COURSES
In working to become a more effective educator, Nina Briggs is practicing the self-reflective work of de-centering and creating active-listening spaces for students – to validate students’ lived experiences and perspectives. Nina finds that rooting curriculum in epistemology - which helps to safeguard against subjectivity and leads to social learning theory – observing what behaviors are vicariously reinforced and understanding how social power works. Social learning theory prompts critical theory, to reveal and challenge power structures and cultural assumptions, without which, even justified schools of thought can become obstacles to free-thinking and questioning.
Once these theories are intellectually adopted as a lens through which to seek truth, investigations of further theories that challenge inequitable structures become easier to understand, for the investigator is becoming more empathetic and culturally aware. This opens the mind to the exploration of social identity theory, critical whiteness theory, lived experience theory, phenomenology, etc. - ultimately constructing a genuine consideration of who is perceived as ‘the other’. Although these theories are the foundation of the curriculums Nina crafts, they are not readily visible in the coursework. She offers gentle journeys of questioning – seeing the world through an unfamiliar lens. The current sociopolitical divide and pandemic have exposed multiple layers of social inequities, and the cry to dismantle the systems that uphold them is louder than ever. Now is the time to reckon with how erased (or romanticized) histories became design ideology and shaped contemporary landscapes.
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fall 1st year bsla design studios
LA1111L Design I: FIGURE-GROUND STUDIO
Team-taught with Studio Coordinator: Rennie Tang, Kevin Finch and Lorena Garcia, fundamental concepts in design and their connection to Landscape Architecture are explored - with emphasis on the creative investigation of space and form in relationship to the human body. Investigations entail hands-on drawing and construction projects that engage students with the foundational discourse of Landscape Architecture.
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spring 3rd year bsla topic studios
LA 3121L Design VI: APPLIED SITE DESIGN
Studio course focused on application of site engineering principles and approaches in response to conceptual, technical, programmatic and experiential design criteria. Projects explore fundamental site relationships above, below, within, and away from a project site including landform and finished grading, grade change structures, water movement and management, planting, materials and other applied site design considerations.
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fall special topics for ud students
LA 4990: JUSTICEscape
Investigations on how caste is constructed by spatial means, linking theories and policies throughout history to explore racism and its legacies of colonialism and social inequity. Emphasis on connections to migratory politics, public health, land use, the environment and representations in the built environment - engaging students’ insights on the discourse of humanness in Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Architecture.
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spring 1st year bsla design studios
LA 1121L: Design II: TOPOGRAPHIC FORM
The second course in the lower division design sequence, focusing on the generation of topographic form using modeling techniques and materials. Investigations emphasize the generation of 2D and 3D form through spatial operations crafted by a combination of digital and analog tools. Abstract constructs introduce landform, and how it can be manipulated to create strong visual, performative, and experiential effects.
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fall 3rd year bsla topic studios
LA 3111L: Design V: LANDSCAPE SYSTEMS
Exploring the poetic application of landscape systems as a design framework for a public open spaces. Expressing connection between systems, infrastructures, movement, hydrology and topography is the studio focus. Using parametric 3D modeling tools, projects create dynamic fields of flows, filters, reservoirs, and sinks for human, community and environmental systems across multiple physical and temporal scales.
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spring special topics for env students
LA 4782: JUSTICEscape
The language of design has power through narrative and art to shift perceptions and spark positive change. JUSTICEscape interrupts assumptions of ‘white normality’ sustained by classic and modern design canons manifested through space and the cultural production thereof. Students craft narratives, giving character to speculative futures, imagined realities - views into lived experiences ethically reshaping the landscape.
