Blog

How do you get a job as a landscape architect? So you have done everything they told you, you’ve applied every piece of information you got from your lecturers/tutors, your career guidance counselor and even professional landscape architects who are looking for workers. You’ve done everything to the letter; you’ve followed steps 1 to 10 and even thrown in a few more for good measure and somehow you are still unemployed, living with your mother and contemplating a temporary job in retail or telemarketing just to keep the funds coming in. Let’s face it, it’s been months in some cases years, you’re not getting any wiser, you’re not improving your skills and landscape architects for some reason are still not beating down your front door with job offers. You ...Read More

Tree Houses from Antony Gibbon Designs Antony Gibbon has redesigned the concept of tree houses with his innovative and bold ideas. His projects show how we can reconnect with nature using carefully chosen materials and a kind of design strongly inspired by the natural world. Here you have three projects based on the principles of biomimicry: so really well integrated and respectful of the landscape, but at the same time really audacious in terms of design. Embryo Embryo could be considered the most introspective of Gibbon´s designs, like a cylindrical silkworm cocoon growing spontaneously up through the trunks of the trees. However, nothing in Embryo is out of the designer´s control. Inside its distinctive shape there are two floors, which allow enough space to sleep for four people. Would...Read More

Unlike with architecture, trying to capture the spirit of a landscape in digital media can feel downright impossible. Still images often don’t do the ever-changing landscape justice, but we think that this serene flyover video of Topiaris Landscape Architecture’s Tagus Linear Park does a pretty amazing job. Filmed with a drone in Portugal’s Póvoa de Santa Iria, this short and hypnotic video captures the genius loci of a post-industrial beachfront park and is perfect for those who can’t experience the space in person. Outfitted with solar powered lighting, Tagus Linear Park comprises 3.7 miles of trails and recreational space, much of which was created from recycled materials such as old shipping pallets and tires. The soothing, almost hypnotic flyover is set to a piano co...Read More

The Landscape Institute is pleased to launch a new animation by cartoonist and urbanist Rob Cowan, titled: How can we work with the landscape to make livable places? This film brings the Institute’s current policy commitments on green infrastructure, water, public health and housing into a wider, global discussion about the livability of our towns and cities. Launched at a debate on the liveability of London, programmed in collaboration with the Campaign to Protect Rural England as part of the London Festival of Architecture, the six-minute animation shows how the liveability of our cities is contingent on designers working with the landscape rather than against it. RELATED STORY: Filmtastic Fridays – I Want to be a Landscape Architect It is the latest in a series of information vide...Read More

HOSPER design Genk C-Mine. For much of its history, the Belgian city of Genk depended on coal mining for its economy and development. So when the mine at Winterslag closed in the late 1980s, city fathers knew that any repurposing of the site must reflect that legacy. Two initial plans for the site renovation fell through before HOSPER architects, in collaboration with Atelier Ruimteliijk Advies, created the design that has culminated in the Genk C-Mine square. The design, honed from 2006 to 2012, reconfigures the site’s open spaces around the remaining mining industry buildings and creates a cultural hub. A 0.5-hectare free space was rebuilt to accommodate a large variety of activities and events. From relaxing to chatting to watching concerts, local visitors and tourists can experience th...Read More

stpmj’s First Prize Winning Entry, DRIFT “DRIFT proposes a triangular arrangement of eight foot diameter balloons that create a dynamic canopy over bourbon tastings, educational spaces for children and other groups. Jurors praised the project for its unexpected playfulness and relationship to historic river imagery. The design was interpreted by the panel of jurors as a type of inverted raft with romantic allusions to the journeys of Huckleberry Finn as well as the flatboats that once populated Louisville’s wharf in great numbers. — Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft blog” On October 15, 2014, Louisville will host the Centennial Festival of Riverboats to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Belle of Louisville.  During the summer of 2013, the Waterfront Development Corporation announc...Read More

HOSPER propose stunning entry for Moscow Park Russia competition. In 2013, International Architectural Competition Park “Russia” chose HOSPER landscape architecture and urban design firm’s design as the second place finalist, and moved onto Stage II of the competition. HOSPER designed the project with a team including Niek Roozen (landscape architect), Cepezed (architecture) and Witteveen+Bos (engineering and consulting). The contest asked designers to create a final concept and financial model of the Park that would “convincingly demonstrate the natural, ethnic, historical and cultural diversity and richness of the Russian Federation and reflect the identity of its constituent regions in the context of their shared culture and history.” Contestants were asked to create proposals that “cov...Read More

Homelessness is a social problem that affects cities the world over. The image above depicts two very different ways of dealing with the issue. To the left: London. To the right: Vancouver. You’ve probably already heard about the “anti-homeless” spikes that caused public outcry in London a few weeks ago. The stainless steel spikes were installed outside a luxury block of flats to deter rough sleepers from taking shelter in the doorway. The installation caused a chorus of disapproval and widespread condemnation, with Twitter users claiming the spikes treated the homeless like vermin. The bed of spikes has since been removed, after an online petition reached over 100,000 signatures and the Mayor Boris Johnson branded the spikes as “ugly, self-defeating and stupid̶...Read More

This week we’ll look at some techniques that can help you draw faster. But first, let’s ask ourselves why do we want to draw faster? In ideal circumstances, we can take as much time as we need to complete a really detailed drawing. On many occasions, however, we don’t have enough time to draw and it’s important to be able to squeeze as much information onto a drawing as possible in the time span we have available. That’s when you need to draw fast. Before we start, you need to remember an important fact: there is no such thing as a bad sketch, no matter how fast it’s drawn or how accurate it is. A sketch is always a graphic recording of our thoughts at a certain time in certain circumstances. Even if it’s just a fast scribble. When we don’t h...Read More

Photoshop skills for advanced users. Photoshop has become one of the bread and butter tools for the landscape architect. Over the past several years, Photoshop has advanced in amazing ways and expanded the creative potential for designers in every profession. Landscape architects can keep their designs as simple and suggestive as they would like — or they can push the limits of human perception through photomanipulation. An apparent love for creating engaging and emotion-laden imagery has found a resurgence through montage-styled perspectives and otherworldly lighting and atmospheric effects. So to this end, we have collected 10 of the best “how-to” videos on the internet that show you how to move beyond the basics of Photoshop representation and advance your abilities to artisticall...Read More

Your first meeting with a potential client is usually the one which determines whether you get the job. In the short time available you need to convince them that you are a right person to design their space – be it a garden, a park or a public square. To succeed, you have to develop certain skills besides your design abilities; a lot of empathy and a bit of applied psychology will take you a long way! You must convince your potential customer that the service you provide is going to be of the highest quality. Developing a personal relationship with them is of the greatest importance, especially when it comes to designing private gardens. The following guidelines, once applied will help you gain your customer’s trust and earn you the job you desire! 1. Ask detailed questions Th...Read More