The Landscape Question in the Work of Rosa Barba: The Landscape Project and the Abstraction of Territory

Abstract

An advocate of landscaping and landscape architecture as fundamental tools in the revitalisation of urban planning in the late 20th century, architect Rosa Barba both energised and modernised the discipline of landscape architecture in Spain by delving into previously unchartered waters and approaching landscape both from a perspective of conceptual innovation and in an effort to offer a response to the issues of the day. From a stance that was simultaneously theoretical, academic and professional, she offered a critical perspective of city, territory and landscape and envisioned new horizons for architecture and urbanism through landscaping, thereby broadening the scope of these disciplines. Her work establishes relevant, pioneering contributions to landscape design and transformation that are still relevant today. The purpose of this article is to offer, via analysis of some of her principal projects, an in-depth examination of the theoretical and disciplinary position from which she approached the landscape question and explored the possibility of improving the conceptual and technical instruments and models used for the analysis and interpretation of the same in a broad, complex manner that both offers a response to the concerns of the day and establishes a theory of landscape intervention.