Our observations of landscape architecture students revealed a new phenomenon-interstices. Their bimanual interactions with a pen and touch surface involved various sustained hand gestures, interleaved between their regular commands. Positioning of the non-preferred hand indicates anticipated actions, including: sustained hovering near the surface; pulled back but still floating above the surface; and resting in their laps. We ran a second study with 14 landscape architect students which confirmed our observations, and uncovered a new interstice i.e. stabilizing the preferred hand while handwriting. We conclude with directions for future research and challenges for designers and researchers.

We derive a theory of multiscale design through a study of a landscape architecture studio classroom. We find that processes of designing, to meet a site's situated needs, involve creating and connecting representations across levels, such as overview and detail. We introduce multiscale design theory, which works to understand how designers explore, juxtapose, and synthesize relationships across levels of scale. We identify three design strategies landscape architecture students use to work with scale: multiply, map, and shift perspective. We combine these strategies with prior literature, across fields, to initiate a theory of multiscale design.