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I thought the iPhone on verizon was too good to be true. Now, Mac supports AutoCAD…Can it be? For all of you devout Mac users, you will no longer need to run Windows (via parallels or boot camp) on your Mac in order to harness the power of AutoCAD. Autodesk announced that it has officially returned to Mac OS X after an 18 year absence. They did not stop there. Autodesk is also bringing an AutoCAD app to the iPad and iPhone that will allow users to import, modify and export CAD files on the go. They are enticing potential users with a 30-day free trial. Though, after the 30 days, you are looking at a hefty price tag of $3,995 USD (MSRP). AutoCAD offers an intuitive interface with a look and feel that will be familiar to Mac users. Related StoriesHell Freezes Over: AutoCAD Returns to M...Read More

Chapter 1 The Wonder Years When it’s gone it’s gone, But the echoes just go on and on and on. We send it out like our breath, And somebody takes it in, somebody takes it in. Carrie Newcomer, When It’s Gone It’s Gone I grew up in the 60’s and early 70’s. Television was mainstream media. Represented by the three major networks, ABC, NBC, CBS along with public television, my family was able to receive at best, four or five relatively clear channels, anything else was impossible to see through the distortion or hear over the static. It wasn’t uncommon for me to come home from school, grab a snack and perch in front of the small, portable black and white television in our den to watch a favorite program, or to sit down after dinner in the living room with my family to watch the news...Read More

The following is a post I made on MyIGN, a site for gamers. It also serves as a pretty good introduction to who I am in terms of Landscape Architecture, Design, and Technology, so here you go: I suppose I owe this post to altoidyoda and justsomedude899, along with a martini and a few High Life’s. I have been a semi-active member of the IGN community since around 2006, with a blog I started in 2007. I never posted regularly, as I suppose I’m to self conscious about my own writing abilities when I don’t have a bit of a buzz going, but I followed many of the “big time” bloggers in the old system (Reillymonster, Fozzy, Altoidyoda, Justsomedude, nextgengamer, dillaweezer, teh_red_baron, etc), and commented enough that I like to think I had a familiar face at the least. I was excited to see the ...Read More

The 3rd Annual Land8 Happy Hour went of without a hitch (minus the minor microphone mishap, haha)! The event took place at Rocket Bar in Washington, DC on September 12th, 2010. With well over 100 members in attendance, this is by far the largest event to date for the lounge. It has been very exciting to watch this community grow and have opportunities such as these for members to socialize and share their excitement for this great profession. In addition to networking, raffles, and games, the Land8 Happy Hour was also the forum for the announcement of the first ever Land8 Planting Design Contest. Please take some time to check out the winners. Finally, thanks to everyone who came out to the event! Now for some more pics from the evening: A special thanks to Chris Whitis from SitePhocus for...Read More

1st Place: Jeffery Gordon Smith – Smith Residence Congratulations to Jeffrey Gordon Smith of Paso Robles, California for winning 1st Place in the Land8 Planting Design Contest 2010! He will receive a $250 Gift Card, $500 of Monrovia plant material, and a copy of Vectorworks 2010. 2nd Place: Jane Carol Gates – Pinkle Residence Plan3rd Place: Henry Cohen – Fountain Garden at Trump Towers There were so many excellent entries that the jurors wanted to select additional projects based on the strength of their planting selections, project summary, and overall composition. Below is the Judge’s Choice Award and two honorable mentions. Judge’s Choice Award: Tim Zhang – Urban Farmland: Eye of the Ripple Tim will receive a 1-year subscription to Sitephocus.com for ...Read More

New York State has been marketing the idea of a state-wide high-speed rail network for several years now. High-speed rail, the acclaimed transportation system used in Europe, is a seemingly well adapted solution for New Yorkers, both Up & Down Staters, given the patterns of urbanization are largely linear up the Hudson Valley from NYC to Albany, and through the Mohawk Valley from Albany to Buffalo. Although very little on-the-ground construction has been accomplished at this point, the state plans to continue its support of the project into the future years. http://nyhighspeedrail.ning.com/ After all – what a great idea, right? If New York can successfully move people around the state and through to major destinations like New York City, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, and Chicago at ...Read More

Thanks to everyone who has been following our first-ever student design/build project. We’ve put together this video of the construction process and ribbon cutting ceremony. This picture is the first flush of 1/2″ rain event. You can see the rain garden in action about 5 and a half minutes into the video. The attached pdf is brief documentation of our design process and funding model. Plans are developing for next summer’s project. Stay tuned… For more info contact: Professor Andy Fox Syme Garden Presentation .pdf

…excerpts from Jack Rossi’s forthcoming memoir of his experience with chemical injury from new building materials, being forced outdoors and his insight into the Vermont landscape, health and healing and the fragile planet we inhabit. Introduction It was after midnight. I got up from my bed in terror. Not terror from a bad dream, but terror from the ever-increasing reality I’d been experiencing over the last several weeks. I couldn’t sleep. My eyes, my skin, the inside of my nose and mouth burned with a needle sharp intensity. My breathing was labored but the air felt toxic so I didn’t know whether to take in more or less. My heart palpitated uncontrollably. I staggered down the dark hall, arms extended like the Frankenstein monster to avoid bumping into a wall. I had no particular d...Read More

When Andrew Fox surveyed the grounds behind Syme Residence Hall this spring, he saw a landscape in distress. “It was basically denuded of plants,” he says. “When it rained, it got squishy nasty.” But he was concerned by more than just the threat of muddy footwear. As an assistant professor of landscape architecture, Fox recognized an even more serious problem caused by poor landscaping. Rainwater was carrying sediment – along with pollutants – down a brick walkway and directly into the storm water system that connects to the newly restored Rocky Branch Creek. Not good. So Fox applied for and received a grant from the Provost’s Office to harness the design power – and muscle – of his grad students to find a sustainable solution to the problem. The result, which will be officially unveiled a...Read More

Simon Schama and Rene Bihan of SWA Group, San Francisco will be keynote speakers at the UK Landscape Conference 2010. The conference opens on 8 November with the presentation of the six shortlisted entries for the UK Landscape Award and the announcement of the winner. At the conference dinner on 9 November, Schama will share his perceptions about how landscape has changed since he wrote Landscape and Memory, 15 years ago. The conference will feature an array of high-profile speakers. Rene Bihan of SWA Group, San Francisco, will share his company’s experience of working in China, where the government is backing ambitious, large-scale projects to transform and reshape blighted industrial landscapes. Dr Mechtild Rossler, Chief, European and North America Section, UNESCO World Heritage Centre,...Read More

One of the fairly unique features of this site is the granite outcropping that runs along its eastern edge. Giving a feature like this both realism and readability is something that requires multiple layers of textures, with manual manipulation required to give it an organic, natural feel. I am again using a photo I took as the base for my granite material. This is made more challenging due to the fact that the photo I am using only has a small area of solid granite, in the form of Belgian block edging. I selected a few blocks that have similar tones, outlined in red, and used those as the base for my texture. I used a mix of both healing brushes to fill in a large area using the existing blocks as a sample area. First I filled in the gaps with the healing brush, then I used the spot heali...Read More

What’s wrong with this picture? It appears that the hula dancers are beckoning riders to park their bikes here. However, it is to no avail. This was taken on the opening day of Trader Joe’s in Larkspur, California. If you live in Marin or happen to find yourself nearby, you will quickly realize two things – the hula dancers are not there and the tightly packed bike racks are never used.   In the blog post, Guidelines & Resouces, I shared a few examples of what to do and what not to do when selecting bike racks and their layout. The above picture is a good example of what not to do. I think it is pretty obvious what the main issue is here. Below is another image to reinforce it.   Allow me to point out a few positives: Location. The location is great. The bike rac...Read More