Captured Landscapes, Living Montages

The thesis reintroduces photography and photomontage as active, iterative tools in landscape architecture. It addresses the gap between conventional site analysis and the lived, temporal, and atmospheric realities of place that maps, plans, and idealised visualisations often overlook.

Historical research traces visual communication from the Picturesque and Repton’s Red Books through photography’s documentary and speculative roles to photomontage as a medium for layering meanings and temporalities.

A framework combining phenomenological observation, critical spatial practice, and temporal landscape theory is tested on a neglected urban fragment called the Patch. Photography documents conditions excluded from planning; montage transforms them into speculative narratives connecting observation with design exploration.

The research argues that these visual methods can systematically document, interpret, and reimagine landscapes, revealing new narratives and design potential even in small, marginal urban fragments.