Boilerplater

This is my favorite example of Bauhaus influence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq7xyjU-jsU

But seriously, look up a book called “The New Tech Garden” by Paul Cooper and “Inside Outside” by by Berrizbetia & Pollak.

Oh, you didn’t want to have to spend money on this? OK, well look up pretty much anything designed by Peter Walker. Japanese…[Read more]

What was “the Piles”? I grew up in the Philly area and Powleton rings a bell as the location of the MOVE compound siege where the Philly police dropped a bomb on the roof of their rowhome. It exploded and the fire spread to engulf the entire block.

Sorry for hijacking the thread!

Trace, did people fall asleep during Bye’s lectures? I saw him…[Read more]

3D programs were in their infancy when I was in school, so they were nowhere to be found in the curriculum. I had a gov’t job that sent us for MicroStation training and then a while later a few of us got to take a 3D class, even though we never got to use it in practice. Ah, government inefficiency, where are you when we need you? I think the 3D…[Read more]

At no point in this testing process have i ever believed that CLARB was really interested in seeing landscape architects succeed.
Exactly. They are not there to help landscape architects succeed, unless you think of it from the perspective of those who are licensed. They, of course, want to minimize competition. If you were a landscape architect…[Read more]

As one of the posters on the site alluded, these kind of plans represent failed planning ideas. Just as with an orthogonal grid or streets laid out in the shape of a palm, natural patterns are ignored, treated as if they are not even there. Where are the streams, wetlands, animal migration routes, soils unsuitable for building, street layout for…[Read more]

I.E. If you currently make $45,000/yr, stop working, go back to school and spend $80,000 getting an MLA, the economic opportunity lost is $90,000 (two years not working) plus $80,000 for school makes the total investment $170,000!

Exactly. It makes more economic sense to wait tables or drive a bus during a downturn than to get into more debt for…[Read more]

Please don’t be sorry. I think it added some valuable points to the discussion.

Look around…there are a lot of people wondering if the middle class will survive this recession.

Your candor is appreciated. Thanks for the laugh! I’ve had similar experiences. Sometimes I feel like my upbringing and persoanl ethics have made me too nice. I wish I was more comptetitive by nature. Still, I don’t think I could throw anyone under the bus and sleep well at night.

We are still stalling, quibbling..It will never happen..State and Federal Highway Dept. have the same goal as ever – move more cars faster, and as far as they are concerned, in fifty years they will still be moving more cars faster..

That’s one of the things that caused me to experience cognitive dissonance about my job with a state DOT.

I can’t…[Read more]

See my discussion on VizTerra from a few months ago. It was developed specifically for landscape design and and is VERY easy to learn.

My initial impression is that it might make the engineer nervous, to have water stored that close to the foundation. The foundation might need extra waterproofing. What do you want to use the rainwater for?

I’ve been arguing for a few years now that a new business model is needed, and I Iike your approach. A friend of mine is an architect. Last time I checked, he still wasn’t licensed, but he seems to be doing ok with his own little shop. He started a furniture line a few years ago that he’s managed to get into a few magazines. One LA I worked for…[Read more]

Hey, I didn’t say that! It was Mr. Heifner. Please give credit where credit is due.
I know of many municipalities, especially in California, that think landscape arechitects are necessary. Many HOAs require a stamped plan, even here in “wild west” Las Vegas. Caltrans seems to think they’re necessary, as they employ a lot of them. So does the…[Read more]

I’m about ready to throw in the towel. I started looking at certificate programs for x-ray technicians and medical assistants last night. I’m going to apply for security guard jobs. Still no sign of things picking up in Las Vegas. I recently went back east and had a couple of interviews. They were with design/build firms and they seemed to want…[Read more]

When the results of the 2008 presidential election came in, I wrote “We Won!!!” in soap on the back window of my pickup. It was the first time I felt jubilant and celebratory about ANYTHING in many months. The owner of my company saw it and told me to wash it off. “Don’t rub it in. I don’t rub it in.” he said. I didn’t think that was fair as it…[Read more]

I suggest you talk to this guy: http://www.land8lounge.com/profile/AlexPriest as he’s already there. I’ve thought about studying in the Netherlands as I have family there and it would be interesting to reconnect with my cultural roots, but I have thus far lacked the nerve to do it! When I was in college, I met this grad student from Wagenigen…[Read more]

Wow. The silence is deafening. I guess Land8 peeps aren’t feeling too patriotic this 4th. As to the bit about Americans striving to make this world a better place, well, I just don’t see it where I live. I see a lot of people trying to trip each other up and make life worse for those they see as their competitors and those they can exploit. Of…[Read more]

One firm I worked for did something like that, but within the company. It is a multinational civil engineering firm with offices all over the US and Canada. The manager just called around to other LA offices and asked if they needed help with any projects. Through his contacts, I got to work on projects in British Columbia, Alaska, and Utah from…[Read more]

My last IT guy claimed Fujitsu’s are the best for reliability and performance. And a sales guy at a local Fry’s Electronics claimed the same thing. I’d go for something with an Intel i5 processor for speed and a good graphics/video card. A lot of graphics programs list cards they recommend on their websites.

I’m a fan of the spiral-bound “Site Construction Details Manual”, which you can get with a CD of the details in CAD. Since its also by Time Saver Standards, maybe you already found that. If you’re studying for the LARE, try to be aware of why details are the way they are, such as in regard to frost lines, soil types, how a material behaves in…[Read more]