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When starting a digital rendering, just like with a hand rendering, the first step is always to create the lines you are going to render within. Generally people use lines directly taken from AutoCAD for digital renderings as these are the “cleanest” lines, and allow for some shortcuts such as exporting each area as its own file. This method, which I have used often, involves turning every layer off except 2 – one framing the layout window, and one with a single rendered material (turf, pool edging, brick patio, etc.) You repeat this with every material, then bring them into Photoshop, and create a single drawing with the different areas as layers. The advantage is that you then can use the magic wand to select even the most complex shape in a single click, regardless of ...Read More

The UK Landscape Award is looking for the best landscape in the UK. The Award helps to implement the European Landscape Convention (ELC) in the UK. The Convention is the first international convention to focus specifically on landscape, and is dedicated exclusively to the protection, management and planning of all landscapes in Europe. The ELC became binding from 1 March 2007. The convention highlights the need to recognise landscape in law, to develop landscape policies dedicated to the protection, management and creation of landscapes, and to establish procedures for the participation of the general public and other stakeholders in the creation and implementation of landscape policies. It also encourages the integration of landscape into all relevant areas of policy, including cultural, ...Read More

Anyone heading to New York City between now and June 27th, 2010 may want to check out Architecture of Dance – New Coreography and Music Festival. There are seven new ballets with commissioned scores by the New York City Ballet in collaboration with world-renowned architect, Santiago Calatrava. Here’s some copy from their website: “One of the world’s preeminent architects, the sweeping lines and graceful movement of Spanish-born Santiago Calatrava’s structures “don’t sit on the ground; they dance above it.” Long an admirer of Calatrava, Peter Martins thought that he would be the perfect collaborator for a season of innovative new work. But it wasn’t until their first meeting that Martins’ realized the scope of Calatrava’s talent: equal parts prolific painter, sculptor, arc...Read More

After about a week and a half of fine tuning techniques, taking tens of photos for reference use, and taking hundreds of screen shots, my relaunch of Tutorial Tuesday is imminent. This time, I am adding a twist to the formula. Last year, I came up with the idea of doing the tutorials based on a single project, and walking you through my process. This started with my SketchUp models. Unfortunately, soon after I began making the project model, intended to be a base for a new website, I decided to go in a different direction. However, starting next week, you will get a step by step walk-through of how I went from this: to THIS: As always, I am looking for feedback not only on my method of tutorials, but also the content and end results of my methods. I am making these tutorials so people will...Read More

Image: Mosier Creek, OR The editors of Natural Home Magazine have compiled a comprehensive list of what they agree to be the best examples of green neighborhood designs. While the buildings in these developments tend to be quite energy efficient, landscape designers and planners also had a huge part in the ultimate success of how they all work seamlessly together. The list is riddled with expansive pedestrian and bike paths, community veggie gardens, and eco-conscious stormwater systems and natural habitat restoration programs. The majority of these neighborhoods have become certified in either a LEED rating system or a under a number of local green building programs. While LEED may have focused its efforts on greening building systems in its first decade or so, the USGBC has grown to enco...Read More

This entry is a revisited version of my account of studying for and passing the former section D. I have now passed all five sections under the previous format. I began constructing my study regiment by looking for scraps of advice. I was just as interested in collecting exam approaches as I was in collecting the raw data. The plan was to compare myself to the writer and determine suitability. I didn’t find much on individual approaches so I decided to detail my experience upon successful completion. The exam format has changed but I believe the techniques remains valid.   In keeping with the point of this entry I should give up a little something about myself. I do not have a degree in landscape architecture. I was fortunate enough to pass each section on the first round. I include this f...Read More

I wanted to share this stop motion animation below created by the artist, Rob Carter. He made it entirely from images printed on paper, and charts the growth of one of the fast growing cities in the United States – Charlotte, North Carolina. The video also touches on an extreme issue of water shortages that many expanding U.S. cities face today. Metropolis by Rob Carter – Last 3 minutes from Rob Carter on Vimeo.   I originally found this via UrbanTick that they found via Brand Avenue – two blogs worth subscribing to.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going, right? That’s how my partner and I are looking at it these days with the economy being as it may. We’re at the point of waiting on a ton of projects to drop, so it is a great time to reassess all aspects of our lives and business. While we sat down to put together a nice long list of our priorities, I thought I’d put together another list that could apply to just about anybody in the land8lounge world. Hopefully this list of free or nearly free options keep you inspired to start something new, and perhaps propel you or your business to exciting uncharted waters: 1. Join, or even start, a Green Drinks chapter (it’s free and they’re sprouting up everywhere): www.greendrinks.org 2. Volunteer for Earth Day this month...Read More

“The Tragic Kingdom or; Prisoner in a Chinese Theme Park”, (found on most book dealer websites; Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc), is a behind-the-scenes look into the field of design and build in China. The book is a profile of the personalities, culture, and psychology of the world’s most massive looming superpower as seen through the eyes of an ex-pat American. “I have lived and worked in China for over ten years, competing within their system, making my way as everything from a freelance artist in small operations to a senior designer for large corporations. I have witnessed a formidable decade in which China has commanded a modern presence on the world stage. I have participated in the planning, designing, and building of mega-theme parks in Beijing, world-class aquariums in Shanghai, gig...Read More

Via Design Under Sky One of the greatest impacts the process of becoming a Landscape Architect has had on me is the way in which it’s made me “aware” of everything around me, and reminds me of a Boris Pasternak line from Doctor Zhivago: Lara walked along the tracks following a path worn by pilgrims and then turned into the fields. Here she stopped and, closing her eyes, took a deep breath of the flower-scented air of the broad expanse around her. It was dearer to her than her kin, better than a lover, wiser than a book. For a moment she rediscovered the purpose of her life. She was here on earth to grasp the meaning of its wild enchantment and to call each thing by its right name. I notice cracks in sidewalks, oddly constructed corners, and all sorts of behavior of the li...Read More

April is National WORLD Landscape Architecture Month! The designation was made in 2008 by the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA). We have a new T-Shirt design in our Land8 Shop that will help promote our profession. I encourage everyone to “spread the love” by wearing the shirt and telling friends and neighbors, and even strangers on the street, bus, and in the supermarket why Landscape Architecture is a vital profession. Education starts on the street. Now, let’s get moving… Click the images above to purchase.

Last summer I started blogging tutorials on my new rendering methods in the hopes that it would A) help people looking to do Photoshop plan renderings a starting point to work from, B) cultivate some conversation on other people’s techniques, C) show how much work goes into any given rendering. This was (I hope) successful on at least the first and last count. However, the conversation I was looking for never really started… except in my own head. As I finished my Master’s thesis at the end of 2009, I had to render some additional views of my 3D Studio Max model, and realized how unhappy I was with the textures I had used previously. Colors were over-saturated, tiling artifacts were fairly obvious, and everything just looked off to me. That lead to some experimenting with...Read More