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It was early spring when I sat down with the team at Summerhill Landscapes. It had been my third semester of remote pandemic learning, or one and a half years of my college experience put on “pause”. The confusion, disappointment, and cabin fever was amounting to an agitated escapism inside of me that I knew I couldn’t quell with a vacation or a walk in the park. I wanted to get my hands dirty, to put in work that was physically taxing- the kind that leaves you sore at the end of the day, a rewarding reminder of a job well done. The kind of work that I would not have seen inside the traditional classroom let alone within the confines of my new virtual world. I wanted to be involved in landscape architecture in a way that connected me back to the earth, to others, and to the reality of the ...Read More

From the beginning there has always been an intersection: a place where private development and public needs come together and determine how a myriad of issues and improvements can serve their respective interests. Clearly, tax funding has long been a vehicle for the construction of roads, utilities, schools and hospitals. This tradition is long-serving and has established a grand structure on a national level. The scale of these agreements has expanded to include municipal reservoir projects in national parks to public art in alleyways. These improvements touch all of us, and ultimately—or at least usually—provide the intention they began with. Much of this dialogue goes unnoticed—but not always. There are many issues which rouse the citizens to clamor into public hearings and council cha...Read More

Hey, YALL! Welcome to the chat. LABash is an annual student-run landscape architecture conference that brings together students and professionals in landscape architecture for a weekend of educational sessions, keynote lectures, social events, networking, and career-building opportunities. This year, for the 51st year of the conference, LABash is being held *in-person* at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana during the weekend of March 31- April 2, 2022. As a “Roaring River” desires to overtop its banks and flood the area with nutrients for growth and nourishment, similarly this conference is a call to flood the field of landscape architecture with OUR ideas for a future of environmental and social equity. By empowering new and unheard voices, we can be the droplets that jo...Read More

Here are the winners of the 4th Annual Social Media Awards in Landscape Architecture presented by Land8 and the American Society of Landscape Architects! Social media has the power to significantly increase the awareness and importance of the profession of landscape architecture, and Land8 and ASLA believe industry leaders in social media should be recognized and promoted. Be sure to follow the winners to help grow and promote the profession! Top 10 Social Media Accounts – LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FIRMS SCAPE – Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn  SCAPE takes a narrative-driven, interactive approach to social media, using their channels to engage audiences within and beyond the design profession. In 2021, they leveraged high-profile coverage to raise the profile of landscape architecture—in...Read More

Building information modeling (BIM) can appear complicated if you’re new to it. How is it possible to manage potentially vast amounts of site information while remaining true to the project’s vision? And, perhaps more importantly, without getting overwhelmed or questioning the team’s commitment? Whether you’re approaching BIM confidently or with a bit of hesitation, this article is meant for you. We’ll concentrate on three proven strategies for staying on top of a BIM implementation. Strategy #1 – Focus on the Incentives What are the incentives? Many firms find that BIM streamlines project delivery. When your model becomes a singular source of truth for all proposed site elements you’re responsible for, you save time and effort during documentation. Some tools, like Vectorworks Landmark, i...Read More

Happy New Year! We have exciting news to share! Over the last few months, Land8 has been working on a strategic partnership with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) that will bring more features and better content for readers and provide opportunities for Land8 to grow in new ways. Land8 was founded in 2008 by emerging professionals of ASLA as Land8 Lounge, the social network for landscape architects, and it has grown to become one of the top five resources for landscape architects online. And that’s not even mentioning the events and legendary parties. So why partner with ASLA now? First, ASLA can provide financial, technical and administrative support that will help grow Land8. Second, Land8 partnership can provide ASLA an expanded ability to raise awareness of the profes...Read More

After being in the Landscape Architecture industry for over 40 years, I’ve learned that you can often find inspiration from places you least expect. Traditionally, I brainstorm and find ideas from looking at cutting-edge architecture, contemporary artists and nature, and I try to frequently think outside the box and see things from different points of view. One of my favorite sources of inspiration is Leonardo Da Vinci. He never looked at other artists’ work for inspiration, as he knew that he would never come up with something new if he was mimicking or creating a different version of what already existed. Even though I often try to push my own creativity, I’m still sometimes surprised by the places I can find new ideas. For one of my latest projects, something truly unique inspired...Read More

“Frederick Law Olmsted is rightly remembered as an eminent landscape architect, but in 1861 it was his work as a journalist and an administrator that brought him acclaim.” (New York Times) That’s right, even Olmsted knew the power of journalism and media to advance the causes he would champion, particularly his antislavery views. This year, at the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (NJASLA) Annual Meeting, the theme is “The Legacy of Olmsted: Landscape, Advocacy and Communication”. This theme recognizes the accomplishments of Frederick Law Olmsted beyond the landscape, including his commitment to advocacy in the public realm and as a journalist. The various education sessions, both in-person and virtual, explore this same multi-disciplinary...Read More

Forests represent the green lungs of Europe. They can provide an essential resource not only at an ecological level but also at an economic level. The interest among the European community in wooded areas has grown dramatically in recent years, partly due to the contentious issue of global warming. This article sets out an argument for controlled “deforestation”, as an important maintenance tool for the health and vitality of forests. We also present a series of solutions to the issue of uncontrolled forest expansion in order to preserve the forest flora and fauna while encouraging close contact with our environment in order to develop a sustainable rural sector. Forest as Both Land Use and Habitat Europe’s forests span 182 million hectares or 5% of the world’s forest area. The...Read More

Collaboration is important in any design discipline, and it’s especially true in landscape architecture, which often requires the input of architects, civil engineers, structural engineers, arboriculturists, ecologists, and more. It’s not often that this collaboration is handled in-house. Most of the time you’ll see the landscape architecture firm working with external consultants for these design elements. FPCR, a multidisciplinary UK-based firm, is an exception to this norm. By employing in-house arboriculturists, ecologists, architects, and survey teams, the firm can deliver projects more efficiently than if they were back-and-forth with external stakeholders. The historically AutoCAD-based office has recently seen a surge in use of Vectorworks Landmark. The software transition is spear...Read More