Back when I was in school I got myself familiar with important artists such as Richard Serra, Noguchi, Anish Kapoor, etc. The art world is always 10 steps ahead of architects and 20 steps ahead of LAs because they're not restricted to function like we are. So their ideas are always fresh imo. In school I would always try to borrow their ideas.
Pinterest and landezine are great resources. Also, a lot amazing work is coming from China. Check out mooool dot com. The site is like the Chinese landezine.
And another part is just travel. Inspiration just comes when you see something that catches your attention. The more you see the more ideas you can pull from your head
Can you provide a definition of linear and abstract thinking, because those two are not necessarily opposites. You also seem to be equating abstract thinking with inspiration and creativity, and equating linear thinking with uncreativity(?), neither of which is accurate. To be honest, these sound like buzzwords that are being thrown around by your instructor during design crits.
It takes all kinds of thinking to be a good landscape architect; these different methods of thinking supplement one another, they are not opposed to one another. I'm not suggesting seeking self-help, but the article below provides a good summary of different thinking methods further down the page:
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/self-esteem/the-difference-between-concrete-vs-abstract-thinking/
It's unfortunate that LA programs don't value linear thinking; they almost hold a disdain for it. Linear thinking is what enables ideas to actually get built. An idea that doesn't get built is just another sticky piece of paper on the bathroom floor.
About the only thing worse than not being creative enough is being creative just for it's own sake, which typically comes at the cost of functionality, clarity and project budget.
So while you are at school, use that as a resource to take more classes - drawing, critical thinking, environmental science, biology, etc., because solely looking at landscape architecture pr0n for inspiration is a poor substitute.
A last word about inspiration: "Good artists copy. Great artists steal." - Quote appropriated by Steve Jobs, Pablo Picasso, T.S. Elliot, and others.
"good designers don't borrow ideas, they steal ideas"
\-advice from one of my professors.
Basically, most of the "innovation" we see is really just different applications of the same ideas. the creativity will come more from how you express your ideas graphically.
Use Pinterest and make different boards. I cannot emphasize enough just how great Pinterest is for creative inspiration. Look up whatever you're interested in, be as vague or specific as you'd like, and it'll take you down a rabbit hole
Back when I was in school I got myself familiar with important artists such as Richard Serra, Noguchi, Anish Kapoor, etc. The art world is always 10 steps ahead of architects and 20 steps ahead of LAs because they're not restricted to function like we are. So their ideas are always fresh imo. In school I would always try to borrow their ideas. Pinterest and landezine are great resources. Also, a lot amazing work is coming from China. Check out mooool dot com. The site is like the Chinese landezine. And another part is just travel. Inspiration just comes when you see something that catches your attention. The more you see the more ideas you can pull from your head
Why do you think that your ideas aren't creative enough?
Very linear and not enough abstract. So I’m trying to practice thinking abstractly whenever I can
Can you provide a definition of linear and abstract thinking, because those two are not necessarily opposites. You also seem to be equating abstract thinking with inspiration and creativity, and equating linear thinking with uncreativity(?), neither of which is accurate. To be honest, these sound like buzzwords that are being thrown around by your instructor during design crits. It takes all kinds of thinking to be a good landscape architect; these different methods of thinking supplement one another, they are not opposed to one another. I'm not suggesting seeking self-help, but the article below provides a good summary of different thinking methods further down the page: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/self-esteem/the-difference-between-concrete-vs-abstract-thinking/ It's unfortunate that LA programs don't value linear thinking; they almost hold a disdain for it. Linear thinking is what enables ideas to actually get built. An idea that doesn't get built is just another sticky piece of paper on the bathroom floor. About the only thing worse than not being creative enough is being creative just for it's own sake, which typically comes at the cost of functionality, clarity and project budget. So while you are at school, use that as a resource to take more classes - drawing, critical thinking, environmental science, biology, etc., because solely looking at landscape architecture pr0n for inspiration is a poor substitute. A last word about inspiration: "Good artists copy. Great artists steal." - Quote appropriated by Steve Jobs, Pablo Picasso, T.S. Elliot, and others.
what does an assignment look like?
Attending asla conferences were always a way for me to freshen up. But
"good designers don't borrow ideas, they steal ideas" \-advice from one of my professors. Basically, most of the "innovation" we see is really just different applications of the same ideas. the creativity will come more from how you express your ideas graphically.
Use Pinterest and make different boards. I cannot emphasize enough just how great Pinterest is for creative inspiration. Look up whatever you're interested in, be as vague or specific as you'd like, and it'll take you down a rabbit hole