From Explorer to Pioneer: Martha Schwartz’s Philosophy of Design Education, Practice and Research

Martha Schwartz is the first female designer who obtained a tenured position at Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has a remarkable international influence in the domain of landscape architecture education and practice. In this interview, Martha explained her core philosophy of design education, practice and research. Her fundamental teaching philosophy is centered on the need to help students to overcome the fear of design; the formation of their design philosophy and expressions; development of intuition and cognition through observations and hand-eye-coordination training. She stated that design should not merely aim to resolve environmental issues, but to build emotional connections with people through design. In this conversation, the history of creating the Bagel Garden was covered, together with the influences produced by publishing it in the Landscape Architecture Magazine. The discussion also highlighted the role of landscape research in resolving urban environmental issues and potential contributions to a decarbonized earth system.