Andrew Garulay, RLA

Planting design theory has nothing to do with culture or ecology. It is understanding the various visual effects of any planting composition whether it is created by nature or white guys in grey suits. It is about breaking it down for analysis so that you or I can understand what we are looking at. It also empowers us re-create something we have s…[Read more]

I second that! It is the best book that I have seen to break it all the way down and then build it all the way back up.

….. for doing what?

The system works backwards. Every project should start with a certain number of points and then have points deducted for negative impacts. Instead, you can build whatever and then make yourself look good by filling it up with items that get you points whether the overall project has a negative impact or not.

It is not just big business. I’ve done several jobs for politicians who preach certain values and then don’t seem to have them when it is their own project. Some blatantly had vistas cut in wetland buffers after having construction done and been through the process, so absolutely knew what they were doing. If you know where I live, you know they…[Read more]

Trace,
Believe it or not, I agree with you. I wrote”IF” there was more common sense we would not need it. The fact is there is not more common sense. Regulation has to be there. LEED is a cottage industry rather than regulation. I think the article is making that point.

I agree with common sense. If there was more of it we would not be worried about a point system at all.
You either do these things because they are the right things to do in your circumstance, or you do these things because you want to score points. If it is the former then LEED or any other point system is meaningless.

A new industry is going to be amateur hour a while. There are multiple perspectives going into it and multiple perspectives on executing. As time moves forward the benefits and consequences for each perspective will play out. So will the scrutiny and criticism. All of that will shape practices on assembling design teams, values, construction, and…[Read more]

“Looking for a best architectural/landscape design software for creating large-scale environments”
The answer does not match the question.

The first time that I had a project by a landscape architect with half the alphabet of LEED letters after his name come across my desk in a CE’s office, he was proposing several outdoor gas torches and gas fire pits for a summer seasonal resort on Cape Cod where the nights are about 5 degrees cooler than the days in the summer. How is that…[Read more]

Landscaper’s Challenge

A lot of us work in residential and we are not xreffing 30 drawings together. That is a whole separate world that a lot of us don’t have to deal with and have little interest in going there. We completely understand the need and that the complexity of the projects require that, but equally understandable should be that if you don’t have to deal wi…[Read more]

I have not bothered with layer states in years. I and others whom I have worked with in the last 8 or ten years have been managing layers in viewports. … not sure where Acad 2000 was as far as sheet tabs or if it only had one paperspace.(they can’t get a newer ACAD?), but it would make your life easier to use separate tabs for each sheet and m…[Read more]

I agree with Ashley. ACAD drafting has not changed that much … just more conveniences in options of how you can do things.

Fifteen years ago, I took a “bridge job” doing cad drafting for a small civil engineering/survey office while I was looking for a job with an LA firm. It was like ACAD grad school and I got paid. It actually was an…[Read more]

Are they truly lacking or were they just not a good fit for that particular office?

One thing that you can do on your own is to take your GPS and occupy some of the known points that are in the other datum and determine the difference. Then you can put all your GPS points on a separate layer and make a block out of them. Move the block using one of those matched points as the base point and moving it to the corresponding point in…[Read more]

It would seem that the  Garmin eTrex 30 GPS is far less precise than the difference between these two datum references based on everything I’ve read about the instrument.

I’m not one to wear socks with sandals, but working with environmental issues is pretty much as common and constant as working with plants or working with hardscapes in this profession whether you do residential work, National Parks, strip malls, or urban development.

That supports both Trace’s perspective AND Robert’s perspective in this way.…[Read more]

Are we, as LAs, part of the group that programs space rather than creating “un-programmed” space or not?

Try to send a private message to Craig Raines (Land8 member). I believe that he has done this in the private sector and now does it for the city of LA, If I’m not mistaken.