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On a side note, i just came into the possession of a 1920’s Underwood typewriter, it was in rough shape and i took it to a man in his mid eighties (perhaps one of the last people to know how one works) and he fixed it up like new. it sounds awesome and i think i may start to type my cover letters with it.

That is a pretty good generic summary of what we do.

LA to Pharm? My guess is they probably wanted to be within arms reach of ulcer and depression meds…

I remember seeing a subdivision in Boise where the sidewalks were wavey just to be wavey like Trace and Tanya describe. I don’t mean the sidewalk just curved around a corner. It actually curved back and forth for no apparent reason. My first thought was that no one would want to walk like that.
I think the use of curves definitely has its place.…[Read more]

To be honest I feel like your friends may have been in the wrong profession to begin with to go from LA to pharmacy..wow. I wonder what percentage of the current LA’s would make a switch like this? Could be good for those that stay.

It’s really more of a service few people KNOW they need. Most don’t know that a good landscape can (when the market starts to get back on its feet) increase your home value by, i seem to remember the number being in the neighborhood of, 5-15%. And that’s for private homes.

The way i describe LA: In every city you have buildings, and everything…[Read more]

(elaboration: Trying to sell a service or product that few people feel they want or need at this time)

Not sure who has the word-processor yet. Have one friend who is an RLA and has decided to chase Pharamcy as a career instead. Another RLA is becoming a teacher. Odd trend, ditching Landscape Architecture for something 100% un-related.

who’s got the word-processor?

I’ll admit this was probably a bad question–

Are we eating ourselves alive and we’re just so desparate as professionals that we allow it unwittingly?

But really, if all we’re after is convenience and profit, then what do we have left as a society? There is no intervention or mitigation big enough to put a silver lining on that cancer.

I dont think it’s necessarily about being totally against development as it is against the status quo, for me anyway.

I think defaulting our reason and logic to money is a cop-out. I’m sure you’re smarter than that NR.

elaborate please.

Ugh.

Yes, I get that our professionas are dependent, at least in large part, to development and the business of development whether we like it or not. I get it.

What I was trying to say in the last reply about things needing to change was essentially conceding to both your points. I was saying that greater mechanisms beyond the realm of…[Read more]

Interesting. What do you mean by “Nebulosity” of the form?

I was responding to the way I see most designers likely using curvilinear geometry in their work–It’s easier to work with and allows a designer to be more loose. I think it’s easier to or feels more natural to make curvilinear geometry be whatever you need it to be versus rectilinear…[Read more]

I totally agree with you about the curved sidewalks of the sensitive subdivision! When I lived in Santa Rosa there was an office park that we went for walks in with those curved sidewalks – there was absolutely no point to them! They were just wavey to be wavey. The planting was still rectilinear of all things! ha!

I’m not sure I agree with the…[Read more]

I agree. I also believe that more know that cutting corners and/or not making for a good experience to the end user affects the bottom line just like over spending on things that won’t make a difference in the end user’s experience.

nice concrete advice, Tanya! Interesting, Megan..Weren’t the Indians drawing their circles to keep spirits out? And the squares of the europeans provided for ‘transition spaces’ like parks, where man and nature could co-mingle, eventually bleeding out to true countryside, and on the opposite side, dense city, the checkered pattern of Broadway…[Read more]

Lord! So many of these posts are so esoteric, like so many debates of the subtle nuances or the word “Development”. In this case, if you do not have the sense to use the right word to use to your specific audience, too bad. Ok, if you are addressing an angry mob of tree huggers, the word would denote something else than it would to a dep…[Read more]

Very interesting discussion, Samuel.
After I thought about it for a while, I realized I primarily use curves to hold and create space in larger landscapes and rectilinear shapes in smaller more intimate landscapes. As Trace explained, the rectilinear shape allows the plants to flow in contrast, explode out of the box if you will, which seems to be…[Read more]

Statistics are a measure of the past. If landscape architects accept the simplistic view that they are servants to developers, and cling to the mantra that more development is good just so that more people can work- the “state if the profession” is screwed.

Move on. Advocate, research, explore, discuss, find new niches, specialties, efficiencies,…[Read more]

I agree with most of what you said, though I personally think that repetitive curves can create a sense of movement, and almost direct one person to another space, and a formal group of line can create a space in which the space inside is emphasized. Maybe there are places for everything, in various manners?