Blog

It was 8:00 in the morning in Tucson, and our Mazda 5 micro van was filled to capacity; my daughter (7) and son (5) were prepared for departure and were blowing their final kisses to Grandma. My wife and I weren’t necessarily looking forward to the drive back to chilly Colorado; why would we when the pleasantly mild Arizona temps were treating us like royalty? All that stood between us and our midway overnight stop in Albuquerque was my buried-in urge to visit a few of the many therapeutic gardens sprinkled throughout Phoenix. As we made our way into the city, a sense of eagerness began to surface as I had surpassed the point of reading about the benefits of curative spaces and was primed to wholly experience them. I had the added benefit of having my children in attendance as I firmly bel...Read More

German-based landscape architecture firm, Atelier Dreiseitl, is opening a studio in Portland, Oregon – its first site in the United States. Launching Atelier Dreiseitl’s Portland studio are two partners and two leading principals formerly with the Portland firm Walker Macy. Mauricio Villarreal, Charles Brucker, Eric Bode and Zeljka Carol Kekez will direct the firm’s North and South Americas’ operations. Villarreal will serve as the studio’s director. Ueberlingen, Germany-based Atelier Dreiseitl also has offices in Singapore and Beijing. Via BizJournals Read Full Press Release

Like many landscape designers and architects, I receive the Landscape Architecture magazine on a monthly basis. But I have to say that over the past year or so, I’ve been less inclined to read it. It’s not because the case studies or product information isn’t important to me or that it’s not relevant to the profession; it’s because there seems to be this glaring disparity between what goes on in LA mag land and the real world. Take this excerpt from a much appreciated reader in this month’s Letters to the Editor, written by Buck Pittman, ASLA of Jacksonville, FL: “Am I missing something in Landscape Architecture? Where have been the articles and commentary concerning our profession within the worst economy since the Depression? To read our flagship publication each month, no one would gues...Read More

SWA Group Names L.A.’s Gerdo Aquino President, Joins CEO Kevin Shanley On Executive Team of Global Landscape Architecture and Urban Design Firm Los Angeles (March 10, 2010) – SWA Group, one of the most highly recognized landscape architectural and urban design firms in the world, announced today that Gerdo Aquino, a Managing Principal of SWA’s Los Angeles office, was named President of the firm. He joins the management team led by CEO Kevin Shanley, a Design Principal of the Houston office who was both President and CEO and now shares some of those responsibilities. Aquino is an active designer heading the Los Angeles studio for SWA, and is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Southern California. SWA’s Los Angeles office was recognized in 2008...Read More

I finally had an opportunity to watch “The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie” recently and I must say I’m a bit perplexed by the term “sustainable landscape design” quite frankly. Now this post has nothing to do with Jaime’s design style or abilities, which unquestionably are considerable and well renowned (It’s at this point I have to admit I never heard of the guy until HGTV). My thoughts have everything to do with what constitutes the term “sustainable” especially in light of what I saw on the show. The premise was creating an Australian styled outdoor room for a home in Duarte, California. In order to do this Jaime flew back to Australia for design ideas and inspiration from some of his previous design installations. This notion alone bothered me immensely because, after all, the man is fr...Read More

Jill Bellenger, ASLA, CPH LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, can still be a bit of an enigma. Depending on who you’re talking to, landscape architects are either considered an integral part of a project’s LEED certification process, or a superfluous afterthought. And ironically, these views seem to come from some of the landscape architects themselves, as they ponder their implications in such a building-based program. Just browsing through the LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC) credit template, it certainly does appear to be heavily weighted towards a building’s interior systems. But a closer look reveals the real impact and may help increase understanding of this ‘green by nature’ profession. Under the new LEED-NC v3, landscape architects are the primary or secondar...Read More

Looking for a job in a tough economy can be a daunting task, especially if it’s been a while since you’ve updated your portfolio. Luckily, with a little computer know-how, a USB full of jpgs, and a few hours to kill, you can create a nifty online portfolio without the costs of printing (and reprinting, and reprinting…). Think of it as if you were creating a portfolio for your own start-up company. What do you look for when sifting through a prospective employer’s website? Bright, colorful images and a clear description of the projects they’ve handled can be an extremely useful and persuasive tool when you’re marketing your business, much is the same on the flip side when marketing your design skills to employers. There are some great sites out there that can really give you a bang for your...Read More

LEED for Neighborhood Development: The New Kid on the Block Jill Bellenger, ASLA, CPH Forget about keeping up with the Jones’, it was the Green’s that dominated residential trends in 2009. With about two dozen pilot projects now certified at various levels in the LEED for Neighborhood Development as of December 2009, the future of neighborhood design and planning is looking even greener. In a way, it’s an attempt to return to the days before the automobile ruled the road and became the most influential component in city and regional planning. Way before it was possible for a New Yorker to sample fruit from South America, spices from India, and fish from the Pacific Ocean without leaving their town. The LEED-ND program is championing the effort to revive concepts of community connectivity, ...Read More

I found this the other day on Landscape+Urbanism and thought it was awesome. Although, I see a slight drawback because it appears that you can only view it from certain angles. What do you think?

Via Design Under Sky {Cover} The final completion of any project is an amazing accomplishment in itself, considering the rigor of work, time, and bureaucratic hurdling that accompanies almost any significant landscape architecture project. For those outside the studio, we are presented with grandiose concepts, then see nothing until the landscape is eventually realized. Sketch Landscape, is a visual narrative of the creative process of landscape architecture. The book is made up of 500 pages of scribbles, sketches, quick model prototypes, and multi-layered trace paper drawings giving insight to how some of the world’s most influential architect’s approach design. (Landworks Studio. Court Square Garden Sketches) {Landworks Studio. Court Square Garden Sketches} {Landworks Studio....Read More

The President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects released this statement in advance of the meeting of leaders from around the world for the United Nations Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. DOWNLOAD THE STATEMENT Statement by the International Federation of Landscape Architects “The International Federation of Landscape Architects encourages the development and adoption of a Global Landscape Convention to assist nations working to address the impact of climate change on the world’s landscapes and people. They offer this idea for consideration at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, on 7-18 December 2009. ‘The leaders will be talking about the landscapes of the world, as we know them, and the future of people and species that live in them, Dr Dian...Read More