Processing natural time: Lawrence Halprin and the Sea Ranch ecoscore

摘要

The RSVP Cycles: Creative Process in the Human Environment, written by Lawrence Halprin in 1969, intertwines design and time in a variety of ways.1 The discussion of this relationship pivots around questions that today may seem familiar, but for Halprin in the 1960s appeared poorly resolved and in need of further examination: How do natural processes generate form? How can designers incorporate these processes into their work? How can this incorporation help mediate human impact upon the land?Given the broad scope of Halprin's temporal musings and the challenging questions he engaged, this essay concentrates only on those ideas and images related to Halprin's interest in natural history, and, in particular, his forays into geology, ecology and physiology. With regard to geologic time, this discussion references Halprin's observations of landscape morphology and its cyclical processes of accretion and erosion; with respect to ecologic time, it considers Halprin's response to the impact of human action upon the landscape's natural morphology; and finally in terms of physiologic time, the discussion examines Halprin's formulation of a landscape design strategy that mirrors the human body's imperative for homeostasis, or equilibrated exchange,between internal and external conditions. What becomes immediately apparent, even within this prescribed framework, was Halprin's ability to assimilate and reformulate a variety of temporal concepts into a unique design philosophy. The Sea Ranch, which Halprin helped plan, and where he lived and studied the landscape, serves as the case study for the analysis.