I've got networking on the brain.  Despite increasingly digital interfacing, personal connections still rule, so here we are.  Of course, everyone uses the word "networking," and whether you're looking for work or not, having a network to leverage - for whatever - is a very good thing.…

The dry arroyo wasn’t dry when I visited Mesa Arts Center last fall. This gold tile and lava rock gash in the so-called Shadow Walk that arcs through the site was supposed to be dry most of the time—like an actual desert arroyo—but it seems the water runs almost constantly. “I don’t know of anybody that has seen it…

No longer the undeveloped concrete eyesore it once was, Discovery Green has been transformed into a 12-acre, LEED Gold certified public park located in Houston's dense urban core. Opened in 2008, the park was the result of a successful public-private partnership between the City of Houston and Discovery Green Conservancy and has been incredibly well-received by millions of visitors.  …

Nature possesses the ability to adjust and morph to the ever changing environment.  We have managed to present Mother Nature with a few road blocks, but nature has found ways to progress past the wounds that we have made. Only in recent years have people tried to reverse the effects we have had on our environment. It is in these attempts at solving…

The Library of American Landscape History (LALH) just launched its first online film, Designing in the Prairie Spirit (free, 12 min.). The film features internationally renowned landscape architect Darrel Morrison, who reflects on his childhood in Iowa and the impact of Jens…

Remember college field trips? Besides the imbibing and canoodling and hijinx (to resurrect a few words sure to make me seem older than I am), do you remember the places you went? You might have sketchbooks or slide-sleeves or flash-drives full of your recollections. You must have spent hours (initially at the urging of a prof but later out of your own fascination) documenting materials,…

GROUND UP is an annual print and web publication created by students in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. It is intended to stimulate thought, discussion, visual exploration and substantive speculation about emerging landscape issues…

Dear Readers,

The entire essay can be found at: http://m.designobserver.com/places/feature/landscape-is-our-sex/31228/

David wrote:…

Hi Everyone,

I just wrote a brief article on my blog about a small rainwater harvesting project we did.  Feel free to read it here.…

What is Landscape Infrastructure?

What types of infrastructure will this book delve into?

Will it extend beyond tired conversations on sustainable water management?

Those were my initial questions, or perhaps even skepticisms, when I picked up this book.

I was happy to find that the well written, succinct prose of the Preface by Gerdo Aquino quickly answered those questions and in fact piqued my interest further to see exactly what ideas would be explored…

Set against a scenic and historic backdrop, the Florence Institute of Design International will again offer a unique four-week architectural learning experience for aspiring and professional architects. The course, which will run from June 1 to 30, will usher students though different architectural periods to discover the…

The Original Green is all about architecture and urbanism. But it’s also about reflection, living, inspiration, and delight. We can achieve sustainable living only when we “want to” or “love to” instead of feeling that we “have to” or “ought to” balance the needs of our society, economy and environment. 

Miami architect Steve Mouzon’s new book looks carefully at the building blocks of…

In the economic development world, we’re always trying to grow our economic base. And by that we mean goods and services that we export, not just what we use in our local markets. That might include university services, tourism, and any products that we pack and ship, or regional retail that we steal from our neighbors.



We see economic development in conventional terms, and we seek only to perpetuate the model, adding more of the same to the end of the chain. Another monkey from the…

Landscape Architecture Publications you should have or at least check out:…

Last summer I started blogging tutorials on my new rendering methods in the hopes that it would A) help people looking to do Photoshop plan renderings a starting point to work from, B) cultivate some conversation on other people's techniques, C) show how much work goes into any given rendering. This was (I hope) successful on at least the first and last count. However, the conversation I was looking for never really started... except in my own head. As I finished my Master's thesis at the…

Like many landscape designers and architects, I receive the Landscape Architecture magazine on a monthly basis. But I have to say that over the past year or so, I’ve been less inclined to read it. It’s not because the case studies or product information…