Author: Land8: Landscape Architects Network
Land8 Virtual Conference 2020 [Webinars]
The Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings was held on April 20 – 23, 2020. View recordings here:
Kona Gray (EDSA) – “Design Thinking – Utilizing Hand Graphics to Explore Ideas” | View >
Barbara Deutsch (Landscape Architecture Foundation) – “Landscape Performance to Demonstrate Impact” | View >
John Surico (Journalist and Urban Planning Researcher) – “Revitalizing Urban Parks After COVID-19” | View >
Gina Ford (Agency Landscape + Planning) – “Cutting Against the Bias – A Talk About the Strategic Advantage of Gender and Design” | View >
Kurt Culbertson (Design Workshop) – “Spatial Equity in the Time of Covid 19” | View >
Catherine Saunders (TBG Partners), Emma Tardella (NAK Design), Matt Alcide (Land8) – “Designing High-Performing (Digital) Landscapes: Social Media’s Place in Landscape Architecture” | View >
Brian Jencek (HOK) – “Healthy Cities: City-Making at the Intersection of Landscape Architecture and Public Health” | View >
Sara Zewde (Studio Zewde) – “Recent Work” | View >
Note: Continuing education credits are no longer available and only available to those who registered and completed the survey.
Sara Zewde | Recent Work [Webinar]
Description:
In the context of rapid urban development, a changing climate, and clarified social and political tensions, the narratives embedded in ecologies of memory offer creative departures for landscape architecture today. Sara Zewde will discuss the recent design work of Studio Zewde in this context.
This webinar is from the Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings, recorded on April 23, 2020.
Brian Jencek | Healthy Cities: City-Making at the Intersection of Landscape Architecture and Public Health [Webinar]
Description:
Great cities are defined by their great streets and open spaces. Yet the very existence of cities continues to be challenged by pandemics and climate change. Join this session to learn how landscape architecture is redefining cities through the lens of human health and resilience.
This webinar is from the Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings, recorded on April 23, 2020.
Designing High-Performing (Digital) Landscapes: Social Media’s Place in Landscape Architecture [Webinar]
Description:
Social media, when used correctly, is an invaluable tool to landscape architects. Social media plays a critical role in how landscape architects control the profession’s narrative in an architecture-focused media landscape.
Learning Outcomes:
- Attendees will learn how important a social media presence is, why it matters, and how it contributes overall to educating people about the profession
- Attendees will learn about the various social media platforms available for use and how to create a sound strategy
- Attendees will understand available social media metrics, how and when to report, and how these insights prove an ROI to leadership and board members
- Attendees will learn tips for crowdsourcing content from employees across their firm so everyone feels represented and increasing follower engagement
Presenters:
- Catherine Saunders, TBG Partners
- Emma Tardella, NAK Design Strategies
- Matt Alcide, Land8: Landscape Architecture Network
This webinar is from the Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings, recorded on April 22, 2020.
Kurt Culbertson | Spatial Equity in the Time of Covid 19 [Webinar]
Description:
The imperative for designers to create spaces of great social interaction that bring together diverse, multi-generational populations is now being questioned in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet out of this crisis and chaos can come lasting opportunities to rethink the nature of work, to redefine resiliency to address challenges of pandemics and other health crisis, and to examine the equitable design of public spaces which are flexible and adaptable to a new understanding of public health. The pandemic has been particularly devastating for seniors, low income communities, and people of color. In the face of our current challenges, we need to determine the place of landscape architects in crafting a safer, more equitable society.
This webinar is from the Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings, recorded on April 22, 2020.
Gina Ford | Cutting Against the Bias – a Talk About the Strategic Advantage of Gender and Design [Webinar]
Description:
The conversation about gender in design practice often leans in on the challenges – that women are not achieving at the same rate as their male colleagues and that their achievements are not seen or celebrated in the same way. Agency – as a practice model rooted in an optimistic philosophy of the same name – claims being women-led as a strategic advantage. This presentation will discuss gender as a creative driver in practice, a multi-faceted benefit in business, and a critical dimension of diversity in design.
This webinar is from the Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings, recorded on April 21, 2020.
John Surico | Revitalizing Urban Parks After COVID-19 [Webinar]
Description:
With half of the world now living under lockdown, the ability to go outside and get some fresh air has never been so important, or so fiercely contested. As those who can afford to do so converge on green spaces, seeking exercise and solace amid the coronavirus pandemic, parks have become stages for collective joy, anxiety, and social-distancing infringement crackdowns. The multiplicity of benefits parks have always offered us — physical and mental health relief, community building, and free public open space in tight, increasingly privatized urban quarters — seem not only like an added bonus right now, but rather, a critical lifeline for cities and their residents.
This webinar is from the Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings, recorded on April 21, 2020.
Barbara Deutsch | Landscape Performance to Demonstrate Impact [Webinar]
Description:
The Landscape Architecture Foundation explores the concept of landscape performance as a critical tool for landscape architects to advance sustainable outcomes and reach key decision-makers. You’ll learn how to evaluate landscape performance and choose appropriate metrics and methods to evaluate your own projects. Supplemented by resources from the Foundation’s online Landscape Performance Series, the presentation will show how and why an understanding of the myriad benefits of sustainable landscapes is essential for designers, developers, and policymakers who influence land development and want better results.
This webinar is from the Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings, recorded on April 20, 2020.
Kona Gray | Design Thinking – Utilizing Hand Graphics to Explore Ideas [Webinar]
Description:
Drawing is a form of communication that builds community and bridges culture. The intent of the presentation is to initiate a dialogue regarding the importance of hand sketching to explore ideas. From the earliest days, humans have relied on illustrations, hieroglyphs and diagrams to communicate important aspects of life. The ability to draw is essential for non-verbally communication and it contributes to social understanding. However, drawing well does not always equate to good communication or even good design. So, how important is drawing in the process of design. Does drawing matter? In my opinion Drawing Really Matters. We will challenge what it means to be a designer and the attributes of a good designer in our context of illustrating ideas. To be clear, this is not about just learning how to draw…but using graphics representation to stretch your creative energy. So, let’s go forward and explore ideas that positively contribute to the good life.
This webinar is from the Land8 Virtual Conference sponsored by Anova Furnishings, recorded on April 20, 2020.
Land8 Social Media Awards in Landscape Architecture 2019 – Winners!
Announcing the winners of the 2nd Annual Land8 Social Media Awards in Landscape Architecture! Social media has the power to significantly increase the awareness and importance of the profession of landscape architecture, and Land8 believes industry leaders in social media should be promoted and recognized. Be sure to follow the winners to help grow and promote the profession!
Top 10 Social Media Accounts – Landscape Architecture Firms
- TBG Partners – A leader in the social media scene, TBG shows that landscape architects are powerful connectors – in cities and on projects – and showcases the scales in which they work, from macro to micro. At TBG, they make a concerted effort to demystify what it is that landscape architects do and educate followers on ALL aspects of landscape architecture by posting a mix of beautiful hand-drawings, renderings, videos and stunning built photos.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog - NAK Design Strategies – NAK uses their social media platforms to engage and connect with industry professionals, students, and the general public. NAK utilizes various platforms as an effective and engaging way to broaden the general understanding of what landscape architects do. Staff features, videos, and finished work are shared weekly with the goal of broadening awareness of the profession.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn - Loft Six Four – Loft Six Four legitimizes landscape architecture as a uniquely creative and collaborative profession. They use social media to promote the work they do with all of their allied professionals. They have gained a lot of followers from both within and without the profession, which gives them the opportunity to explain the field and help people better understand what landscape architecture is all about. They are an idea driven firm and showcasing the ‘big’ ideas that come out of their sketches and work is vital to their success.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | LinkedIn | Blog - site design group, ltd. (site) – site bases their social media approach on three primary topics: what they do, who they are, and what landscape architecture is. They share their wide-ranging projects at all stages of the process, including initial sketches, finished design, construction, and built work. They highlight the unique qualifications and diverse backgrounds of their team and their involvement in civic and community leadership. site also showcases the breadth of the profession and how it contributes to social and environmental betterment for all.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook - Arterial – Arterial explores and illustrates the value of landscape architecture and street design from a personal and a collective standpoint in a way that everyone can appreciate. They highlight the importance of the field by posting tips and best practices, facts, articles of interest, their work, inspirational case studies, and more. They noticed that conversations began to flourish online and “in real life” based on online content, and that those conversations can create tangible changes that benefit society.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter - Felixx Landscape Architects & Planners – Felixx wants to create projects with impact and happy environments. The images and text they use have a playful appearance, which fits in well with the identity of the office. The images tell the concept behind the project and form a certain storyline, appropriate to the project and to the charismatic side of the agency. Their images leave something to the imagination, to trigger awareness, to do justice to the multi-layered nature of the projects, and to promote landscape architecture.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn - Seferian Design Group – The Seferian Design Group team utilizes their social media channels to educate and inspire followers on who they are, what they do, and why they do it (people, projects, and passions). They believe in creating memorable experiences through design that deeply connect landscape architecture with nature and people, and by scrolling through their social media channels you will discover just that. They immerse themselves in the landscapes they design and hope that others will be able to find a similar connection.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter - Cādence – As the landscape of social media evolves, Cadence revisits the ways they use this tool to engage and educate their online community. Advocating as a voice for the environment, 2019 shares pointed followers to actionable steps everyone can take to connect with and protect nature. As trailblazers on the forefront of social communication in 2010, Cadence’s art of storytelling was most conducive for the continued trend of “Stories”, giving their international following a window into Cadence culture.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Blog - LandDesign, Inc. – LandDesign is a collective of landscape architects and civil engineers, a unique balance of logic and magic – their social media is no different in telling a story. Highlighting how they create a place of value through their DesignDetails campaign and innovative designers through DesignIdeation and Spotlight campaigns, their content balances detailed renderings and candid interviews that illustrate what makes LandDesign unique.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog - Jolma Architects Ltd – Jolma Architects uses their Instagram account as part of their communication strategy to promote the design, research, and communication work they undertake. As well as providing plans, diagrams and visualizations, they also publish quotes from written works in an engaging and visual style to promote the profession and importance of landscape architecture in today’s society.
Accounts to follow: Instagram
Top 10 Social Media Accounts – Individual Landscape Architects
- Eric Arneson – Eric has been posting his personal projects, tutorials, and landscape-related memes on an almost daily basis for the past five years while garnering a tremendous following. He treats his Instagram as a professional portfolio / journal that showcases his day-to-day work and gives insight into the life of a landscape designer.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | YouTube - Nahal Sohbati – Nahal posts personal projects that showcases her design process involving graphics, technique and new technologies. Through her amazingly visual posts, she has amassed a large following and promotes the profession of landscape architecture to a wide audience.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Kale Hicks – Kale uses social media to connect people in the profession of landscape architecture, no matter where they are in their journey. From professionals or companies to interns and students, communication is the key. By celebrating the work we’re all doing, be it built or just currently on paper or trapped in digital form, it brings people together.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Cassidy Michaux – Cassidy advocates for the use of hand graphics in the design process as a unique and direct connection from mind to paper. He utilizes both traditional and digital drawing media.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Nate Jaramillo – Landscape architects use graphics every day to communicate a message and solve problems. Nate similarly utilizes his Instagram account to use the everyday graphics on his personal account, complementing his firm’s account, to create content to show off the benefits, skills, creativity and importance of landscape architecture.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Duncan Gibbs – Duncan is deeply interested in looking at the last 100 or so years of landscape architecture that can be collected under the heading of “Modernist Garden Design” where the precepts of what could be considered a ‘garden’/landscape architecture have been exploded. Much of this history is unsung and underrepresented with so much still be learned from these individuals and groups. He enjoys sharing the process of exploring and presenting these people and their works in his #modernistgardenseries in Instagram.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Matt Sickle – Through essays and Instagram, Matt explores the landscape architect’s role in contemporary monument and memorial design. MonumentBlog essays explore topics of memory, ethics, and representation in public spaces. Diverse voices are featured on the site and have written featured responses to his perspectives. MonumentBlog’s Instagram feed features beautiful images of landscape-centered memorials, sculpture parks, and other places where landscape architects build culture through design.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Blog - Giacomo Guzzon – After graduating in landscape architecture, Giacomo quickly understood the need to write and share ideas in our profession to increase understanding of our work and its benefits, to gain professional standing as a highly valued discipline, and to achieve increased visibility. He uses Instagram and writes for blogs to share interesting ideas and projects that he has visited. He is particularly committed to increase the sensibility and knowledge of plants among landscape architects.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Cannon Ivers – Staging Urban Landscapes is a platform to spotlight the activation and curation of flexible public spaces. The feed features annual installations, spaces that have been designed to act as a stage for events, cultural celebrations and installations. The platform is unique in its content because it looks at the social and cultural dimensions of design—aspects that are increasing prioritized by clients and designers around the world.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Michael Batts – Michael’s social media strategy is simple. He highlights reasons people should continue to sketch in our digitally diluted profession. He offers a curated array of thought sketches to inspire the profession and challenge landscape architects to explore sketching and drawing as a thought process… not simply as a visualization tool. His efforts on Instagram are inspiring to others in landscape architecture and spur them to further the depth of their design thinking.
Accounts to follow: Instagram
Top 10 Social Media Accounts – Allied Organizations
- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) | Keeping with its mission, ASLA’s social media channels continue to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship. This is the place to find award-winning projects and to see what recent efforts the organization is doing to advance the profession, reaching and inspiring many outside of the USA as well with its large following and reach.
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter - EcoFoci – EcoFoci is an online platform (in Arabic Language) to promote the field of landscape architecture in Middle East. They showcase the latest and extraordinary work of landscape and garden design from around the world.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter - LABash Conference – The landscape architecture students organizing the LABash Conference (last year at University of Georgia and this year at Cornell University) utilize Instagram and Facebook as an outlet to connect with students from landscape architecture programs and professionals from across the country. Through these platforms, they promote their conference to drive attendance and increase their awareness of LABash, a student-run landscape architecture conference. Social media has been imperative to the tremendous growth of the conference over recent years.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook - Landscape Forms – Landscape Forms’ social media channels present them with a powerful opportunity to connect, motivate, inspire, and engage with landscape architects and others. As they celebrated their 50th year in 2019, they honored this community on their social media platforms. Over the year, they featured more than 50 landscape architects of varying professional career levels who were identified as key contributors and gave them a platform to share their hopes and aspirations for the industry.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn - New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects – NJASLA caters to experts in the field as well as the general public. They share educational events, post plant facts and identification, promote their state’s outstanding firms with their work and job opportunities, and share breathtaking New Jersey views that encourage their audience to go out and enjoy the landscape. The chapter celebrates annual events including World Landscape Architecture Month and takes advantage of select holidays (eg. World Mental Health Day) to connect landscape architecture to everyday life.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Anova Furnishings – Anova’s social media channels represent a mix of product features and promotion of landscape architects, their work, and the various programs and events that they support. Their noteworthy grant programs highlight the many talents of landscape architects, which are prominently featured on their social media channels. Their involvement in supporting and promoting the profession shines through their online presence.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook - Kansas State University Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Community Planning – The KSU Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Community Planning uses Instagram as a positive influence by showing people how landscape architects #shapetheworld, whether that’s in school or in the professional world. It shows students the many topics landscape architects can delve into, and how education and research really shape our world and make for better realities and greener futures. Overall, it shows the excitement students, alumni, and faculty have about landscape architecture.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Michigan State University ASLA Club (MSU ASLA Club) – The MSU ASLA Club uses social media to promote peers, celebrate the field of landscape architecture, and cherish the MSU community of landscape architecture students. They also use social media to keep in touch across current students and past alumni from their program. It’s a creative and social expression for their club.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects (SILA) – SILA promotes the landscape architecture profession and creates public awareness of the what landscape architects do by sharing photos of new projects designed by landscape architects, interviews, and promoting educational tours that are organized for members and also to the public.
Accounts to follow: Facebook - Halprin Project at University of Southern California (USC) – The Halprin Project, while recently establishing themselves on Instagram, is dedicated to archiving research about influential landscape architect Lawrence Halprin through the lens of new media art.
Accounts to follow: Instagram
Please visit Land8 again in December 2020 for next year’s call for nominations!
Land8 Social Media Awards in Landscape Architecture 2019 – Call for Nominations!
Land8: Landscape Architects Network announces the 2nd Annual Land8 Social Media Awards in Landscape Architecture. Land8 was founded as an online hub for landscape architecture professionals to interact with each other. It has since grown to an international community of not only landscape architects, but also those interested in learning about the field of landscape architecture with over 1.5 million followers across Land8’s social media channels. Social media has the power to significantly increase the awareness and importance of the profession of landscape architecture, and Land8 believes industry leaders in social media should be promoted and recognized.
AWARDS
Ten (10) awards will be given and ranked in each of the following categories:
- Landscape Architecture Firms
- Individual Landscape Architects (or landscape designer with landscape architecture degree or student in landscape architecture)
- Allied Partners (those supporting work related or promoting landscape architecture, such as nonprofits, associations, universities, or vendors)
Awardees will be featured on a list of “Land8’s Best Social Media Accounts in Landscape Architecture 2019” promoted through our extensive network, and our followers will be encouraged to follow the awarded accounts.
CRITERIA
Land8 will judge social media accounts on the following: Visual Excellence, Influence, Engagement, and Promotion of Landscape Architecture. This may include popular platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and/or blogs. Only public accounts will be considered.
SELF NOMINATIONS
Self nominations are due December 31, 2019 [Extended to January 6, 2020] with announcement of winners by January 10, 2020. Nominations may be from anywhere around the globe. Please submit your nominations in English. If language is a barrier in applying, please contact us.
NOMINATION FORM >
New International Landscape Architecture Prize Announced by TCLF
Aiming to raise the visibility of the field and its practitioners, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) has established an international landscape architecture prize of $100,000 to be awarded every two years, beginning in 2021. In addition, the Prize features two years of related public engagement activities to honor a living practitioner, collaborative or team for their creative, courageous, and visionary work in the field of landscape architecture.
TCLF board co-chair Joan Shafran and her husband Rob Haimes have generously provided a lead gift of $1 million to underwrite the Prize, which was collectively matched by the rest of the board and other donors, launching a $4.5 million fundraising campaign to endow it in perpetuity.
“Landscape architecture is one of the most complex and, arguably, the least understood art forms. It challenges practitioners to be design innovators often while spanning the arts and sciences in addressing many of the most pressing social, environmental, and cultural issues in contemporary society.” – Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, TCLF’s founder, president, and CEO.
Landscape architects, artists, architects, planners, urban designers, and others who have designed a significant body of landscape-architectural projects are eligible for this award. The Prize will examine the state of landscape architecture through the honoree’s practice, showcasing how landscape architecture and its practitioners are transforming the public realm by addressing social, ecological, cultural, environmental, and other challenges in their work.
“Our involvement with TCLF, and seeing and learning about the inspired work of landscape architects, led us to think about how to raise the public’s awareness of their contributions in a more dramatic way. Supporting the Prize came out of that,” said Joan Shafran and Rob Haimes, lead donors for the prize. “We hope the Prize will provide not just recognition of exceptional people and projects but also promote a wider public discussion of the role of landscape architecture in life.”
The honoree will be chosen in a multi-layered process, including a year-long nomination period followed with selection by a five-person jury comprised of internationally prominent landscape architects, artists, educators, designers, and others. The Prize will be administered by TCLF and overseen by an independent curator.
About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy non-profit established in 1998 with a mission of “connecting people to places.” The organization educates and engages the public to make our landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. The international prize will become TCLF’s fourth major program along with: What’s Out There, an exhaustive, carefully vetted and profusely illustrated database of more than 2,000 landscapes; Pioneers of American Landscape Design, featuring online and print biographies of more than 1,000 landscape architects and allied professionals, along with video oral histories; and Landslide, the advocacy initiative that draws attention to threatened and at-risk landscapes and includes an annual thematic report and traveling photographic exhibitions. TCLF also organizes conferences, tours and other events, and its work has received numerous awards, as well as repeated support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Lead Image: Portland Open Space Sequence, Ira Keller Forecourt Fountain, Portland, OR, 2016. Designed by Lawrence Halprin with Angela Danadjieva, 1970. Photo © Jeremy Bittermann, courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation.