Blog

A book review on Designing With Succulents by Debra Lee Baldwin.  Having a landscape with succulents might be easier than it seems. Succulents offer plentiful colors, textures and shapes that provide stunning project possibilities for any landscape designer and gardeners. Moreover, succulents are very resistant to drought due to their water storage in their leaves, stems, and/or roots. Due to this fact, many landscape designers have been using theses species to create a xeriscape, reducing the need for supplemental water from irrigation. Debra Lee Baldwin, who is completely in love with succulents, share with us in her book “Designing With Succulents” some of hers and other people experiences of working with succulents over the years. Following her tips, advice and thorough explanations ab...Read More

Yi Zhong De Sheng Secondary School, Foshan, China, by Gravity Green. Is it possible to create an educational environment that integrates play and learning? Most people have been brought up in a traditional educational structure based on determination of rules, obedience, homogenization, collective thinking, and memorization of tedious knowledge. This is often accompanied by dull environments and rigid schedules. China’s state education system is often considered to be both rigorous and traditional, based on the philosophy of one-sidedly passing on knowledge from generation to generation. In reality, the quality of education China’s students receive varies greatly. Parents often invest a lot, depending on where they live and how ambitious their choice of school, making decent education a pr...Read More

Presqu’île Rollet Park, by Atelier Jacqueline Osty & associés, Petit-Quévilly and Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France. As the industry of coal storage begun to lose importance in the past years previous port sites turned into wastelands, but they did not lose their importance or dynamism. Cities became denser so that these sites along rivers and ports became focal points for development and investment. As part of the project, Seine Ouest-Rive Gauche and being in direct relationship with two major elements – the Seine river and the eco-district – Presqu’île Rollet Park designed by Atelier Jacqueline Osty & associés draws the tableau of restoration of nature in the city. Furthermore beyond the park’s function, it shows the reconciliation of the city of Rouen and of the Flaubert distr...Read More

This week’s Sketchy Saturday top 10. This week’s Sketchy Saturday top 10 is as electrifying as ever. However with such a diverse range, one does have to question – “How do we put the various styles up against each other and choose a top 10? It’s not easy, mind you, but let’s start by looking at the name “Sketchy Saturday“, the key word is “Sketchy” and preference will always be given to work with a high sketchlike presence and raw style as opposed to the more refined rendered types. However with such a diversity of style and no control over who enters on what week, keeping a level of consistency in the judging process is a challenge in itself, and sometimes the sketchy entries are swamped by the more refined styles. This week we achieve...Read More

Riva Split Waterfront by 3LHD Architects, in Split, Croatia. Split lies on the Dalmatia coast and its former name used to be Aspalathos after the plant Calicotome villosa. It is the second largest city in Croatia; an important characteristic of Split is that a central part of the city used to be Diocletian’s Palace, which was gradually integrated into the urban tissue. The city water front is called Riva. The zone along the sea and especially the part before the Palace façade towards the sea has always played an important role in the city life. Riva is the place for meeting, walking, hosting public events and enjoy the city and the sea. Riva Split Waterfront Winning the Competition Given this entire heavy historical and social context, the competition held in 2005 for redesigning the Riva ...Read More

Holalokka, by Dreiseitl, in Oslo, Norway. Water has always served as inspiration for some of the greatest renovation projects, as is the case with Holalokka, bearing the signature trademark of Dreiseitl. This project was commissioned by the City of Oslo, Norway and had 13.3 Multiconsult as faithful partner. Covering an area of 2 ha (5 acres), it was completed in 2007 and it demonstrated once more how amazing the blend between urban hydrology and landscape architecture actually is. Holalokka was part of a larger scale restoration project of the Norwegian River Alna. In choosing the design elements, the talented team working on the project considered the importance of storm water management, using water as a central element of the new urban park and adding plenty of informal recreation areas...Read More

We take a closer look at the enchanting Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. The Japanese culture has a long tradition of living in harmony with their surrounding landscape. To them, nature is seen from a wider philosophical understanding and is treated with admiration and respect. Although the country is highly developed and industrial, the perception of the role of the environment has allowed for nature to become part of the city fabric. Furthermore, their connection with the land involves an understanding of natural resources and the potential benefits they can provide for the country. Arashiyama Bamboo Forest Arashiyama Bamboo Forest (also known as Sagano Bamboo Forest) is a perfect example of this harmonic relationship. Bamboo has a long history of Japanese myths and legends and the forest is th...Read More

LAN writer Michelle Biggs interviews GeoDesign expert Nadia Amoroso. Nadia Amoroso is an adjunct professor in practice at the University of Guelph, as well as the principal of Nadia Amoroso Studio in Toronto, a firm focusing on urban design and landscape architecture representations and creative cartography. She has also published several books and articles on the topics of design and data visualization, and speaks internationally on the subject. She has her PhD from the Bartlett School of Architecture, and Urban Design and Landscape Architecture degrees from the University of Toronto. Nadia’s work is focused on digital media for data visualization and design illustration. In her role as professor, Nadia works with students to help them in harnessing digital tools to become more effective ...Read More

23̊ Estate, by Shma CO, in Khao Yai, Nakornratchsima, Thailand. It goes without saying that erosion is a great problem for a landscape with both a valley and a steeply sloped area. Erosion has the potential to cause flooding and landslides. But the Shma landscape architecture firm decided to embrace erosion in designing the 23̊ Estate in Khao Yai. They successfully turned this area of potential high erosion into a simply stunning sustainable landscape. 23̊ Estate in Khao Yai is a residential complex developed by Sansiri that consists of condominiums, villas, and a hotel designed to allow people to commune with nature, surrounded by a terrain rich in foliage and lush vegetation that offers a relaxing atmosphere for leisure time. The complex is located two hours’ drive from Bangkok, making i...Read More

Westergasfabriek Park, Gustafson Porter, Amsterdam Netherlands. In 1997 landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson, together with Francine Houben of Mecanoo Architects, won the competition for the master plan of Westergasfabriek, a former gas facility in Amsterdam. The council in consultation with the local community had a dream of transforming the heavily polluted site into a new recreational facility, subject to a major clean-up. Through a process of regular consultations with the stakeholders, the architects and landscape architects were able to help make that dream a reality. In the mid-2000s, the buildings were restored and a park with innovative features came into existence. Westergasfabriek Park A Brief History The Park occupies a strip of land between the Haarlem Canal and the main rail...Read More

A useful AutoCAD tutorial from our resident AutoCAD expert UrbanLISP to help you with drawing paving patterns on curving paths. You can hatch objects in AutoCAD with default paving patterns. Considering the amount of paving materials available, it’s fair to say these hatches are a bit limited for landscape architects. It’s possible to create custom hatch patterns, but one problem will remain; hatch patterns are continuous patterns. That’s fine when you’re drawing, for instance, a herringbone pattern, a pattern that doesn’t change when it’s on a curving path. Stretcher bond and running bond can both follow gentle curving paths. In this case, the pattern is build up out of one size element that alternates every strip with half a stone. If you want to have a more playful look you can use a wi...Read More

Gardens by the Bay, by Grant Associates in Marina Bay, Singapore. With the goal of creating a park that can function as an educational and recreational experience while showing the best of horticulture and garden artistry, Grant Associates designed the Gardens by the Bay park in Singapore. In doing so, the designers faced a lot of big challenges, the most complicated of which was the climate. Nevertheless, Gardens by the Bay is now one of the most beautiful tropical gardens in the word. What distinguishes this park from other landscape projects is its conceptualization. Because of its area (54 hectares on its first phase), Grant Associates had to rethink some landscape concepts — such as circulation and pathways — while promoting new concepts, such as aerial walkways and the or...Read More