A Parametric Reflection Model for Design Tools in Landscape Architecture

Abstract

Tools are not neutral instruments in landscape-architectural design: they shape how ideas emerge, how decisions are structured, and what solutions become thinkable. While analogue sketches remain central to early ideation, the growing diversity of digital and physical-digital methods raises the question of how these instruments are perceived, weighted and reflected upon in practice.

This paper introduces and tests a Parametric Reflection Model (PRM) as a pilot instrument for operationalising perceived tool influence in landscape-architectural workflows. Drawing on Schön's concept of reflection-in-action and Gänshirt's cyclical model of design, the PRM encodes tool influence via sphere diameter and everyday familiarity via Z-position within a three-dimensional spatial interface. Two expert case studies and an extended practitioner survey (n = 17) demonstrate a consistent tool hierarchy: digital and analogue drawing dominate early design phases, digital models gain strategic relevance, physical-digital tools remain marginal. Reflection ratings reveal a functional divide: analogue sketches support creative exploration, digital drawings and models support efficiency and communication. Generative AI tools are excluded on methodological grounds, as their output stochasticity is incompatible with the PRM's comparative parameter logic. The study contributes a first tested iteration of the PRM as a reflective instrument for design practice and research.