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Swiss skate park, by Zuk Club.  Zuk Club is a Moscow-based collective of artists working in mixed media who explore different artistic styles. Their interests have expanded and flowed into design, monumental, and contemporary art. They experiment through graffiti art and canvassing hard surfaces, such as walls, abandoned houses, old warehouses, and other urban structures. One of their remarkable projects is the intervention of a Swiss skate park. A city that incorporates artwork into its street view is a city that establishes a dialogue between artists who have a passion for city life and the viewers who live there. Graffiti draws upon the urban landscape as a canvas to communicate with both citizens and the material structure of a city. Sadly, urban art is sometimes perceived as vandalism...Read More

Piazza Nember by Valeri Zoia and Stradevarie Architects, Jesolo, Italy. Look at the path. It leads the user to a social nodal space. The Piazza Nember in Jesolo, Italy, by Valeri Zoia and Stradivarie Architects, is a well-designed space for social activities with its pathways of contrasting colors, and play areas that allow children and adults alike to experience the joy of play and meeting new friends. Location The town lies north of Venice, between Eraclea and Cavallino-Treporti. Jesolo gives its name to a lagoon of 22 square kilometers (8.5 square miles) on the Adriatic Sea, between the rivers Sile and Piave. The urbanized area lies on an island of sorts, bordered by the Piave on the east, the Sile on the west, and an artificial canal called Cavetta. The city’s economy is mostly b...Read More

10 reasons why you Are not getting hired as a landscape architect. Before you decide not to read this article because its title sounds too pessimistic, consider going ahead anyway — it is here to help you improve your chances of finding your way in the attractive but competitive field of landscape architecture. If you recognize that you are making any of the following mistakes, there is still time to change your ways and land your dream job. 10 Reasons Why You Are Not Getting Hired:   1. Lack of Balance Between Academic and Practical Production The marketplace has plenty of dedicated students who have failed to get good positions. The main reason is that they stayed so focused on their academics that they forgot to connect with “real world” production. Although you need to conce...Read More

Mandela Park, by Karres en Brands Landscape, Almere, The Netherlands. Almere in The Netherlands is the perfect example of a low-density city constructed from zero. Architects had a great opportunity here to demonstrate to the world how innovative and contemporary design works. Mandela Park, which opened in 2011, was designed by Karres en Brands Landscape and planned by OMA as part of the master plan for the next stage in the development of Almere. This plan focuses on the location of future business areas. Designing the Urban Rooftop   As you can imagine, creating a new business center means ensuring easy availability and providing for new parking needs in the area. In this case, four-layered underground parking garages provide service to three massive towers. But in Mandela Park, des...Read More

Landscape and urban design for bats and biodiversity by Kelly Gunnell with contributions from Gary Grant and Dr Carol Williams. While designing landscapes, we often focus only on making the space beautiful, and when it comes to making it also practical, we only think about human users of the designed space. We often forget that our work has immense influence over the environment and the organisms that live in it. Some of the animals are more dependent on the specific conditions than others; bats certainly belong to the first group. The comprehensive handbook on Landscape and urban design for bats and biodiversity by Kelly Gunnell, published by the Bat Conservation Trust, helps all the people responsible for designing our landscapes to make sure they are arranged according to the needs of t...Read More

A brief guide to notable places to study landscape architecture in Europe. The history of landscape architecture has its roots in Europe, with historical greats such as Andrew Jackson Downing and Gilbert Laing Meason, so why not go to the place where the greats had their origins? Today, Europe is home to over a hundred schools that offer courses in landscape architecture and below are some of the best. In no particular order here are 10 great places to study landscape architecture in Europe: 10. The University of Sheffield (United Kingdom) – Department of Landscape One of the largest schools for landscape architecture, the department is home to approximately 200 undergraduate and 150 postgraduate students, all there to obtain an education that uses both science and art to teach large scale...Read More

St. Jacques Ecological Park by Atelier des Paysages- Bruel Delmar. The prize winning project St. Jacques ecological park, located at the bottom of a valley in Saint Jacques de La Lande, Ille et Villaine northwestern France, provides the residents of its surrounding neighborhoods with a vibrant journey amid its natural and agricultural past and present. The Team That Designed the Ecological Park   The park is an outcome of the collaborated efforts of the landscape architecture office Atelier des Paysages- Bruel Delmar, LM Communiquer for design and communication, and Michel Danais for environmental and ecological advice. The Parisian landscape architects and urbanists Anne Sylvie Bruel and Christophe Delmar who had created Atelier des Paysages back in 1989, aim through their designs to...Read More

Central Plaza in Chiang Rai by shma. The Central Plaza in Chiang Rai designed by shma is a landscape of contrasts. Since this is the first upscale shopping mall in Chiang Rai, Thailand, the landscape architects had an opportunity to set a precedent for future developments in Asia and beyond. The Central Plaza parkscape provides ample public space and gathering area for shoppers and visitors while integrating history, culture, and local identity. The Central Plaza a Place of Opposites Mountains vs. Plains The overall design concept for the landscape was inspired by the local mountainous landscape. The rolling mountains and contours of the land are replicated in the paving patterns of the plaza landscape. Undulating topography defines spaces and frames views of the mall entrance and surround...Read More

The Canadian Museum of Civilization Plaza, by Claude Cormier Associates, Catinuae, Quebec, Canada.  The Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, takes its form from the expansive topography of the nation itself, with one end referring to the Canadian shield, the other evoking glaciers, and, in between, an esplanade mimicking the vast expanses of the prairies. The museum, known as the Canadian Museum of Civilization when it opened in 1989, was designed by architect Douglas Cardinal. His drawings for the project sought to emphasize the Canadian landscape, with a pavilion representing glaciers on one end and, on the other, the earth’s crust exposed at the surface in the region called the Canadian Shield. Although this museum is a major tourist attraction in Canada, with 1.3 million vis...Read More

Northala Fields, by Peter Fink and Igor Marko, London, UK.  This large park opened in 2008 as part of an ambitious plan for Northolt and Greenford Country Park in West London. The plan called for creating high-quality outdoor spaces along highway A40. There is a word to describe the surroundings before Northala Fields: pollution. That pollution manifested itself in terms of noise, visual impact, and poor air quality. Artist Peter Fink and architect Igor Marko took on the challenge of exploring economical solutions for sustainable design. Here’s how they made a difference and created an enjoyable place along the highway. Redesigning the Connections of the Landscape One of the main questions was about how the park would create connections and barriers to its surroundings and why. The park tu...Read More

Typically designers need no convincing that sustainable design is necessary to protect the earth’s health, its resources, and its ecosystems.  Sustainable design is becoming an increasingly comfortable topic in the public and corporate sectors too, regardless of whether the motivation for that shift is well-intentioned or simply a PR strategy.  In residential design though, it is difficult to ask clients to foot the bill for something they do not value.  How can landscape architects approach residential design in a way that encourages sustainable design practices when our clients’ values do not match our own? A number of practical methods can help us approach sustainable design in the residential sector.  Many of them require us to capitalize on the benefits of sustainable design beyond th...Read More