AbstractsPhilosophy & Theology

This thesis aims to gain an understanding of how philosophical hermeneutics, a branch of philosophy concerned with the art of interpretation, can aid in the design process proper to landscape architecture. This research is driven by the question of how hermeneutics might orient and help to construct a creative framework that enables the landscape architect to articulate an understanding of the site through the process of design. The claim that the thesis makes is grounded in the notion of dialogic space. Dialogic space constructs a framework for the creative understanding the design of a site embodies. This is accomplished by interpreting the living traditions found within a site and bringing them into conversation with client, user, landscape architect, and ecosystem, in order to create a design that creates conditions for the possibility of calling the user, the other and world into question.