Tectonic Approach in Landscape Architecture: A Review

Abstract

Tectonic theory is an integrative philosophy that examined the relations formed between design, construction, and space while create or experience architecture. Various tectonic perspectives since 1852 considering ‘space’ as an important parameter in tectonic were reviewed. This study aimed at proposing a new definition of landscape tectonics and exploring ways of developing new related aspects in future research. Hence, in order to promote new aspects of landscape, the tectonic approach was first subdivided into distinct concepts and a systematic analysis of the literature was then conducted to identify the knowledge gaps. A descriptive-relative study was, further, carried on including a bibliometric methodology collecting qualitative and quantitative methods of 54 articles; and the related themes and trends were determined via a qualitative comparison of the co-occurrence of the term maps. Moreover, the cluster maps from the VOS viewer[1] program revealed the coalescence of the concepts. Finally, the most frequently cited keywords, along with the ones encoded from the articles, were pointed out based on the Web Of Science database. Based on WOS database, the most cited keywords were configuration, distribution pattern, land and fragment; whereas encoding the articles pointed out the terms architecture, building, space, material and environment. This study, therefore, proposes a new definition of landscape tectonic. Investigating new interactions between keywords and areas of tectonic and opened a new page for the development of the new aspects of this field in future researches.