Author: Land8: Landscape Architects Network
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.
Vectorworks Design Scholarship – Apply to Win $10,000!
Attention all landscape architecture students, undergraduate, graduate, or recent graduates! Submit your best work to the 2019 Vectorworks Design Scholarship for a chance to win up to $10,000 USD, gain professional recognition, and propel yourself into a bright future of design.
The application period runs now until August 29, 2019, at which point designs are due for two rounds of judging. A panel of judges will evaluate submissions based on design integrity, originality, effective use of computer technology, and communication of design vision.
First-round winners will receive $3,000 USD and will be entered for a chance at the grand prize Richard Diehl Award, worth an additional $7,000 USD. Winners will then be revealed on October 16, 2019.
“The Vectorworks Design Scholarship is an incredible opportunity for up-and-coming designers to promote their work and win funds to support their future endeavors,” said Alice Lowy, marketing programs director at Vectorworks. “We look forward to seeing what these up-and-coming designers think of next.”
As if you needed another reason to submit, Vectorworks is offering an award outside of the cash incentive: winners’ schools will also receive free Vectorworks Designer software and complimentary training for faculty and students.
“Submit anyway, even if you think your work isn’t going to win. Be sure to write about the heart behind your project,” said Morgan Lindsay Price, a previous winner of the Vectorworks Design Scholarship, when asked what advice she’d give to prospective applicants. “I was so shocked and grateful that we won. Vectorworks gave me a huge opportunity that I never dreamed I would have had, and I’m eternally grateful.”
The submission only requires you answering a few questions in 150 words or less about your best individual or group project, then attaching your work.
For more information on the competition structure, eligibility, and application materials, visit: vectorworks.net/scholarship.
Don’t delay – apply today here!
Land8 Social Media Awards in Landscape Architecture 2018 – Winners!
Last month, we announced the launch of the inaugural 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 we believe industry leaders in social media should be promoted and recognized.
We received so many worthy submissions that we decided to extend the awards per category from eight to ten! Rather than a checklist or points, we took a holistic approach to determining the winners to offer a variety of successful social media accounts – be sure to follow the winners to help grow the profession!
Top 10 Social Media Accounts – Landscape Architecture Firms
- Arterial, LLC | Arterial does a fantastic job of using graphic design, engaging techniques, and educational tidbits to promote landscape architecture and planning. They address the experience of communities in different spaces and how it can be enhanced through human-oriented landscape architecture and street design. Though their following is still growing, their content is top-notch, showing the value and art of landscape architecture for people inside and outside of the industry.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Blog - EDSA | EDSA utilizes social media to educate its audience on the many facets and benefits of landscape architecture as well as create awareness for the industry. As part of its social media strategy, they focus on diving deep into one topic each month. For example, EDSA covered technology in design, coastal resiliency, urban design trends, hospitality/tourism trends and water in design. They also launched a video series on social media called “Inside the Design Studio”. The interview-style videos showcase EDSA principals discussing the impact of design and the importance of landscape architects in projects.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube - NAK Design Strategies | NAK uses their social media platforms to share their work, share fantastic global design inspiration, explain what landscape architects really do, and to show people more about what a landscape architecture office is all about. The balance between places and the people behind the design of those places makes for a great account to follow for designers and non-designers alike.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook - Cadence | Cadence has utilized various social media platforms to focus on connecting social and physical landscapes. The channels help influence their local community, promote the profession of landscape architecture, and build connections with an international audience of students, designers, and nature enthusiasts. Their feed is populated with an insider’s look at day-to-day operations, environmental awareness, and hyper-local community engagement to yield true “in-person” relationships.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog - TBG Partners | One of the biggest problems facing landscape architects is a lack of recognition by allied professionals and clients. TBG helps solve this problem by educating and then engaging their audience in the design process. Social media allows them to easily showcase the romance of their designs – from videos to beautifully done hand-drawings to immaculate built project photos. TBG does an excellent job of not just showcasing the “what” of what they do, but also the “why.”
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter - Stack Rock Group | Stack Rock Group demonstrates the creative ways their team uses landscape architecture and planning to solve problems for clients. A self-described “quirky and creative” firm, their posts fit the bill and engage the audience in a very fun and relaxed manner. In addition to the fun, their high quality images and informative descriptions of their projects promote the value of landscape architecture.
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Blog - Arterra Landscape Architects | Arterra’s account features a full range of images and content of a design studio’s office culture, projects, and the materials that fascinate them. The Instagram account represents not only a company, but also “the visual musings, daily adventures, and site visits of Kate Stickley,” offering a glimpse into the perspective of a leader of a landscape architecture firm.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Seferian Design Group | Seferian Design Group utilizes social media to illustrate their people, projects, and process as they relate to landscape architecture. From conceptual design to construction, they believe all aspects of the design process are important to promote and educate followers. It’s clear that the firm values teamwork and gives insight into working in a collaborative architecture firm that is people-oriented.
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter - Agency Landscape + Planning | Agency uses its social media channels for unique purposes. Facebook provides real-time project updates and events. Twitter advocates for ideas that are core to its mission (diversity, resilience, inclusion, and engagement). LinkedIn connects them with clients and collaborators. Instagram shares experiences that “make them feel”. It is the social media embodiment of the firm culture: diverse, fun, feminist, artful, engaging, and expressive of gratitude for the people they work with.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn - hutterreimann Landschaftsarchitektur | hutterreimann uses their Instagram account to present competition results and built projects. Even if you don’t speak German, the stunning images and designs are beautiful in any language (there’s always the translate button too!). This account offers a European perspective on modern landscape architecture.
Accounts to follow: Instagram
Top 10 Social Media Accounts – Individual Landscape Architects
- Kale Hicks | Kale created the @LandscapeArch.Rendering Instagram account to be a community for landscape architects, firms, and students alike. It’s a chance to celebrate each other’s work at any level and provides tons of inspiration and the chance to learn from others in the process. It also provides the opportunity to see how landscape architects in other countries are practicing, demonstrating how global the profession is and how much more global it’s becoming. The account has a large following, bringing landscape architects on Instagram together while promoting the profession to others.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Gina Ford | If you’re looking for the hot button topics and projects that landscape architects are talking about, you will want to follow Gina. She leverages her leadership to advocate for equal rights, access, and opportunity for underrepresented voices in landscape architecture. She uses social media to spread the best design evidence that landscape architecture is “the best profession on earth”, call out press when they fail to recognize the landscape architect’s contribution, celebrate the amazing work of others (particularly women and people of color), share her own thoughts and writing about the values the profession provides, connect landscape thinkers to ideas and each other, show the world that our profession is fun, funny, and engaging as well as being profoundly important and meaningful.
Accounts to follow: Twitter | LinkedIn - Zeke Cooper | With a focus on gardens, plants, and details, Zeke created an Instagram account to give viewers a glimpse into his life as a landscape architect. He shares the things he likes, his current and past work, and insight into his design process. The account is educational with a personal touch, giving his audience a great place to find inspiration, which is proven by his large following.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - James Richards | The primary focus of James’ social media presence is to promote and celebrate freehand design drawing and on-location sketching as foundational skills for designers, as vital ways to see and value the world’s lands and cultures, and to envision a better world. They offer windows into the leadership role of a landscape architect in teaching and promoting these skills across disciplines and in countries around the globe. They foster remarkable conversations about places and placemaking, design, and creativity, giving a landscape architectural point of view a broad, diverse and growing audience.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Blog - Ula Maria | Ula uses social media to engage not only with fellow professionals, but also the general public, especially to promote the profession to younger audiences who might be making their career choices or are simply curious about landscape architecture. She keeps the content relevant, fresh, and cool so that landscape and garden design becomes one of the leading professions in the design industries.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Faezeh Ashtiani | With thousands of followers on Instagram, mostly in the USA and Iran, her dual language posts help extend her reach and educate them on a variety of topics, including landscape architecture. She has held live stories about landscape architecture programs and the path to becoming a landscape architect. She frequently posts stories of office culture, projects, products, and more. She shows the full scale and variety of what landscape architects do to those who are not the most familiar with the profession. She enjoys talking about the design aspects of the physical environment from her daily commute in Chicago to her international trips, showing the importance of the built environment and how it affects the health, safety, and welfare of us all. It’s a thoughtful and interesting account to follow to learn about the perspective and experience of an Iranian-born landscape architect practicing in Chicago.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Jennifer Nitzky | Via Instagram, Jennifer focuses on inspirational landscapes wherever she goes and the details that make the designs great. She does a series of #plantnerd posts highlighting various plants, sharing characteristics of the species. Her Twitter handle is used to raise awareness of landscape architecture by sharing the latest news, announcing calls to action for issues relating to our profession, and engaging others to learn more by providing helpful links. For World Landscape Architecture Month, she visited and highlighted 30 different New York City landscapes.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Twitter - Emily Sutherland | Curated from the perspective of a recent graduate landscape architect wandering the globe in search of inspiration, the account utilizes the accessibility of social media to promote Landscape Architecture through the medium of travel. By documenting a diverse range (scale/prominence/location) of projects visited the aspiration is to inspire and educate fellow professionals, as well as non-designers, on the breadth of places which are facilitated by Landscape Architecture. Checkout this Land8 article about her profile from earlier this year.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Maren McBride | Maren uses social media with beautifully taken photos to document her day to day life as a landscape architect in the Pacific Northwest, including life at her firm Mithun and the places, spaces, and people (and food) that inspire her. She’s actively engaged in the Seattle design community and hopes to inspire other landscape architects to get involved in awesome organizations like ASLA, ULI, ACE Mentor Program and Techbridge Girls.
Accounts to follow: Instagram - Sally O’Halloran | Sally, a landscape architecture teacher at University of Sheffield, uses social media to promote the profession to prospective students through #chooselandscape, to encourage the students she teaches to use it specifically to promote planting design through #shefplanting, to highlight the work of the landscape architecture department and colleagues, and to highlight good examples of planting design in landscape architecture case studies. This is a fun and informative account to see landscape architecture through the lens of an academic.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Twitter
Top 10 Social Media Accounts – Allied Organizations
- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) | Keeping with its mission, ASLA’s social media channels advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship. This is the place to find award winning projects (mostly in the USA) 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 | Pinterest - The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) | In addition to announcing new initiatives, furthering the reach and exposure of media coverage, and empowering advocates to take action – all while actively promoting the work of landscape architects and allied professionals – TCLF leverages its myriad social media platforms to drive traffic to its expansive website and advance its strategic communications/messaging. Also, Birnbaum Blogs now debut on Dezeen, a global and influential design forum, to further elevate the profession’s visibility.
Accounts to follow: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Blog | Pinterest | YouTube - Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) | LAF uses social media to recognize student scholarships winners, fellows, researchers, and exemplary design and business practices in landscape architecture. They share stories to lead the profession forward on issues of equity and inclusion and on designing for climate change. In doing so, they inspire action from landscape architects, from making sure to vote to encouraging lifelong learning to building a culture of philanthropy within the profession. LAF has their finger on the pulse of “next practices” in landscape architecture.
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn - Landscape Forms | A leading manufacturer of site furniture and lighting, Landscape Forms sets the bar high for manufacturers utilizing social media with high quality photography that not only features their products, but also the beautifully designed landscape where it is situated. Their posts engage the audience and the landscape architects they work with, along with their clients. Each post is set to activate the potential of outdoor space and enrich the experiences of the people who use them. A recent initiative includes featuring student profiles to help them share their passion and grow their industry network.
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn - Linescapes | Linescapes support landscape architects and others by helping them use drawing to understand their environment better as well as communicate their ideas more easily to the public. They publish their knowledge and drawing advice online for free and use social media to reach a larger audience. It’s their firm belief that if they can help practicing professionals carry out their work better, they contribute to the advancement of the profession. Their YouTube videos are super helpful, high quality, and fun to watch.
Accounts to follow: YouTube | Facebook | Instagram - XL Lab at SWA Group | XL Lab, SWA’s firm wide home for research and innovation, provides insights into future conditions in the built environment, analysis of constructed spaces, new tools and technologies through experimentation, and topical studies. Beyond providing key updates and sharing work, they use social media to reveal their research process, showcase external stories and tools they find inspirational, and start a conversation about the challenges of tackling practice-based research in the AEC industry. Their process of documenting their work offers a fascinating and open behind-the-scenes look into their work.
Accounts to follow: Instagram | Twitter - Vectorworks | Through their channels, Vectorworks (software company for designers) shares user-generated content from both professional and student designers in the industry, promoting their projects, accomplishments, and successful workflows to various design professionals. They often feature industry news, trends, and articles too. They share free landscape-oriented webinars on a monthly basis, as well as promote industry trade shows and events. It’s clear they are supporters and promoters of everything landscape architecture.
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube | Blog - Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) | GRHC social media channels increase the awareness of the economic, social, and environmental benefits of green roofs, green walls, and other forms of living architecture through education, advocacy, professional development and celebrations of excellence. They value their partnerships with landscape architects and provide inspiration and resources that designers should take advantage of for their green roof and related projects.
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram - LOFscapes | LOFscapes (“LOF”, borrowed from Mapuches Chilean aborigines meaning “community”, and “scapes”, English for “configurations”) is a space for critical discussion about the transformation of the Chilean landscape, particularly in the last two decades. The audience is able to take a unique and authentic look at landscape architecture in Chile.
Accounts to follow: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter - Kansas State University Student Chapter of the ASLA / Michigan State University Student Chapter of the ASLA | We ruled this one a tie as both represent great examples of how student ASLA chapters can engage their student members as well as a wider audience to those outside of their program and soon-to-be profession.
Accounts to follow: KSU Instagram | MSU Instagram | MSU Facebook
Want to be a part of this list? Please check back for the call for self-nominations for 2019!
Land8 Social Media Awards for Landscape Architecture 2018 – Call for Nominations!
Land8: Landscape Architects Network announces the inaugural Land8 Social Media Awards for 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 we believe industry leaders in social media should be promoted and recognized.
AWARDS
Eight (8) awards will be given and ranked in each of the following categories:
- Top 8 Social Media Accounts, Landscape Architecture Firms
- Top 8 Social Media Accounts, Individual Landscape Architects (or landscape designer with landscape architecture degree or student in landscape architecture)
- Top 8 Social Media Accounts, 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 2018” 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 mediums, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and/or blogs. Only public accounts will be considered.
SELF NOMINATIONS
Self nominations are due December 21, 2018 with announcement of winners by December 31, 2018. Nominations may be from anywhere around the globe. Please submit your nominations in English. If language is a barrier to apply or account is in another language, please contact us.
NOMINATION FORM >
Land8 “Happy Hour” Comes Full Circle in Philly
If you’ve ever attended the ASLA Meeting + EXPO over the last decade, there’s a good chance you attended or at least heard about the famous Land8 Happy Hour that bills itself as “The Largest Party for Landscape Architects in the World.” It’s only natural that the largest gathering of landscape architects (ASLA Meeting + EXPO) also includes the largest social event too with over 700 attendees expected at the Happy Hour.
The 11th Annual Land8 Happy Hour returns to the city of its very first Happy Hour on October 21 at 8pm and includes an open bar, limited edition t-shirt, photo booth, networking, raffles, pub games, and dancing! Register here.
The first Land8 Happy Hour in Philly 2008 | Photo: Kevin Gaughan
So why is it called a “Happy Hour” if it’s a late night event? Land8 Managing Partner, Matt Alcide, states that it’s a nod to Land8’s humble beginnings. At the inaugural Land8 Happy Hour in Philadelphia in 2008, it truly was a traditional happy hour with about a dozen attendees and a few pitchers of beer. While the size of the gathering has changed, the purpose has not, which is to bring landscape architects together in a relaxed informal setting to kick back after long days of meetings and educational sessions.
If you’re in town Sunday evening 10/21 in Philly, be sure to get your tickets ahead of time at land8.com! The Land8 Happy Hour is made possible by the event sponsors Anova Furnishings, Vectorworks, and Permaloc.
REGISTER HERE >
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This article originally appeared in ASLA’s LAND.
Paveshare.org Now on Land8!
PaveShare.org open-education curriculum for landscape architecture students and educators is now available through the Land8: Landscape Architects Network.
PaveShare.org, a free ICPI resource, links to self-guided presentations with interactive animations and a studio project library on segmental concrete pavement design and construction. Educators can supplement existing curriculum with resources from PaveShare.org and encourage students to add to a living library by uploading their completed projects to the site. Students and educators can also explore pattern design and structural principles or utilize a curriculum path.
“Segmental concrete pavement systems provide landscape architects with a proven, flexible, and durable method that also allows tremendous design freedom,” said Kendall Anderegg, ICPI Board Chair. “By teaming with the Land8 network, ICPI brings innovative design ideas and technical information to landscape architecture students and educators in a free, easy-to-use manner.”
PaveShare.org resources include:
- Information about concrete paver composition and uses
- Project design ideas and case studies
- Construction and installation best practices and detail drawings
- Glossary of key terms
- List of resources available from other organizations
“Concrete paver sales in the U.S. and Canada have reached post-recession highs during the last several years,” said Anderegg. “Homeowners and landscape architects frequently choose segmental concrete pavement for residential and commercial projects because of its visual appeal and durability. PaveShare.org helps the next generation of landscape architects address this growing demand.”
Students and educators can participate in the PaveShare.org curriculum by visiting www.land8.com/paveshare and clicking on the “Resources” link above the masthead.
View a video demonstrating how to use PaveShare.org:
LEAD IMAGE: The University of Tennessee at Knoxville incorporated permeable interlocking concrete pavement into a campus center upgrade. PaveShare.org is flexible, living landscape architecture curriculum delivers latest concrete paver design and technical information. View Case Study.
Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture Brings New Life to Constitution Avenue
Article by Maria Giovanna Drago Constitution Avenue by Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture along with Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects, and MEC in Canberra, Australia. Constitution Avenue is a key street in Canberra, Australia. In fact, along with Commonwealth and Kings Avenues, it forms the city’s basic geometric design guidelines that developed Canberra in the 1900s. Situated in a lively area, it’s adjacent to residential and commercial buildings, but also recreational and cultural activities. In 2016, Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture completed the renewal project after four years of construction. The renovation brought modernity to this roadside axis, rewriting its role in the city. We can say that Constitution Avenue was influenced by great western avenues like the Champs-Élysées in Paris or La Rambla in Barcelona. The City Design Walter B. Griffin was an American architect and landscape architect who won the international competition for the design of the new capital city in 1912. He and his wife, Marion, developed a plan and ran an architecture firm together. “I have planned it not in a way that I expected any government authorities in the world would accept. I have planned an ideal city – a city that meets my ideal of the city of the future,” said Griffin.
Canberra Design Plan by Walter B. Griffin and Marion M. Griffin took inspiration from Ebenezer Howard’s Garden city movement. Credit: National Archives of Australia
Rendering from the Summit of Mount Ainslie in Canberra by Marion Griffin, 1911. Credit: National Archives of Australia
Constitution Avenue designed by Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture. Credit: John Gollings
Constitution Avenue facing northwest. Credit: John Gollings
The redesign of Constitution Avenue won the Canberra Medallion as well as the ACT’s top award for urban design. Credit: John Gollings
Constitution Avenue. Credit: John Gollings
Furniture on Constitution Avenue. Credit: John Gollings
Crepe myrtles in bloom along Constitution Avenue. Credit: John Gollings
- 10 Great Projects Showing why Australia are Leaders in Landscape Architecture by Paul McAtomney
- Streetscape | 5 of the Best Projects Today for Design Inspiration by Kurt Longland
- Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Turns Sidewalk into Awesome Park by Aybige Tek
Featured image: Constitution Avenue | Canberra, Australia | John Gollings | 2016