LA 212 ASTRID
MIDTERM.QUESTIONS
AND CORRECT ANSWERS
GRADED A+ 2025-2026
Define the profession of Landscape Architecture according to ASLA - ANS-Landscape
architecture encompasses the analysis, planning, design, management, and
stewardship of the natural and built environments.
What is ASLA - ANS-The American Society of Landscape Architects, founded in 1899.
What is the ASLA Mission? - ANS-To lead, to educate, to partici[ate in the careful
stewardship, wise planning and artful design of our cultural and natural environments.
What is a Cultural landscape? - ANS-They have been defined by the World Heritage
Committee as distinct geographical areas or properties uniquely...representing the
combined work of nature and man. They give us a sense of place (Genius Loci). They
reveal our relationship with land over time. They help display the history of human
culture: our values of time and space.
According to the Cultural Landscapes Foundation, name 4 different Cultural
landscapes types. - ANS-1. Historic Sites
2. Historic Designed Landscapes
3. Historic Vernacular Landscapes
4. Ethnographic Landscapes
Define the Historic Sites Cultural Landscape. What is an example? - ANS-A landscape
significant for its association with a historic event, activity, or person.
Example: Mission San Antonio de Valero in San Antonio, Texas. 1744.
,Define the Historic Designed Cultural Landscape. What is an example? - ANS-A
landscape that was consciously designed or laid out by a landscape architect, master
gardener, architect, or horticulturist according to design principles, or an amateur
gardener working in a recognized style or tradition.
Example: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.
Define the Historic Vernacular Cultural Landscape. What is an example? - ANS-A
landscape that evolved through use by the people whose activities or occupancy
shaped that landscape.
Example: Bodie, CA, 1859. State historic park. Gold mining town in a state of arrested
decay.
Define the Ethnographic Cultural Landscape. What is an example? - ANS-A landscape
containing a variety of natural and cultural resources that associated people define as
heritage resources.
Example: Canyon de Chelly. National Monument. Home of the Navajo nation.
Define Genius Loci. - ANS-Spirit or sense of place. Each design should be unique to the
setting of place. (Alexander Pope).
Early Colonial Gardens were primarily used for what purpose? How were they laid out?
(Design Style). - ANS-Control of one's environment and protection from it. Utilitarian,
small, contained, seeds and roots from home.
Kitchen Gardens: Organized in a grid "Compartimenti" Style.
Functional Purposes: Growing food.
What was the design philosophy of the establishment and layout of William Penn's
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? - ANS-"Green Towne"- Utopian City Planning where
everyone was equal- Rural Community. it was a Port Town on the Delaware and
Schuylkill Rivers. 10,000 acres with a 1,200 acre core. 4 quadrants with 1/2 acre- 1 acre
parcel lots in the city surrounded by 80 acre gentleman farms. 100 foot wide avenues,
gardens. During the 18th Century, it was used to graze animals. During the
Revolutionary War, the site was a burial ground. In the 1800s it became park like and
fashionable to live in this neighborhood. Wide streets, large lots, storage, gathering
areas, parks, set up to avoid what happened in London. Space around homes, prevent
fire and disease from spreading.
, Who is James Oglethorpe? What is significant about him? - ANS-English General,
Philanthropist and social reformer and member of Parliament. 1732 Charter from King
George II which secured freedom for debtors. Wanted to reform prisons through town
design and agriculture, offer land to work on to pay off debt. Parks were important to
him. Savannah, Georgia. Ward of 40 houses which includes for each family the
following: house lot, 5 acre garden plot, 44 acre farm plot.
What is the significant about the layout of James Oglethorpe's Savannah, Georgia? -
ANS-Blocks of ten houses, each around a "green" with room for churches and other
public buildings. Grid, each debtor given a lot of land to cultivate. It was never meant
to be an urban mass.
What was the principle design philosophy that was used in the design of Colonial
Williamsburg? - ANS-Originally established as Middle Plantation in 1632, it became the
new capital of Virginia as Williamsburg in 1699. French influence with promenade.
The design of the Governor's House in Colonial Williamsburg was based on what
design principles? What type of design elements were used to express this? - ANS-
Formal layout of the French and Italian Renaissance with parterres, geometric layout,
topiaries, maze, naturalistic park based on the English Renaissance ideals, pleaded
allee, etc.
President George Washington's Mt. Vernon was laid out in what design style, copied
from Europe? - ANS-Features serpentine walls, rolling meadows, parterre gardens.
The politics and belief system that Thomas Jefferson had played an important part in
the design of Monticello and the the University of Virginia. What were they and how
was this expressed in the design of these places? - ANS-University designed as an
"Academical Village." There was a focus on learning, village built around library which
was the highest point on campus. Pavilions for writing, lawn for meeting, debating and
socializing.
What is an "Academical Village"? - ANS-Communal living, communal education.
Students and professors live in the same community, living-learning community.
Lawns were used for central discussion. The library was the most important place on
campus. The back side of campus was gardens.
MIDTERM.QUESTIONS
AND CORRECT ANSWERS
GRADED A+ 2025-2026
Define the profession of Landscape Architecture according to ASLA - ANS-Landscape
architecture encompasses the analysis, planning, design, management, and
stewardship of the natural and built environments.
What is ASLA - ANS-The American Society of Landscape Architects, founded in 1899.
What is the ASLA Mission? - ANS-To lead, to educate, to partici[ate in the careful
stewardship, wise planning and artful design of our cultural and natural environments.
What is a Cultural landscape? - ANS-They have been defined by the World Heritage
Committee as distinct geographical areas or properties uniquely...representing the
combined work of nature and man. They give us a sense of place (Genius Loci). They
reveal our relationship with land over time. They help display the history of human
culture: our values of time and space.
According to the Cultural Landscapes Foundation, name 4 different Cultural
landscapes types. - ANS-1. Historic Sites
2. Historic Designed Landscapes
3. Historic Vernacular Landscapes
4. Ethnographic Landscapes
Define the Historic Sites Cultural Landscape. What is an example? - ANS-A landscape
significant for its association with a historic event, activity, or person.
Example: Mission San Antonio de Valero in San Antonio, Texas. 1744.
,Define the Historic Designed Cultural Landscape. What is an example? - ANS-A
landscape that was consciously designed or laid out by a landscape architect, master
gardener, architect, or horticulturist according to design principles, or an amateur
gardener working in a recognized style or tradition.
Example: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.
Define the Historic Vernacular Cultural Landscape. What is an example? - ANS-A
landscape that evolved through use by the people whose activities or occupancy
shaped that landscape.
Example: Bodie, CA, 1859. State historic park. Gold mining town in a state of arrested
decay.
Define the Ethnographic Cultural Landscape. What is an example? - ANS-A landscape
containing a variety of natural and cultural resources that associated people define as
heritage resources.
Example: Canyon de Chelly. National Monument. Home of the Navajo nation.
Define Genius Loci. - ANS-Spirit or sense of place. Each design should be unique to the
setting of place. (Alexander Pope).
Early Colonial Gardens were primarily used for what purpose? How were they laid out?
(Design Style). - ANS-Control of one's environment and protection from it. Utilitarian,
small, contained, seeds and roots from home.
Kitchen Gardens: Organized in a grid "Compartimenti" Style.
Functional Purposes: Growing food.
What was the design philosophy of the establishment and layout of William Penn's
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? - ANS-"Green Towne"- Utopian City Planning where
everyone was equal- Rural Community. it was a Port Town on the Delaware and
Schuylkill Rivers. 10,000 acres with a 1,200 acre core. 4 quadrants with 1/2 acre- 1 acre
parcel lots in the city surrounded by 80 acre gentleman farms. 100 foot wide avenues,
gardens. During the 18th Century, it was used to graze animals. During the
Revolutionary War, the site was a burial ground. In the 1800s it became park like and
fashionable to live in this neighborhood. Wide streets, large lots, storage, gathering
areas, parks, set up to avoid what happened in London. Space around homes, prevent
fire and disease from spreading.
, Who is James Oglethorpe? What is significant about him? - ANS-English General,
Philanthropist and social reformer and member of Parliament. 1732 Charter from King
George II which secured freedom for debtors. Wanted to reform prisons through town
design and agriculture, offer land to work on to pay off debt. Parks were important to
him. Savannah, Georgia. Ward of 40 houses which includes for each family the
following: house lot, 5 acre garden plot, 44 acre farm plot.
What is the significant about the layout of James Oglethorpe's Savannah, Georgia? -
ANS-Blocks of ten houses, each around a "green" with room for churches and other
public buildings. Grid, each debtor given a lot of land to cultivate. It was never meant
to be an urban mass.
What was the principle design philosophy that was used in the design of Colonial
Williamsburg? - ANS-Originally established as Middle Plantation in 1632, it became the
new capital of Virginia as Williamsburg in 1699. French influence with promenade.
The design of the Governor's House in Colonial Williamsburg was based on what
design principles? What type of design elements were used to express this? - ANS-
Formal layout of the French and Italian Renaissance with parterres, geometric layout,
topiaries, maze, naturalistic park based on the English Renaissance ideals, pleaded
allee, etc.
President George Washington's Mt. Vernon was laid out in what design style, copied
from Europe? - ANS-Features serpentine walls, rolling meadows, parterre gardens.
The politics and belief system that Thomas Jefferson had played an important part in
the design of Monticello and the the University of Virginia. What were they and how
was this expressed in the design of these places? - ANS-University designed as an
"Academical Village." There was a focus on learning, village built around library which
was the highest point on campus. Pavilions for writing, lawn for meeting, debating and
socializing.
What is an "Academical Village"? - ANS-Communal living, communal education.
Students and professors live in the same community, living-learning community.
Lawns were used for central discussion. The library was the most important place on
campus. The back side of campus was gardens.
