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the University of Virginia just completed a big project daylighting a creek – very big deal- through the university..Check it out – very successful – they have a very good LA on staff..(last I checked!)

Having seen the plans Nick is referring to, I can attest to the level of rendering straight CAD is capable of. When I first walked in I made the assumption they were done with Photoshop because they looked just like (at wall viewing distance anyway) some of the plans we’d turned out. I was more than a little surprised when he told me it was all…[Read more]

Interesting question, Daniel! I found this little bit on Wikipedia and think could easily relate to our profession:

“Agile methods generally promote a disciplined project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, a leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork, self-organization and accountability, a set of…[Read more]

Ha! You make me laugh, Ray. : )

I like the straight forward approach to line weights, as well. That is using colors 1-7 with 1 being the lightest. If you need grey tones, then using 8-12 (I think). I was most curious about the layer names. As you point out, our drawings tend to be more complex than a set of standard layer names. Do you have a…[Read more]

Creeks aren’t swimming pools or fountains. The water depth is what it is. There’s no “code” per se.

I agree with Lee Martin. I am just going to write my thoughts without much thought…
Money is the bottom line.That being said you don’t want to get involved in training people a certain way only,by the time you are “done” doing this there is new ways of doing things…. in my mind it is best to stay flex and also in tune and aware of new ways of…[Read more]

Deepening Perspectives on Sustainable Land Development
http://www.sldi.org/newService/SLDIJan2010.html

Green building certification programs today pay scant attention to landscaping, but they should, according to the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which has just announced release of the world’s first rating system for the design, construction and…[Read more]

“Credit 1.7 Select sites that encourage non-motorized transportation and use of public transit”

The issue I’d like to bring up in terms of an urban divide is the inequity in facilities and planning for transit and non-motorized transportation such as biking and walking. Cities that embrace biking offer transportation that does not pollute, is low…[Read more]

In our office, we use autocad for line work, rasterize in photoshop, and color in photoshop, managing layers in autocad and photoshop allows efficient management for applying textures and shadows, for speed, we use strictly autocad to export a color rendering, just by standardizing your pen settings for plotting ie. transparency/screening,…[Read more]

For the low-flow creek though I should have clarified I was thinking of a situation in which an urban creek diverted underground is daylighted. I’ll check out the book. Seems to be a fuzzy line between what becomes a “pool” and what is a “natural” water feature that can be much deeper (such as a daylighted creek – is that “natural” or is that a d…[Read more]

Blaugh!

Those Hahvahd line weight pen settings are a mess! I much prefer a system that has some logic behind it!

For layers 1-7 we use 0.1, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6. However, I think we use mms. Some people use the same pen weights as rapidograph pens (am I dating myself?). To be honest, I’ve gotten used to our system so much I rarely refer…[Read more]

Aurands “Fountains and Pools” is a basic reference.

Your state building code is critical. Over a certain water depth (in California it’s 17.9 inches) a fountain becomes a swimming pool with a whole different level of requirements (like fencing).

A water wall water thickness depends on the roughness of the surface and the effect/sound level you…[Read more]