integrated drawing set.
Students will engage with precedents from 20th to early 21st century landscape architecture — such as works by Lawrence Halprin, Dan Kiley, and James Corner — both as sources of graphic inspiration and as objects of analysis. By the end of the semester, students will have a working toolkit of representational and computational skills appropriate for advanced design studio work.
Each weekly session runs from 9:00 AM to 11:50 AM in SSA 127. Sessions take four formats across the semester: lecture — introduction of representational techniques, design thinking, or course context; live demo — the instructor demonstrates a tool or technique step by step, with students working in parallel; lab session — students work on the weekly exercise with the instructor available for individual guidance; and studio working session — open critique, pin-up, or desk review format.
Students are expected to complete each workflow assignment between sessions. While each workflow is discrete, they are designed cumulatively to simulate the integrated workflow of professional landscape practice: from hand sketch to CAD drawing to 3D model to refined presentation. Feedback is provided through individual desk critiques, a pin-up, and a final assembly review.
The course is organized around several workflows, some graded and some optional extras. Each is a focused, hands-on assignment introduced in class and completed before the following session. Together they span the representational and computational range of contemporary landscape practice.
| WF | Title | Tools | Weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| WF01 | Site Plan and Section in AutoCAD | AutoCAD | 2–3 |
| WF02 | Hybrid Drawing + Deck | PhotoshopIllustratorInDesign | 12 |
| WF03 | Urban Context Mapping Extra | OSMGoogle EarthIllustrator | Optional |
| WF04 | Rhino Landform Modeling | Rhino 3DGrasshopperInDesign | 6–7 |
| WF05 | Attractor Fields | Rhino 3DGrasshopper | 8–9 |
| WF06 | Back to Basics — A Hand Charrette | PensTrace Paper | 10–11 |
The following software is available on computers in the SSA labs. Students who wish to work on personal machines are responsible for obtaining their own licenses, many of which are available free or at reduced cost through CCNY.
Personal Laptop. Students are strongly encouraged to bring a personal laptop to each class session. Laptops must be capable of running AutoCAD, Rhino 3D (with Grasshopper), and Adobe Creative Cloud. For hardware recommendations, refer to the SSA IT Student Handbook. Technical support: CCNY IT Service Desk — servicedesk@ccny.cuny.edu · 212 650 7878 · Mon–Fri 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM.
Agentic AI — Course Stance. This course separates three kinds of knowledge:
- Button knowledge — which command does what, like Offset in AutoCAD. Easy to look up.
- Behavior — how a drawing or the ground responds to a move, like tighter contours shedding water faster. Learned by making.
- Judgment — whether the result is right for the site and the people who use it. Built through critique.
An AI agent is good at button knowledge, including its own: Claude can walk you through setting up an agentic workflow, such as connecting it to Rhino through MCP or starting a project in Claude Code. Class time therefore goes to behavior and judgment, which you need to direct an agent and check what it gives back.
AI Workflows — Optional, Not Graded. The agentic workflows (Claude inside Rhino through MCP, and a website built with Claude Code) are self-paced. Work through them on your own from Agents in Practice. They need Claude Desktop on your own computer and a paid Claude plan.
WF06 — Drawing Kit. Bring to both charrette sessions: an 11"×17" trace pad, two pen weights, an architect's or engineer's scale, and tape.
Miro — Submissions. All workflow assignments are submitted to the course Miro board. The board asks for a password: use "c*****2026", which I shared via email. The team invite is sent to your CCNY email at the start of the semester; join with your CCNY account. Miro is free for students at miro.com.
CCNY Email. Communication will happen via CCNY Email. Students need to check and be responsive to their CCNY emails.
This course is part of the Landscape Architecture course sequence and introduces the disciplinary skills and thinking processes necessary for a student preparing for a career as a professional landscape architect. The course supports the mission of the Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture of the City College of New York, which asserts that landscape architecture plays an essential role in connecting social justice to environmental design and the planning of landscape systems in the urban realm. The Graduate Program prepares students to be leaders in the field through innovative research and practice in urban ecological design, planning, and policymaking. This course teaches students responsive technologies and strategies to address issues of globalization, expanding urbanization, social and environmental justice, the transformation of land management practices in response to diminishing natural resources, and resilient adaptation to climate change.
- Analog Representation and Sketchbook Practice
- Digital Drafting and CAD Proficiency
- Graphic Communication and Presentation Design
- Parametric and Computational Modeling
- AI-Assisted, Agent-Directed Design and Critical Literacy
One area for each educational goal above. Class time goes to behavior and judgment, the knowledge needed to direct an AI agent and check its work (see Agentic AI — Course Stance).
- Hand Drawing and Sketchbook — Think and observe through drawing, quickly and at a known scale.
- Digital Drafting (AutoCAD) — Understand how drafting standards encode meaning and how scale carries from model to print.
- Graphic Communication (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) — Read a site by drawing it, treat a map as edited data, and compose work into a clear drawing set.
- 3D Modeling and Parametric Design (Rhino 3D, Grasshopper) — Specify a landform in design terms, judge it by how it moves water, and express design as a rule.
- AI-Assisted Design (optional, not graded) — Direct an AI agent and check its work, with project context as the core literacy. Self-paced guides in Agents in Practice.
- Workflow Assignments (WF01, WF02, WF04–WF06) — 60% — Focused assignments, each applying the skills introduced in that workflow's sessions. WF01, WF02, WF04, and WF05 are 10% each and are due one week after their final session, giving a full week of working time. WF06, the two-session hand charrette, is 20%. WF03 Urban Context Mapping is an optional, ungraded extra. Workflows are cumulative and build toward the final integrated drawing set.
- Sketchbook (ongoing, due Dec 21) — 10% — A physical sketchbook maintained throughout the semester. Each week, add at least one observational or ideation sketch related to course content. Reviewed at the Pin-Up (Week 5) and in full at the end of the semester. For final submission, select and scan the 10 best sketches.
- Pin-Up (Week 5) — 10% — Pin up the printed WF01 drawings and trace overlay in studio for instructor and peer feedback, and bring the sketchbook for review.
- Final Integrated Drawing Set (due Dec 21) — 20% — WF01, WF02, and WF04–WF06 in one InDesign deck, built on from the WF02 deck, plus the 10 best drawings from your sketchbook.
| Week | Topic | Tools | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Sep 3 |
Introduction + Sketching Workshop Course introduction and drawing fundamentals — line weight, freehand lines, drawing tools, landscape graphic conventions; sketchbook practice introduced ▸ Lecture: Drawing as Thinking Tool |
PencilsPensTrace PaperSketchbook | In-class orthographic drawing of a simple outdoor space (plan + section); begin sketchbook |
| 02 Sep 10 |
WF01: Site Plan and Section in AutoCAD (1 of 2) AutoCAD introduction — units and drawing setup, navigation, basic commands (line, circle, offset, trim, mirror, copy); attaching a precedent image as a drafting reference ▸ Lecture: A History of Computational Thinking |
AutoCAD | WF01 in progress — precedent selected and confirmed; site plan drafted at 1"=20' |
| 03 Sep 17 |
WF01: Site Plan and Section in AutoCAD (2 of 2) Layers, CTB lineweights, and annotation; section cut from the plan; trace-paper analysis overlay; Layout mode and plotting to PDF |
AutoCAD | WF01 in progress — section and analysis overlay drafted; sheets set up in Layout |
| 04 Sep 24 |
Short Session + Storm King Trip Class meets 9:00–9:50, then leaves for the studio trip to Storm King ▸ Lecture: Graphic Design 101 |
WF01 due — a precedent project re-presented in AutoCAD at 1"=20': site plan, at least one section, and a trace-paper analysis overlay — three 11"×17" PDFs | |
| 05 Oct 1 |
Pin-Up Informal pin-up in studio: review the WF01 drawings together, with feedback on how to improve them; a sketching demo while reviewing sketchbooks; then, time permitting, a Rhino live demo on how the software thinks |
SketchbookTrace PaperRhino 3D | Pin up your printed WF01 drawings and trace overlay on the studio wall; bring your sketchbook |
| 06 Oct 8 |
WF04: Rhino Landform Modeling (1 of 2) Live demo, then a lab session to finish Session 1 in class; lecture at the end. Rhino introduction — units and file setup, the base slope, sub-object selection and the Gumball; two ways to build a landform surface, Patch everything or Split → Patch → Join; a first look at Grasshopper contours ▸ Lecture: Modeling as Thinking |
Rhino 3DGrasshopper | WF04 in progress — one landform built two ways by hand and contoured in Grasshopper |
| 07 Oct 15 |
WF04: Rhino Landform Modeling (2 of 2) — remote on Microsoft Teams, 9:00 to about 11:00 AM Grasshopper basics; Method A as a live definition; a catalog of landforms that each move water differently, shaped by editing the inputs in Rhino; capturing matched isometrics with ViewCaptureToFile; building a small-multiple grid in InDesign |
Rhino 3DGrasshopperInDesign | WF04 in progress — the landform catalog built from one Grasshopper definition and laid out as a grid |
| 08 Oct 22 |
WF05: Attractor Fields (1 of 2) Writing the rule as pseudocode before building it; Grasshopper basics — data flow, components, wires, sliders and panels; Populate 2D and Line SDL to grow a meadow; Dispatch to carve a mown path |
Rhino 3DGrasshopper | WF04 due — one 11×17 page: a small-multiple catalog of twelve landforms, each moving water a different way, built from one live Grasshopper definition and laid out in InDesign as a 4×3 grid WF05 in progress — the meadow built and a mown path dispatched from it |
| 09 Oct 29 |
WF05: Attractor Fields (2 of 2) Wet areas by Remap — attractor curves, distance functions, and remapped domains driving height across the field; one definition holding two landscape rules; brief for your own meadow garden — ecology, experience, or both |
Rhino 3DGrasshopper | WF05 in progress — the second rule wired into the same definition; three garden options underway |
| 10 Nov 5 |
WF06: Back to Basics (1 of 2) Fast hand graphics demo — line weight, plan graphics, fast sections, one-point perspective, tone by pen hatching; warm-up sketches: a bench and a tree; charrette brief handed out ▸ Lecture: Fast Graphics |
PensTrace Paper | WF06 warm-up sketches drawn in class |
| 11 Nov 12 |
WF06: Back to Basics (2 of 2) Studio charrette — developing the design by hand across drawings, with desk demos and sketching on trace; partner presentations at the end. A triangular plaza in Harlem: plan at 1"=20', two sections at 1"=10', an eye-level perspective |
PensTrace Paper | WF05 due (extended from Bring a first idea for the brief handed out Nov 5; present your design to a partner at the end of class |
| 12 Nov 19 |
WF02: Hybrid Drawing + Deck From hand drawing to presentation deck, the linked-file pipeline a firm uses. Photoshop: scanning your WF06 drawings, white balance with Levels, collaging assets such as a photographed canopy on hand-drawn trunks, and the plan over a black-and-white satellite base. Illustrator: vector diagrams of circulation, materials, and planting, with north arrow and scale bar, on the linked plan. InDesign: laying out the deck |
PhotoshopIllustratorInDesign | WF06 due — three 11"×17" hand-drawn sheets of a triangular plaza in Harlem, photographed and posted to Miro as one PDF WF02 in progress — WF06 drawings scanned and white-balanced; the plan set on its satellite base |
| — Nov 26 |
No class — College closed for Thanksgiving | ||
| 13 Dec 3 |
Final Assembly + Desk Critiques Integrate outputs from the workflows into the final drawing set; individual desk reviews of work in progress; last class session |
All media | WF02 due — a presentation deck of your WF06 project: hybrid drawings, and the plan on an 11"×17" page over a satellite base with Illustrator diagrams, laid out in InDesign from linked files and exported as one PDF Final Drawing Set work-in-progress for desk review |
| — Dec 21 |
End of term — Final Integrated Drawing Set due (integrated set drawing on the graded workflows) and Sketchbook due (10 selected scans) | ||
All students are held to high and consistent standards. Work is considered on its own merits and in relationship to the work of others, to make clear distinctions across the range of work. The full range of the grading scale may be used. Grades are not negotiable. Design work is graded on the following criteria:
- Completeness — Assignments are complete and graphically legible.
- Technical Skills — Executed with appropriate method and proficiency across media.
- Accuracy and Presentation — Completed with precision and presented professionally.
- Effort and Concept — Iterates through multiple drafts; shows experimentation and improvement; concepts are articulated and well-developed.
- Participation — Engages in discussions and group work.
- Attendance — Consistent preparation and on-time presence.
| Grade | Explanation | Quality Points |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | Exceptional | 4.00 |
| A | Excellent | 4.00 |
| A− | 3.70 | |
| B+ | 3.30 | |
| B | Good | 3.00 |
| B− | 2.70 | |
| C+ | 2.30 | |
| C | Satisfactory | 2.00 |
| F | Failure / Unsuccessful Completion | 0.00 |
A grade of C is the lowest passing letter grade for graduate students. Students will not receive credit for this course if their final grade is below C (2.0). Per the Graduate Bulletin, a graduate student with a GPA below 3.0 cannot receive a Master's Degree. For program-specific information on grades, academic standing, probation, and dismissal, meet with the graduate student advisor.
Attendance
This course meets Thursday 9:00 – 11:50 AM in SSA 127. Attendance is required and is taken at all scheduled sessions.
Per CCNY policy on lateness and absence, no distinction is made between excused and unexcused absences, and an instructor may treat lateness as equivalent to absence. For non-clinical courses, the number of hours absent may not exceed twice the number of contact hours the course meets per week. An instructor has the right to drop a student for excessive absence, entering a grade of WU. A student may appeal to the Committee on Course and Standing.
Absence for religious observance or jury duty is an exception. Notify the instructor prior to an absence whenever possible, and append a doctor's note or other written proof where relevant.
Academic Integrity
Academic dishonesty is prohibited at CUNY and is punishable by penalties including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. Plagiarism — presenting the words, drawings, ideas, or opinions of someone else as one's own — is a serious instance of academic dishonesty. All assignments must be the student's original work, produced for this class and no other. Any copying, even short excerpts, from another book, article, or Internet source, published or unpublished, without proper attribution or citation, will result in automatic failure of the course.
You will fail this course if you: (1) submit work used for another course; (2) copy material and submit it as your own without quotation and citation, or otherwise represent another's work as your own; (3) submit the same work as another student. Plagiarized work will be reported to the CCNY Academic Integrity Committee per the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity.
Incompletes
Grades of "incomplete" (INC) are not given unless there is evidence of a medical or personal emergency. In such cases, instructor and student develop a contract to complete work by a specified date, per CCNY policy. This contract must be processed by the academic advisor and approved by the Program Director and the Chair's Office. Missed work due to illness must be explained with a physician's note.
Classroom Civility
All students are expected to participate in class discussions. Meaningful and constructive dialogue is encouraged; discussion should be civil, respectful, and relevant to the topic. This requires a willingness to listen, tolerance for different points of view, and mutual respect from all participants. Guest critics will be informed of this expectation for civility.
Use of Electronic Devices
Students are expected to engage in active learning during class time. Mobile phones, texting, and social media are distracting; please put handheld devices away and out of view during class. The appropriate use of laptops will be discussed. The instructor provides periodic breaks; personal devices may be used during these.
City College Library Research Support
The Spitzer School of Architecture's library is a shared resource and a necessary supplement to all research and design work. Direct questions to library staff or the Architecture Librarian.
nsanchez@ccny.cuny.edu
library.ccny.cuny.edu/architecture
AccessAbility Center (AAC)
The AAC facilitates equal access and coordinates reasonable accommodations and support services for students with disabilities while preserving academic standards. Students registered with the AAC should inform the instructor at the beginning of the semester. Faculty must receive an official accommodation memo before implementing accommodations.
212 650 5913 (TTY/TTD 212 650 8441)
disabilityservices@ccny.cuny.edu
ccny.cuny.edu/accessability
Health and Wellness Services
City College's Office of Health and Wellness Services offers free and confidential counseling.
212 650 8222 — counseling@ccny.cuny.edu
Office of Diversity and Compliance
City College complies with CUNY policies regarding discrimination. The College has resources to support students who have experienced sexual violence, intimate partner/domestic violence, gender- or race-based discrimination, harassment, or stalking. For confidential support, contact the Student Psychological Counselor / Confidential Advocate at 212 650 8905 or the Gender Resources Program at 212 650 8222. The Title IX Coordinator is Diana Cuozzo.
212 650 7330 — dcuozzo@ccny.cuny.edu
ccny.cuny.edu/affirmativeaction
Public Safety
For an emergency on campus, call Public Safety at 212 650 7777. Off campus, call 911.