Activity

I worked for a commercial real estate developer for a while I really liked the job. Depending on how the company works, you are very often the client, so you have a great deal of decision making power you will never get at a LA firm. The second most “powerful” LA employment is generally in architect’s offices, as they are pretty much always the le…[Read more]

Prior to the housing slowdown, a former colleague of mine was hired by a development group to master plan its communities. He had been doing that work for a large, multi-disciplinary firm and I guess it was cheaper for the developer to hire this individual directly. I know others who have been hired on to do visualizations, walk-throughs, etc, but…[Read more]

Prior to the housing slowdown, a former colleague of mine was hired by a development group to master plan its communities. He had been doing that work for a large, multi-disciplinary firm and I guess it was cheaper for the developer to hire this individual directly. I know others who have been hired on to do visualizations, walk-throughs, etc, but…[Read more]

Another way to look at this is from the perspective of a student trying to prepare him/herself to have an advantage at getting one of those few entry level jobs. Knowing what some offices, such as the one Landscapeplanner is in, think that they are not getting from recent grads gives them the opportunity to target an existing need, prepare to…[Read more]

To take the landscapeplanner’s original post and flip it around, why should experienced professionals expect entry level designers to be anything but… well, entry level? They will need formal training in just about everything, and that training needs to be budgeted in their first two years. This $#@! ain’t cheap! If the firm refuses to provide…[Read more]

The one thing I used in school that I wish I used more often at work is using the 3D modeling software’s ability to instantly calculate cut/fill based on existing and proposed terrain models – it’s not 100% ( as often the proposed is on top of finish/base materials ), but it’s a useful tool that larger contractors seem to use for estimating.…[Read more]

My first job out of college, which lasted for 15 years was working for a major US retailer.  We had a 500 person Design and Construction staff.  I designed stores that we “self-developed” but also hired and managed landscape architects that were working for developers who were building stores for us.  It was interesting work, and I was tra…[Read more]

My first job out of college, which lasted for 15 years was working for a major US retailer.  We had a 500 person Design and Construction staff.  I designed stores that we “self-developed” but also hired and managed landscape architects that were working for developers who were building stores for us.  It was interesting work, and I was tra…[Read more]

Here’s to our generation!!  Cheers!!

I don’t think you meant to reply to my rant. Oddly, with the exception the use of “CAD” of your last sentence, the post could have been written in 1963 just as easily as today. Now get back to work!!

I’d break down the question like this : once working, do young professionals have a chance to learn all the analytic skills they need to make a good designer ? Do they have a chance to broaden their horizon beyond the office’s practice and have a chance to think/elaborate on other techniques, theories, aspects of the profession ?

Once working, do…[Read more]

Back in my day, we didn’t have AutoCAD, or any of these newfangled computer thingies! If we wanted to design something, we had to start by cobbling our base map together from USGS topo, lovingly interpolating each contour line by hand, use tape to draw property lines, templates for trees, and then redo everything from scratch when the owner…[Read more]

Yes, there were a few when I was in school that hired designers to help the licensed staff do construction/permitting/zoning drawings and to do nice fluffy renderings to sell the work.  I’d image large scale homebuilders do the same.  I get the feeling qualifications for a large portion of their operations are not degree specific.

I took CAD in college (the engineering school was 3 versions behind, architecture 1 version behind), but I didn’t really learn how to use it until I started working (summer internship).  So many of the commands are hard to understand in abstraction (at least for me).
My program tried throwing in 3D terrain modeling via FormZ, Civil 3D, Maya…[Read more]

Professors do teach AutoCad in schools – tech schools.  Are we trying to raise a new generation of landscape architects or cad monkeys?  The old model of designers and draftsmen is dead (or should be), but the endless discussions of cad/rendering/bim/photoshop marginalize the profession to that of production rather than design.
I firmly believe t…[Read more]

One problem is that many professors do not know it well enough to teach it. I think that there is also too much emphasis put into some of the feel good stuff like roof top gardens, social justice, and sustainable this or that. All good stuff, but there are only so many hours in the day and you have to master the fundamentals to execute.
 
I was…[Read more]

In 2010 the average salary for a landscape architect in the US was $71,100. The average salary for architects was $70,320. Perhaps they are both a little more now.

Architects I’ve met love money. All of them, whatever their skill/level of dedication is.