Garden Design

Garden design is an ancient art. But what about it today? What really does a garden designer? The objective of this course is to deepen students experience in design principles and creative approaches in garden design in relation to modern needs and lifestyle.

The prosperous industry around experience and lifestyle denotes how, in its different forms and with several meanings, the garden more and more coexists happily with living rooms, kitchens, interiors and furniture in our own home. It represents our life and us. Garden is like private nature, pleasure place and productive space; often garden is like dream.

So garden designer combines art, creativity and techniques to provide a complete design service, including planting plans, so-called hard landscape elements (paths, walls, paving, decking) and special features such as water features, lighting and garden furniture to create magic and amazing atmospheres. The summer programme includes:

Romantic Italian gardens: This course gives you the opportunity to explore the rich and varied history of gardens in Rome. You will immerse yourself in the amazing and magic atmospheres of the most beautiful historical gardens whilst learning about the people who enjoyed and lived them.

Garden as dream: This course will explore main special contemporary gardens. The course focuses on the principles of composition and language, on the conformation of spaces and atmospheres, on use of plant and natural materials, on innovation, on the interpretation of the character of a landscape context.

Reading place, writing place: This course will explore the notion of “place” through the analysis of its hidden values. It will introduce to the concept of “genius loci” and how it can be translated in garden design.

Garden as idea: With the aim of educating the imagination and the ability to translate ideas and suggestions into a garden, the lab provides some short exercises of transcription and interpretations of references ranging from literature, cinema, and figurative art.

Course leader

Fabio Manfredi is an architect and landscaper who worked like teacher, tutor and researcher in several International Universities (Netherlands, Belgium, Spain). Actually he is teacher in Garden Design at Quasar Design University.

Target group

First the programme is for current students who are looking for an international experience to immerse themselves in the garden design world, thinking today whilst exploring our rich history.
This programme is aimed to whom wishes to work on this field, producing design work for clients, or teaming up with a garden contractor to see the job through to completion, to whom wants to develop specialised skills about historic garden restoration, public or private spaces design.
The training course is also aimed at professionals who wish to broaden and enrich their design experience about garden.
To attend this course, participants must have completed at least two years of an undergraduate degree in Design, garden design or architecture or have at least three years of design experience.

Course aim

The course delivers theoretical lectures, design studios and external visits aimed to provide a exhaustive background of knowledge about garden design.
Through an overview of the contemporary garden design and surveys at the most important Italian historical gardens placed in Rome, the course provides a in-depth knowledge of value of garden and its design along the time.
Through practical teachings the course stimulates inventiveness and ability to translate ideas and suggestions into a design, by developing “creative concepts”. Meantime the training also offers knowledge of technical and technological issues that involve the building of garden and its maintenance.
In addition the course provides technical drawing skills (free-hand sketching as well as digital elaborations) aimed to translate ideas and designs into a dissertation or presentation.