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…

Thomas Kinkade, landscape painter, has passed away.  Looking at his work I wonder, just exactly where the vision of a painter and the practice of landscape architecture share some ground?  Comments?…

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.…

If you are a student in landscape architecture, don't go back to school without this invaluable resource, available at a discounted price on Amazon.com:…

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…

Why Invest in Landscape? - the new campaign from the Landscape Institute, shows how towns around the UK are seeing a positive bottom line benefit by investing in landscape.  From revitalising a small public square to planning for massive new estates, the economic benefits are clearly…

The new requirements for anyone working on obtaining your LEED-AP have gotten tougher.  I have been approached by many colleagues looking for project work that involves a LEED project with specific tasks.  Are you one of those people? 

Please post your experiences, your needs for sustainable landscape design, and if you would like to work on a LEED project. 

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

Simon Schama and Rene Bihan of SWA…

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…