Blog

Thinking of using solar power for landscape lighting – Read this article first. The only thing better than having a beautiful garden is enjoying your home’s landscaping even after the sun goes down. With solar powered outdoor lighting, you can showcase your gorgeous gardens and landscaping at night without running up your power bill. With sun-powered greenery in mind, here are just a few benefits of using solar power to light your landscaping. Landscape Lighting Using Solar Power How Solar Landscape Lighting Works Although it may sound strange that something powered by the sun would have a use at night, solar powered landscape lighting is actually quite effective. Just like rooftop solar panels collect the sun’s energy during the day, so do landscape solar panels. The mai...Read More

Vinterbad Brygge, by BIG in Copenhagen, Denmark. People in Scandinavian countries have a very special perception regarding physical contact with water. The most common ritual is known as the “Nordic Bath” and it originates from Finland. The ritual of a “Nordic Bath” involves alternately taking a dip in cold then hot water. It is an activity that has social, health, and cultural aspects well founded in Scandinavians’ perception of life. The use of thermal baths goes a long way back in the history of these countries, as well as in other countries worldwide. Winter swimming seems to also be a very popular activity in Northern Europe, although the climate would suggest otherwise. Vinterbad Brygge The Harbour Baths in the island Brygge in Copenhagen, Denmark, are a landmark for both the citizen...Read More

We take a moment to explore the delights of the exotic Xilitla garden. Inspired by great architects and artists such as Antoni Gaudí, Giovanni Baptista Piranesi, and Maurits Cornelis Escher and his surrealist friends Salvador Dalí, Leonora Carrington, and René Magritte, Sir Edward James found in Mexico, in the middle of the jungle, an opportunity to build a living dream — nearly 80 acres of paradise waiting to become a surreal garden. The construction took almost 40 years (until James passed away), and yet remains unfinished. A new visitor can’t tell what the purpose of the edification was: stairs leading to nowhere, infinite paths, arches, and sculptures all around. WATCH: An Incredible Overview of the Xilitla Garden Xilitla Garden The Castle of Edward James has become a landm...Read More

MultiSit is a design solution aiming to change how we observe and engage with our urban environment.  We all know that our world never stops changing. Inevitably, the same goes for us: people. We change the way we live, our environment, our technologies, our surroundings. And through this constant development, our needs alter, as well. To satisfy our needs, design is also changing on a daily basis. A good example of this kind of transformation can be found in the comparison between a conventional, standard park bench and an up-to-date, cutting-edge design of a public seat. To illustrate how a contemporary bench functions and what it looks like, we are about to review MultiSit, the multifunctional product designed by Tri-On. Check out this modern version of public seating, which provides an...Read More

YouTube can deliver many great tutorials on the subject of technical drawing, so feel free to check out this Top 10 and form your own opinion. Landscape architects are required to be familiar with technical drawing because so much of their work is related to space geometry and planning. The success of a landscape architect is often defined by how well his/her skills are developed, with technical drawing standing at the top of the list. Regardless of how familiar you are with technical drawing, there are still many things to be learned. The YouTube tutorials presented in this article are going to reveal essential information related to the field of technical drawing. It is well known that tutorial videos deliver the information faster and in a more efficient manner than other sources, so be...Read More

The news broke late last year: a design team has been picked to handle the exciting Presidio Parklands project along the bay of San Francisco.  Adding to its impressive resume of high profile spaces that includes the High Line, Fresh Kills Park, and Navy Pier, James Corner Field Operations will lead the design team in this uncommon opportunity to enhance the beauty, the culture, and the ecology of San Francisco through  development of this key land. The Presidio Parklands is a 13-acre site being generated by the Presidio Parkway, a project lowering underground large portions of the main highway to the Golden Gate Bridge.  The land is full of potential.  James Corner called the site “a place where the Presidio meets the bay, a place where the city can reflect back upon itself, a place where...Read More

Fish Market Plaza by Thorbjörn Andersson & Sweco Architects in Karlskrona, Sweden.  Does a spatial quality create a place or does it happen the other way around? Perhaps it works both ways. In the case of Fish Market Square, or “Fiskertorget Plaza” in Swedish, the place still exists under the same name, but everything else related to the market function is long gone. The Fish Market Plaza is located in Karlskrona, Sweden. Karlskrona, which means Carolu’s Crown, has always been an important harbor. Nowadays, it is also one of the most picturesque cities in Sweden and is protected as a World UNESCO Heritage Site. The Fish Market Plaza There used to be a Market Hall for selling fish where the square is now, but it was torn down in the 1960s. The only thing left after the demolition was th...Read More

 Zameret Park, by TeMA Urban Landscape Design in Tel Aviv, Israel. Perhaps the first thing to capture your attention from our headline was the unfamiliar word Zameret. That Hebrew word, often used as a girl’s name, literally means tree top. If you are wondering about the relationship between the origin of the word Zameret and the park, you are about to read the riddle within the framework of this project. To tickle your fancy even more, here is the philosophy behind the park, revealed on the website of TeMA Urban Landscape Design: “We develop our projects with an underlying theme. The theme runs like a thread between various parts and layers of each project, thus enabling its comprehension beyond the aesthetic experience. The theme serves the different planning phases, allowing for a fruit...Read More

The Canberra National Arboretum, by TCL, Canberra, Australia. The loss of habitats and the extinction of species are prevalent topics among environmentalists today. We are witnessing the largest extinction crisis since we lost the dinosaurs. According to the World Wildlife Fund, at least 10,000 species disappear every year — forever. At the same time, awareness of the amazing diversity and the imminent danger of its loss are probably higher than ever. Multiple organizations and even whole countries are working against the threat of extinction and habitat loss. Australia is one such notable example. Canberra National Arboretum In January 2003, a wave of fires wreaked havoc on the Australian mainland and its unique forests. Saddened by the loss, the ACT Government decided to act instea...Read More

We search for 10 top examples of land art from around the world. I have written previously about how public art is an essential ingredient in creating a city’s built environment in my article “Incredible Public Art at Highway Underpass!“. The powerful visions of artists often bring cultures and societies into deeper dialogue, ultimately creating more meaningful relationships between people and place — a goal central to the landscape architectural project. Hence, there is much to learn from artistry laid upon the land. Here are 10 examples of incredible land art: Land Art 10. Chevron Cubes Located in Middlesbrough, England, Chevron Cubes is a piece of urban furniture created by design agency United Creatives as part of a Grant Associates mixed-use development public realm ...Read More

A deeper look at the contribution that the Departments of Parks and Recreation have made to the world. In the late 1800s, parks were known as “pleasure grounds.” These large tracts of land were located on the edges of large cities and were meant to simulate the countryside for wealthy urban dwellers. This was the problem with these early parks — they weren’t meant to be used and enjoyed by the working class, who had no easy way to get to them. In 1930, Robert Moses, an early commissioner of New York City’s Parks Department, changed the way parks and recreation departments around the world operated. It was because of his justification for spending money on urban parks that other cities were able to follow his lead, grow their park systems, and create public spaces that are literally c...Read More