Activity

The winter gardens in the Commerzbank in Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany by Foster are still looking pretty good.  

Paley Park had a maintenance budget locked away when it was built.

Maintenance would depend on how well it was designed (irrigation, soils, etc), and yes, it costs money, but the flip side is if it makes for a more pleasant place,…[Read more]

Wow..Memphis botanical is pretty amazing. I just can’t relate – I am not of that generation, I grew up running wild on the streets of Beirut in the sixties, and plus I don’t have kids. But it seems so programmatic, all of it..
Can we outfit each child with a dog to show them how to inspect a natural area? Or just give them a bunch of balls, to s…[Read more]

The film “Women in the Dirt” covering more contemporary practitioners on the West Coast is pretty amazing.  A more historic look would indeed be great.

I don’t think it is the same as when I took the exam, which was before the  hiring freeze, etc. Good luck, is all I have to say, and be prepared to wait for the phone  call – maybe even several years…Or not, if you are lucky..

What happened to Trace One? She is a Caltrans landscape architect who probably has direct knowledge and experience with this. If she is still a member, maybe you can private message her.

Designing natural play spaces for kids is a great idea indeed, and it is very essential for creating that much needed bonding between nature and mankind right from the childhood. We need to save nature to save ourselves in the future. 

I wasn’t aware about this exam before, and after reading this forum thread, I came to know about this exam conducted by California Department of Transportation to appoint only good, and knowledgeable landscape architects. 

The California Department of Transportation.  THey hire a lot of landscape architects.

Interesting, I didn’t realize they had done a webinar on this. Thanks Leslie! 🙂

Paul, this was most helpful and thanks for your thorough explanation! 🙂

Thanks for the tip Matthew! I’ll keep that in mind and will check out those websites. 🙂 

Thanks for the response!
I totally agree with you on the idea that no designed space can really substitute for a truly natural space, and the best places to connect children may not be programmed for activity at all. However, one of the things that we are starting to see is that many of our young parents (my generation) who were themselves…[Read more]

I give up,,,, what is a Caltrans???

You can also listen to “Forgiving Landscape Details & Detailing for Ease of Construction” right here in the webinars under the events tab at Land8, which was offered in January. Then you might look into buying that author’s book.

MG-
I too recommend getting a CD set from a landscape architecture firm. Consider asking a professor to obtain one from one of their friends in the business, or for a reference.  They likely know someone who will work with you and will be glad to assist.  Or, ask a friend in a firm. 
Typically CD sets have a particular sequence to the drawings, i.…[Read more]

Interesting question. It seems to me that the best types of places to connect kids to nature would be non-programmatic (“Passive recreation”) natural areas. Prospect Park in Brooklyn is one of my favorite designs, I used to do childrens classes on urban nature there, and all you need are trees and grass, a water body is nice also, to get the…[Read more]

the whole idea that putting trees on buildings makes them “green” is absurd.
what is sustainable or even practical about  placing trees in artificial environs?
it only creates more maintenance and the need for more resources….
i’m really bored with it all anyway…
thanks for posting the article….i hope everyone reads it.

Hi MG, if you are looking for example CD sets the best way to get a hold of those is from a contractor. Contractors bid on many jobs a month an probably don’t get half of them, but to bid on them they get access to the entire CD set usually in PDF format. The site most general contractors use to post drawings for sub contractors to bid is called ww…[Read more]

Wow, thanks for all the valuable information Chris! My question was a combo of both learning CDs for LA in general and using AutoCAD to generate CDs. I will check out my local municipalities and browse through the forums here. Thanks for addressing my second question too! Your response was very helpful! 🙂

Thanks Jordan! I saw that on Amazon, but I don’t have the budget to purchase them. I’ll check out my local library!