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Construction docs may not inspire stakeholders (aka clients) but they do inspire LA principles who know that the money is in the details, namely CD’s. Find a way to put out good CD’s in less time or with greater accuracy and you will have a job for a long time.

Graphics are an essential part of our skill set, quite possibly the most important. Graphics are communication.

Most stakeholders do not or cannot think in planview the way that landscape architects and other designers can. It doesn’t matter how good a design is or how completely it reacts to the environmental conditions of a site if the designer…[Read more]

I agree with Lee, this sound like a personal gripe, I have had many co-workers, and friends from university who complained about what they did at a firm. I have had friends who’s only job was to organize details then modify existing details then organize those new details, I have had friends who got bored of field services work, when I first…[Read more]

I think you are right Amy the problem is at Principal level because they came from the era of the hand-drawn plan on parchment and they were never any good at it and became management!!…………..very good we nailed that one well and truly!!

I dont mind doing the graphic stuff but you get pulled so much in that direction the business of landscape design gets taken out of context………like moving from the creative stroke to the business of quantifying raw materials in a Bill of Quantities or a Clerk of Works role, I think thats expected and part of what you are trained…[Read more]

Graphic design, 3D and other responsibilities are a niche, a specialization. First and foremost we are landscape architects. Almost everyone gravitates toward specializations from that point.

It sounds like you have been pulled into a lot of graphic work/3d modeling. It also sounds like you don’t like it. I don’t know your exact situation but as…[Read more]

I agree with your statement. Although I believe it is good to keep in contact with other art forms I’m afraid if the business keeps demanding more and more and better graphic skills it will distract us from our real job. You already see a lot of companies specialized in graphics especially in Japan and China and hopefully that gives us a swing i…[Read more]

I dont know about anybody else but in my humble experience all the other professions take three steps backwards when a landscape architect comes to the table….I wonder why!!

Every landscape architect should create their own artwork or sculpture during their career at some point to understand the transition and development of the initial idea or concept through to the construction phases and siting……..I mean why not take the jump from designer to artist………All art is research in many ways if you think about,…[Read more]

After the big Xeriscape discussions this morning I would have thought everyone would have some items that the would add to this discussion… I will start

I love to use…

subsurface drip tubing
Individual drip emitters at each shrub (if I cannot use sub surface drip)
Deep well bubblers on all trees and Palms
Annual color on its own zone with…[Read more]

Xeriscape is concept not brand name, it does not represent a company. Xeri is Greek meaning dry, and scape as a suffix as in a scene. Many companies use xeriscape to define there products, or at least a particular line of their products and government bodies use this term or similar terms to describe responsible irrigation, planting, and…[Read more]

Florida Friendly Landscape was adopted by the FL legislature in 2009…xeriscape is offically out of the statutes..

And someone mentioned today that the term “xeriscaping” is actually copywritten. Apparently Florida calls it Florida Friendly planting?

Xeriscaping is just a brand name for a part of sustainable design. I don’t call irrigation design “Rain Birding”. Our firm and the local agencies; including Lahontan Water District don’t recognize or utilize the term xeriscaping. It seems that it was a fairly successful attempt to simplify lower water use and sustainable designs for homeowners etc.

Ryan, thanks for following up with this! I learned a lot from everyone’s input this morning…

I think you probably neeed to travel more, or just look at garden/urban design books from other countries – a lot of public art is not abstract, although I agree we have approved a lot of abstract art in america recently – I find public art to be usually abysmal. Stuff that was put up in philly was actually embarassing – or some of the sculptures…[Read more]