Blog

Vertical gardens have recently become very trendy in the world of landscape architecture and design. There are many readily available vertical garden products and systems on the market, making them popular with the DIY community and also for corporate branding. This is the first in a 9 post series on vertical gardens, where I will be talking about different types of vertical gardens, their history, and some of the unique characteristics that have, and continue to make them unique and unexpected additions to the landscape. A successful vertical garden is an assemblage of many different types of plants, suited to adapt to verticality, specific moisture conditions on the wall, solar exposure, wind exposure, and varying levels of disturbance. As such, it bears much similarity to the roof garde...Read More

Top graduate Joe Clancy shares his top book recommendations for your first year of landscape architecture. Here is a list of 10 books that helped me through my Landscape Architecture studies. While I did not read all of these choices in my 1st year, as I had not discovered them yet, in retrospect I feel they are appropriate for helping students get through their first year. All books link to Amazon however, shop around, as they aren’t cheap. Of course, check your University’s library first. Keep an eye out for my follow up articles on book lists for 2nd, 3rd and 4th year. Note: Everyone will have their favourites and this list is only a small portion of the material out there. There are “must reads” and “classics” and so on, but I feel the choices below are, currently, the most relev...Read More

After a two week break we return to the consistently awesome Sketchy Saturday feature on LAN. The break allowed the entries to really pile up making this week’s top 10 even harder than usual to get featured in;  in fact there was so many that we wanted to feature  that we’ve decide to carry over some of this week’s entries into the next edition of Sketchy Saturday. In this week’s Sketchy Saturday we see many styles at a very high professional standard of artistic representation. We hope you enjoy it. 10. Paul Dean Coker, Consulting Landscape Architect/Architect “This is the beach at San Simeon, CA, home of the renowned “Hearst Castle.” It is a State park, donated to the State by the heirs of William Randolph Hearst (and a great destination for landscape archit...Read More

Bicton Project designed by Ritz Exterior Design Australian-based landscape architects Ritz Exterior Design (RED) were contacted to create an environmentally friendly garden project in Perth, with an elevated sense of good taste, yet simple and in harmony with the stunning surroundings and the modern architecture of the house. The Site Assented over a limestone cliff, this modern, riverside residence has a privileged view of the Swan River. The front yard was originally a large lawn surrounded by boundary retainer walls, which the architects left in place. The pool area was already built, but left completely apart from the rest of the garden by some steps that cut the yard; the location of the house made filling the terraces with soil extremely expensive, because digging the limestone requi...Read More

EDSA completes landscape design for the highly anticipated Four Season resort Orlando at Walt Disney World resort. ORLANDO, FL (July 14, 2014) – The global landscape architecture firm, EDSA, was commissioned to develop the master plan and provide full service landscape architecture design for Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World® Resort, opening on August 3. EDSA’s expertise in planning and landscape architecture, hardscape design, water feature design and attention to detail unifies the ambiance of this highly anticipated resort. According to Rob Hutcheson, EDSA Vice President and Project Manager, “Our goal is always to ensure that the guest experience touches every aspect of our project design. Beyond creating outdoor spaces that have a positive influence on people, we want v...Read More

The Porsche Garden by John Warland and Sim Flemons. Off-street parking consumes large portions of front gardens in cities, through paving or the building of a garage. Why don’t we use that surface to connect with nature instead of losing it to cars? A family from west London faced the dilemma in an amazing and not very common way. Their front garden had plenty of possibilities to be a really nice place, but they wanted to keep their car secure there as well. It was the perfect moment to contact Flemons Warland Design for professional advice. Parking vs. Garden Jonh Warland and Sim Flemons thought outside the box, and their concept sketches were focused on an innovative idea: How about designing a garden with a secret underground garage accessible only when needed? The whole outdoor s...Read More

shma design “Summer” Garden and Pool project in Thailand. The outdoor garden and pool designed by the Thai landscape architectural firm Shma for the Summer Residential Condominium transformed the space configured by the seven-story building and neighboring wall into a restful refuge inspired by the sea. Located in Hua Hin, a seaside town in Thailand, the leisure space, completed in 2013, provides users with the feeling of being in a wide open space at the seafront. To produce a landscape resembling a shore enveloped in sea foam, the designers combined organic shapes and still colors. “Our concept derived from the ‘sea bubble’, which occurs once the wave rolls over the shores; then the bubble appears in unique forms. They come in various sizes, and none of them are looking the s...Read More

Ashikaga Park boasts dramatic and awe inspiring Wisteria displays Located 50 miles north of Tokyo, Ashikaga’s Flower Park contains the country’s largest and oldest Wisteria (known as “fuji” in Japanese). What started out as four giant Wisteria vines in 1996 has grown to nearly 11,000 square feet! The breathtaking park is home to hundreds of enchanting Wisteria vines, creating a fairytale-like environment for visitors. From mid-April to mid-May, the park wows visitors with giant living screens of Wisteria hanging from trellises and grouped in clusters. There are also pathways among millions upon millions of exquisite blooms and Wisteria tunnels that are like something out of a dream. Pruning Flowers and gardens are characteristic of Japan, and Wisteria is one of the most iconic. Wisterias a...Read More

Park Pergola by West 8 in The Netherlands  Park pergola, by West 8, is quickly becoming the focal point for Máximapark (formerly known as Leidsche Rijn Park), which is in a new residential neighborhood of 35,000 homes to the west of Utrecht, The Netherlands. West 8 says, “The park is essential to counterbalance the inescapable sea of houses and puts its mono-functional character into perspective.” In fact, the entire park concept was the result of a design competition held in 1997 that creates three ‘edges’ to separate the park from its suburban surroundings. Park pergola, along with a re-excavated meander of the River Rhine and a nine-kilometer long ecological zone, is one of these ‘edges.’ West 8 describes the botanical and ecological pergola “as the place where nature and culture come t...Read More

Green over Grey design “The Currents”, the World’s tallest interior living wall! At 65 meters (213 feet), “The Currents,” the world’s tallest living green wall can be found in the Desjardins building in Quebec, Canada. This entirely hydroponic system on the north wall of the atrium improves the air and aesthetic qualities of the 15-story space. Designed by Green Over Grey, this is an example of their mission to create living works of art. The Currents: Inspiration As the name suggest, “The Currents” installation was inspired by water, specifically the historical St. Lawrence River, which is very important to Quebec and can be seen from the Desjardins building. After observing the river, the flow of water, and the motion of the tributaries, chief designer for Green Over Gr...Read More

HOSPER’s ecological landscape design “Park van Luna” Park of the Moon (Park van Luna) is a beautiful open area in Heerhugowaard, the Netherlands, where the residential development City of the Sun (Stad van de Zon) is located. Carefully designed over the years – from 1997 to 2003 – the landscape features a well-balanced integration between the dwellings, the recreational area, and the water elements. The sun and the water were key elements in the project – the water for its recreational facilities and careful management, and the sun that provides free and clean electric energy to the neighborhood. Financed collaboratively by the Heerhugowaard, Alkmaar, and Langedijk municipalities, the City of the Sun is an island surrounded by a 60-ha lake that separates the residential a...Read More