Landscape As Art and Ecology ─ Lectures by Roberto Burle Marx

Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) remains one of the leading landscape architects ever. The significance of his landscape design lies in his use of abstract shapes that rarely employ symmetry, and his use of tropical, mainly Brazilian, flora. His distinctive and widely acclaimed work has been featured and referenced in numerous sources, yet few of Burle Marx's own words have been published. This book of previously unpublished lectures fills this void. The lectures, delivered on international speaking tours, address topics such as: "The Garden as an Art in Living," "Gardens and Ecology," and "The Problem of Garden Lighting." Their timely publication helps shed light on Burle Marx's distinctive style and ethos of landscape as a way of life.

Gareth Doherty is an assistant professor of landscape architecture and senior research associate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he is also director of the Master in Landscape Architecture Program. He is author of Paradoxes of Green: Landscapes of a City-State, published in 2017 by the University of California Press. Previous publications include, Is Landscape...? Essays on the Identity of Landscape, edited with Charles Waldheim (Routledge, 2016); and Ecological Urbanism, edited with Mohsen Mostafavi (Lars Mu‥ller Publishers, 2010, revised in 2016). Doherty is a founding editor of the New Geographies journal and editor in chief of New Geographies 3: Urbanisms of Color.

Leonardo Finotti is a Brazilian photographer with an international reputation. Whether the results of commissions or his personal initiatives, his photos are published all over the world. His visual research revolves around cities and architecture, with solo and group exhibitions and works shown in important public and private collections. He runs obra comunicacao, a collaborative communication office that produces articles, exhibitions, and catalogs. Previous publications include Futebol (Lars Mu‥ller Publishers, 2014) and A Collection of Latin American Modern Architecture (Lars Mu‥ller Publishers, 2016).