Bob Luther

The problem is not with Lin or Leggitt, it is the fact that most people learn a technique in school, then they work to perfect that style and that is what they do for the rest of their career, some designers with more artistic background or talent explore more original styles but the mass majority of LA students are just trying to develop skills…[Read more]

I have been asked to use reclaimed water for many recent projects. I am finding that many municipalities and water districts are providing more opportunities to work with reclaimed water. the biggest limitation is access to the supply lines, if the supply is available then the only design changes needed are the use of purple components and…[Read more]

I think the first key is the fact that the area of southern California includes LA, Orange County, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, not just one city, there are a huge number of firms in SoCAL reducing the amount of great opportunities to do great “hot” work.

Second “hot” avant garde work is like art, it is eye of the beholder stuff, and as someone…[Read more]

Our industry follows the economy and for the younger members of the forum we are experiencing this massive downturn for the first time. Most of the older LA I have talked to about this are not worried they went through the early 80’s and the early 90’s recessions and scratched and scraped to get through, they got through and built or re-built…[Read more]

I think the best way to go green or to get large companies or even home owners to go greeen is to show them how they will save money, not how it will save the fluffy bunnies of the world. Green doesn’t have to conflict with prosperity or profits.

how about low-voltage or solar lighting, recycled materials (glass in concrete, broken concrete retaining walls, etc.) light colored hardscape/paving, high effecience irrigation (subsurface drip and ET Controllers) are a few thoughts

I will look into fiber wattle…cool!

I love the recycle concrete tip… nice!

There is nothing stopping agriculture from starting back up on the east coast other than possible economic issues. I have actually lived in a state that was mostly agriculturally self sufficient in the summer (Alaska), and had to accept huge price jumps in exotic fruits and veggies in the off-season, those items became luxury items. I believe that…[Read more]

and you can maintain crops year round on the east coast? and how much energy is is going to waste to transport the crops back to the west coast after you have moved all of you food supplies to the east… also you have now totally destroyed the fragile economy of California which will be good because we will finally get to re-open gold and sliver…[Read more]

as long as everyone on the team is using Revit it is very good at cutting time and costs, I know some multi-disciplinary firms are going to it, but they do everything in house and do not have to deal with consultatns who are not on Revit.

Trace – So now you not only want to eliminate irrigation in the central valley, you want to eliminate 30% of the US food production? It would be easier to move water to the fields than move crops to your beloved east coast. lets find more water in the form of desalination and reclaimed sources before you alter the economy of the entire United States.

I know a lot of LA’s who are not MLA graduates (most actually), and I know a lot of MLAs who are professors. if you want a job in teaching or theoretical design then a MLA is a great thing to pursue, I think you can always go back to get an MLA if you want the knowledge but I think that the others are right in saying to get your feet wet and start…[Read more]

Why do you feel you need a MLA to become a Landscape designer, or even a Landscape Architect? Don’t focus on graphics skills, focus on being well rounded. If you must insist on being a standout graphics individual start with hand graphics, look at Mike Lin’s workshop or Richard Scott’s workshops for the best Landscape architectural graphics…[Read more]

good luck and hopefully the powers that be will come to there senses and hire a professional.

I guess I have only responded to the statements of others rather than making an attempt at answering your question, so here it goes… the firs question is who is using you as a graphic designer/visualizer (GDV)? if you are being only used as a GDV by your client and then they are passing the construction documents on to a different LA firm, then…[Read more]

Construction docs may not inspire stakeholders (aka clients) but they do inspire LA principles who know that the money is in the details, namely CD’s. Find a way to put out good CD’s in less time or with greater accuracy and you will have a job for a long time.

I agree with Lee, this sound like a personal gripe, I have had many co-workers, and friends from university who complained about what they did at a firm. I have had friends who’s only job was to organize details then modify existing details then organize those new details, I have had friends who got bored of field services work, when I first…[Read more]

After the big Xeriscape discussions this morning I would have thought everyone would have some items that the would add to this discussion… I will start

I love to use…

subsurface drip tubing
Individual drip emitters at each shrub (if I cannot use sub surface drip)
Deep well bubblers on all trees and Palms
Annual color on its own zone with…[Read more]

Xeriscape is concept not brand name, it does not represent a company. Xeri is Greek meaning dry, and scape as a suffix as in a scene. Many companies use xeriscape to define there products, or at least a particular line of their products and government bodies use this term or similar terms to describe responsible irrigation, planting, and…[Read more]