Blog

The 54th annual Edward C. Martin Landscape Symposium is scheduled for Oct. 21, 2009 at Bost Auditorium, Mississippi State University from 9am to Noon. Guest speakers include Dr. Jim DelPrince on interior design, Gail Barton on Mississippi gardening, and Bob Brzuszek on residential landscape design. For more info and registration, please visit http://www.lalc.msstate.edu/

Thanks to everyone able to attend this year’s Land8 Happy Hour – Chicagostyle! And many thanks to Baseline and Vectorworks for sponsoring the event. For those of you who missed it this year, we met at the Exchequer Restaurant on the Saturday night of the 2009 ASLA Conference for some Chicagostyle deep dish pizza and cold beverages. There were close to 70 people who attended and it was awesome to meet everyone in person. Here are some pictures of the event… During the first hour, visitors made themselves comfortable. Sitting at the table in the forground is Scott Munroe. He later won the Tallest Hat Contest. In the background you see the screen with a running slideshow of members’ work from the Gallery. (Right) Scott showing off his hat. It was great to see how the e...Read More

Each year the American Society of Landscape Architects has an annual meeting, and this year it was in Chicago. I’ve gone to three of the last four, and must say that this was one of the most enjoyable weekends. Some of that may be caused by my circumstances surrounding each meeting. (Minneapolis I was still in Grad School and a week from presentations, so my mind wasn’t fully there; San Fransisco I had just graduated and had an interview set up that I was to busy freaking out about to enjoy myself) This year I am working retail, have been out of the field for just over a year, and am feeling… disheartened. So to go to a convention center for four days straight, see talks about all the things that used to make up my daily work life, and talk to nothing but people who do wh...Read More

The Therapeutic Landscapes Network is working feverishly to launch our new website in time for the annual American Society of Landscape Architects Meeting and Expo next week (and the American Horticultural Therapy Association and Healthcare Design 09 conferences soon after that). Above is a sneak peek at our beautiful homepage. Oooh. Ahhh. This isn’t just a superficial makeover. We’ve reconfigured the TLN site to offer improved searchability and richer imagery; an expanded Designers and Consultants Directory; an expanded Directory of Therapeutic Gardens; sponsorship opportunities for businesses and organizations to promote their products, services, and expertise; an integrated blog (website and blog all under one virtual roof); an interactive Network Forum where members can mee...Read More

Sausalito Fire Destroys Shades of Green Landscape Architecture Studio Sausalito, CA – A fire that broke out last evening in a three-story building on Pine Street is under control after it destroyed the studio space of Shades of Green Landscape Architecture. The start of the fire is still under investigation along with the total damage. I was happy to blog about their successes in this post, but this news is, simply put, awful. I have yet to speak with principals Ive Haugeland and Tyler Manchuck, or their associate Jamie Morf, so I can only imagine their devastation. I encourage you to drop them your well-wishes below, or on their profiles.

Hello: I’m a Landscape Architect and freelance writer for the Examiner.com. I write short articles to raise awareness of the profession and to highlight projects around Metro Detroit. Also, we’ll be highlighting Metro Detroit L.A. firms. If you are from Michigan and want your firm to be highlighted in my column, feel free to e-mail me at nanette.alton@gmail.com or leave a comment on my web page at the website below. Looking forward to examining the L.A. profession and giving others all the good news about what we do! Nanette Alton, RLA http://www.examiner.com/x-22299-Detroit-Landscape-Architecture-and-Public-Design

As many Landscape Architects are well aware, the ASLA national meeting is in a few weeks in Chicago. I’ve gone to four of the last five meetings, and highly recommend attendance to all professionals and students at least once. The networking opportunities are amazing, as you can find yourself sitting at lunch next to your state’s ASLA trustee, and sitting in an education session next to the principal at the firm you’ve always wanted to work at. You can also join one of the national committees, which means you get to help steer the profession, and for the small cost of some conference calls and one in person meeting at the national meeting. There are also the copious amounts of education sessions that both count towards your continuing ed credits for your registration, and...Read More

Now that you have a completed CAD base map, with all of the elevation edits needed, you have just one final step before you can Import your design into SketchUp. If you used a construction line hidden layer, turn it on, and every other layer off. Then delete all information off of the trace layer, and delete the trace layer itself. The main reason to do this is because when CAD files are imported into SketchUp, if a line exists in the same spot on two different layers, the line will be assigned to one layer, and the other will have the area blank. As a quick software note: One of the main differences between SketchUp standard and Pro is that while CAD can be imported into either version, you can only Export non-CAD files in Pro. So if you are planning an rendering in SketchUp, or using pho...Read More

To those who didn’t pass it in June, any comments as to why? and what are you planning to do not resolve it. Thanks

When you start your 3D model, you start with a cad base, just like you have for your plan graphics and for your Bid Set. However, there are some tweaks that need to be made, and things you have to pay more attention to then normal. In this tutorial I’m going to take you up to the point of bringing your model into SketchUp. Next time we will get into tweaking topo and base modeling, and then after that, the fine modeling level, and adding plants. But for now, we are focusing on the base, as without a good base, the modeling process will be much more difficult and time consuming. Note: When you use CAD, use Polyline, for the love of god. It is only in EXTREMELY rare cases that line works BETTER than poly line, and this is NOT one of them. Step 1: Clean up your normal CAD base To start,...Read More

Ronald Rael is an Architect, Author and Assistant Professor of Architecture at The University of California, Berkeley. He is the founder of EarthArchitecture.org, a clearing house of information on the subject. In his book titled, Earth Architecture, Rael provides a history of building with “dirt” in the modern era. His primary focus is on projects constructed in the last few decades that used building techniques such as rammed earth, mud brick, compressed earth, and cob. Earth Architecture showcases more than 40 projects that will inspire any designer to find new and creative uses for the oldest building material on earth. THE CENTER FOR THE BLIND – Taller de Architectura Maruicio Rocha – Mexico City, Mexico – 2000 This is another space that got my attention....Read More

The first thing you have to figure out when you want to make a 3D model for a rendering is if you really want a 3D model rendering. This decision is similar to the question of if you want a hand rendered plan or a Photoshop plan. There are of course aesthetic reasons involved. Both can work extremely well, and look amazing, but by understanding your client, your design, and the look you will get from either method of rendering you can make the choice of which is best for you on a given project. There are more then just aesthetic differences to be looked at, however. Ask yourself what the purpose of the model is. Is it for images of a few conceptual designs, or for a final design proposal? If you are looking to do more of a conceptual design presentation, then you may want to go with a hand...Read More