Dr David Buck

My current research draws conceptually and directly on music notation in its investigation of the temporality of landscape architecture. It argues that the rich history of notating time in music provides a critical model for this under-researched and theorized aspect of landscape architecture, while also ennobling sound in the sensory appreciation of landscape.

Rather than the research of others which references Baroque, Classical or Romantic music, I focus on innovations in twentieth century notation while addressing their omission of sound, which in importing aspects of music notation into design, they curiously left behind.

I currently focus on correlating sound to notions of ecology and examining the enhanced potential for sound as an aspect of urban spatial experience created by the demise of the combustion engine.

My PhD is the first Doctorate by Design in landscape in the UK and was nominated for the RIBA President’s Research Prize. It has been published in a sole-authored monograph for Routledge, titled A Musicology for Landscape, as part of their Design Research in Architecture series, which ‘seeks out the best proponents of architectural design research from around the world.’

I have also appeared on Radio 3’s flagship music programme, Music Matters.