Landscape Architecture Vs. Architecture

Michael,

I would start by asking yourself a different question.  What do you enjoy most in life and what are the things you are naturally good at?  If you enjoy strolling the park and find yourself sketching landscapes and waterfalls and loving it – then you might want to pursue Landscape Architecture.  That’s what I did.  And I enjoy being a Landscape Architect and find my work rewarding.

My belief through experience in dealing with many of both professions is that there is a major difference between how most of the successful people in each of the two fields are wired. Depending of which type of “wiring” you have, the better you’ll feel in one profession or the other.

Architects are in a design field where they are in control of almost everything that fits within the building envelope. If the lobby needs to be bigger, they push it out a couple of feet. If there is a use conflict they re-arrange the spaces within the building to take it away. Most challenges are resolvable by changing things that they are in control of. They don’t have to do a lot of compromising.

Landscape Architects are constantly dealing with variables beyond our control which force us to adapt at almost every step of the way. We deal with living plants that only grow under certain conditions as an example. They grow and are ever changing. We deal with meeting up with existing conditions along the perifery of our work areas that we can not change to suit our needs (ie, grading at property line, or water runoff from an abutter). We have to make things work around an architect’s building that we generally don’t get to alter.We have soil conditions to deal with whether for hardscapes or plantings. We have views to preserve, some to enhance, and some to mitigate,  …. You have to be wired to compromise   Part of that wiring is going to allow you to work better with other people involved such as the property owners, architects, or engineers involved.

Bottom line: If you are a Type A that always likes to be in control, you will be miserable as an LA and probably not be a very good one. If you get excited about putting an ever changing situation in motion, you might not like the static results you’ll get as an architect.

This is a bit exagerated, but the general idea is what I think is the big difference to those in the fields.

How rewarding any given profession is depends on how much you love the profession outside of cash.

I personally loved the outdoors before even knowing what landscape architecture was. I was drawn more towards the garden articles of lifestyle magazines like Better Home & Gardens vs the articles on interiors.

I definitely loved the plant aspect; their alive qualities that drew in wildlife if you aimed for it.

I like striking buildings fine the handling of volume and usage is interesting, but there just wasn’t as visceral a draw in architecture the way it is with landscape architecture.

There’s also the fact that the most mundane of landscape architecture, backyards, would give me far more pleasure to design vs. the most mundane of architecture (shopping centers? Office buildings?).

3 reasons why I like la

1. We work with nature and sometimes solve complex environmental issues

2. We create outdoor public space, think of Bryant Park in NYC, or the Highline

3. We work at many scales from small gardens to large masterplans

Modified my significant 3 periods before I discovered Scenery Structure. I really like it but the best factor you can do while discovering all your choices is know that it is okay to convince you. Higher education is a direction and sometimes you take a convert you never even new was an choice.

Thanks

outside living concepts

Hopefully, you’re smart enough to pursue another career!! Landscape architects are paid with peanuts, yes literally…with peanuts! You can be passionate about other things and still be paid well too. I’m giving you a harsh reality check. Too many people in here giving you advice with their rosy colored, romantic glasses on. You feel an itch to do outdoor designs? Do it on the weekends as a landscape designer within your neighborhood. There are boring building designs everywhere, but likewise for landscape design in public spaces. Buildings deteriorate over time, yes, but so do landscape by overgrown trees, shrubs and weeds. Very few landscape architects actually work on large scale projects that you see often on magazine covers.

“Do what you’re passionate about and the money will follow. In reality, not all passions match up with the realities of the job market. If you’re passionate about poetry or painting, you’re going to find very limited job opportunities for those things. In fact, the people who get to do what they love for a job are the lucky ones; they’re not the majority. A better goal is to find work that you can do reasonably happily; it doesn’t need to be your passion.”

As for architecture, its not very pretty on that side either. I can’t vouch for architecture because I’m not one or would try to be in their shoes. You should visit your local offices (Land Arch) and get a glimpse of this sad profession. Good luck. Aloha.

http://education.yahoo.net/articles/degrees_not_to_earn.htm?wid=100…