about ian mcharg

1. Presentation on Urbanist & Planners
C.A. Doxiades , Ian McHarg
Faculty of Architecture and Planning,
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University Lucknow
Presented by- Diler & Jitendra
1

2. IAN L. MCHARG (20 November 1920 – 5 March 2001)
 Ian L. McHarg (20 November 1920 – 5 March 2001) was a Scottish landscape architect and a
renowned writer on regional planning using natural systems.
Ian Lennox McHarg
 INTRODUCTION
 He was the founder of the department of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in the
United States.
 His 1969 book Design with Nature pioneered the concept of ecological planning. It continues to be one
of the most widely celebrated books on landscape architecture and land-use planning.
2

3. LIFE HISTORY
 1950-1951 -
 1954 - He was responsible for
the creation of the Department
of Landscape Architecture at the
University of Pennsylvania.
 The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including
conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing
environmental issues.
3
Ian McHarg (1920–2001) was one of the true pioneers of the environmental movement.
 20 Nov 1920 -
After serving in World War II, McHarg went to the United States to attend Harvard
University, where he picked up degrees in landscape architecture - 1950 and city
planning – 1951.
Born in industrial Scottish city of Glasgow, he gained an early appreciation of the need
for cities to better accommodate the qualities of the natural environment.

4.  1969 -
 Today Design With Nature is considered one of the landmark
publications in the environmental movement.
Layer cake method – overlay concept
4
McHarg, however, would not be confined to the halls
of academia. In 1960, McHarg hosted his own show,
"The House We Live In," on the CBS television
network, an early effort to publicize discussion about
humans and their environment.
 1960 -
The show, along with a later documentary, helped
make McHarg a household name when he published
his landmark book, Design With Nature, in 1969. In
it, McHarg spelled out the need for urban planners
to consider an environmentally conscious approach
to land use, and provided a new method for
evaluating and implementing it.

5.  McHarg established his own practice after his resignation from the firm .
 McHarg was honored with numerous awards and medals, including the Harvard Lifetime
Achievement Award, the National Medal of Art, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal
in Architecture and the Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Certified Planners.
In April 2000, he received the Japan Prize in city planning.
 Ian McHarg died on March 5, 2001, at the age of 80.
5
1962  McHarg and his Harvard classmate David Wallace founded the design firm Wallace-
McHarg Associates
 Renamed Wallace, McHarg, Roberts and Todd, this design firm led the fields of city
planning, urban design and landscape architecture during the 1970s by approaching
design from an ecological perspective.
 Significant projects include the “Inner Harbor Master Plan” for Baltimore, Maryland, “A
Comprehensive Landscape for Washington D.C.” and “Woodlands New Community” in
Houston, Texas.
1965
1979
2001

6.  PHILOSOPHY
 Design with nature had its root in much earlier
landscape philosophies.
 Mcharg was critical of the French baroque style of
garden design and full praise for the English
picturesque style of garden design.
English picturesque garden
French baroque garden
 Fully and intelligently designed human
environments with respect to the conditions of
setting, climate and environment.
6

7.  McHarg's quote came from Design With Nature, in
which he laid forth the argument that form must
follow more than just function; it must also respect
the natural environment in which it is placed
 PHILOSOPHY
 Pointing out that we build where we should farm, cut
forests where we should grow them, and design
forms where we should follow nature's
morphologies.
 McHarg makes clear and comprehensible
recommendations for reversing the destructive
process of development.
7

8.  He focuses mostly on patterns of land use and the morphology of human settlements.
 McHarg views the automobile as a permanent fixture, and discusses how highways can be better
situated in the landscape, not eliminated or scaled back.
 He promoted an ecological view, in which the designer becomes very familiar with the area through
analysis of soil, climate, hydrology.
 Design with nature - define the problems of modern development and present a methodology or
process prescribing compatible solutions
 what he argued was the arrogant and destructive heritage of urban-industrial modernity, a style he
described as "DOMINATE AND DESTROY."
PHILOSOPHY
8

9.  In 1954 McHarg was recruited by the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of City and Regional
Planning to become an assistant professor and to create a Landscape Architecture specialty.
 Mr. McHarg, founded the university's department of landscape architecture and regional planning 46
years ago and ran it for three decades.
 He was also an early advocate of restricting plantings to native species, both for philosophical reasons
and because introducing a foreign species can sometimes disrupt the ecology of an area.
 In 1957 Wallace was hired by the Greater Baltimore Committee (a private association of significant
“stakeholders” in downtown affairs 5) to create a plan for Baltimore’s torpid Central Business District
(CBD).
 WORKS
9

10.  McHarg was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Harvard Lifetime Achievement
Award, the Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Certified Planners, and 15 medals,
including the 1990 National Medal of Arts, the American Society of Landscape Architects Medal,
and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia. In
1992, he received the Neutra Medal for Professional Excellence from the California State
Polytechnic University, Pomona. In 2000, he received the Japan Prize in city planning, which is
presented to scientists or researchers who have made a substantial contribution to the advancement
of those fields.
10
 AWARDS

11. 11
 Major projects
Ian McHarg was the original co-designer of The Woodlands, Texas, an unincorporated community in
Montgomery County, Texas.
This community was developed from timberland located thirty miles north of Houston, by George P.
Mitchell, who hired McHarg to consult on the project and, as a result, the original plans featured many of
his unique designs
The Woodlands, Texas