Mira Engler

Abstract, Reframing Landscape History session, Society of Architectural Historians, April 2016, Pasadena, Los Angeles, CA.


This paper locates landscape studies in the context of visual consumer culture, focusing on the production modes and marketing strategies of three media-savvy trendsetters in landscape and garden design: the eighteenth-century landscape gardener Humphry Repton, postwar townscape designer Gordon Cullen, and contemporary garden designer and host of HGTV garden shows Jamie Durie.
Since the 1700s gardens and landscapes have performed like idealized lifestyle commodities via attractive images in mass media as landscape design and consumer markets became increasingly entangled. I examine the work and impacts of these three influential figures and trace the broad diffusion of their work through a representative sample of their “followers.”
To promote their products and address the professional market, clients, and mainstream audience, they assumed the roles of tastemaker authority, image maker and educator, and informer and entertainer, respectively. Each laid the foundation for subsequent designers who drew on mixed media to promote not only their work but also the public experience of landscape. Though different in their message and significance, these designers successfully appealed to a growing consumer market within the context of the economy and media technology of their time.
Drawing on primary and secondary sources, I show that they persuasively packaged and “sold” their “merchandise” and produced a new sensory-laden and immersive understanding of landscape. Their drive for professional and public appeal led them to bridge theory and practice, use the “art of compromise,” borrow and mix pictorial devices from high- and low-brow art genres, and privilege the perspective technique over others—elements that became identifiable trends in landscape design practice.
By using media and consumerist arts perspectives in garden and landscape studies I offer a new interpretive path toward a historical knowledge that incorporates the landscape designer’s modus operandi and explains the broadening appeal and public experience of landscape design.

During the post-war era, the emerging consumer economy radically changed both the discourse and practice of architecture. It was a time where architecture became a mainstream commodity whose products sold through mass media; a time in which Thomas Gordon Cullen came to be one of Britain’s best-known twentieth-century architectural draftsmen.
Despite Cullen’s wide acclaim, there has been little research into his life and work; particularly his printed images and his methods of operation. This book examines Cullen’s drawings and book design and also looks into his process of image making to help explain his considerable popularity and influence which continues to this day. It presents the lessons Cullen had to offer in today’s design culture and practice and looks into the post-war consumerist design strategies that are still commonly used.

One of the most visible consequences of our
society's breakneck level of production and
consumption is the increasing amount of land
designated as landfill and other waste disposal
and processing sites. Often located in marginal
areas or adjacent to politically and economically
dispossessed communities, these places
are usually ignored by mainstream society, as
is the garbage that fills them. Even with the
greater awareness of the problems of waste
disposal inspired by recycling programs and
anti-littering ads, we would much rather take
the garbage out than think about where it's
going.
In Designing America's Waste Landscapes, landscape
architect and scholar Mira Engler takes a
close look at the landfills, recycling and waste
transfer centers, and sewage treatment plants
that accommodate and redistribute the byproducts
of consumption. For Engler, waste is
not only a pervasive, essential, and constructive
process of civilization; it is a key element
in the way we consider, order, and shape our
landscape. Yet the overwhelmingly negative,
defensive perceptions we have of these places
-and their marginalization within public
debate-limits our ability to respond creatively
and effectively to the growing problem
of waste disposal.
Engler addresses two distinct aspects of waste
landscapes in America: the historic and cultural
context of waste and the theories, practices,
and concerns of the planners, engineers,
landscape designers, and other waste management
professionals. She reviews the physical
evolution of waste sites across the country,
scrutinizes perceptions and representations of
these landscapes, and highlights attempts by
environmental designers and artists to change
public perceptions. Illustrated with more than
70 photographs, maps, drawings, and other
images, Designing America's Waste Landscapes
is a cogent and compelling inquiry into the
scientific, environmental, and aesthetic parameters
of cutting-edge waste management
technology and design.
Mira Engler is an associate professor of landscape
architecture at Iowa State University.
Center Books on Contemporary
Landscape Design
Frederick R. Steiner, Consulting Editor
George F. Thompson, Series Founder
and Director
Published in cooperation with the Center for
American Places, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and
Staunton, Virginia