Boilerplater

Don Imus has said some laudatory things about landscape architects and I recall reading about how he involved LAs in the design of his charity ranch, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imus_Ranch but didn’t find any specific articles on my first search.

Though after his “nappy-headed hoes” comment about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, I’m not sure…[Read more]

Have any of you read the job requirements for some of those LA jobs that the Army Corp. of Engineers advertises? Its like you’d need at least a minor in hydrology and many years of experience doing specifically the job they are advertising to qualify! Makes me think they only promote from within. I met one LA who was with the Corp. a few years ago…[Read more]

Some years ago I ran into a guy from the class one or two behind mine. He had started his own design/build deal right out of school and was continuing with it some 10+ years later. he was trying to get licensed and was petitioning the state board to allow him to sit for the exams with the argument that there were no jobs under licensed LAs when he…[Read more]

“Come check out my new apartment! It has an AWESOME view of a McDonald’s drive thru and the cooking smells are just heavenly!”
Sorry, but that’s the 1st thing that came to my mind. I like it in concept otherwise. I just like to be as far from fast-food odors as possible. Such a place would be hellish for me.

Another thing is that they almost always put a flat price on each design with well defined schedule of meetings and revisions and a scary hourly rate for extras. That made it easy to sell and easy to finish

That’s a good way to go and an important thing to note as well. I’ve encountered a LOT of abusive people in my experience who will use you…[Read more]

Hey don’t bail too quickly! I’m down with it! Just had court today for…never mind, don’t wanna talk about it.

I’m thinking some golf courses will be abandoned to agricultural uses. Like he says, people want the open space. yet they can’t make it as golf courses. Why not convert to agrigultural use and the at least a small profit can be realized…[Read more]

Tanya beat me to it! I was going to post the same thing…just saw it last week I believe.

I like the idea of re-using big-box stores. Las Vegas is now filled with empty stores, industrial/warehouse space, and offices. Partition them off, swap meet style (back east they call them flea markets) and give them a solid door they can lock, maybe a…[Read more]

Those Dutch firms seem to be quite adept at getting their work into print, don’t they? I’ve been to Holland several times and I really can’t think of many examples. You might want to explore the new town of Almere…I think its Zuid-oost polder…better look that one up. I visited there because I wanted to see how the Dutch did new towns. What I…[Read more]

Ooh, I could show you all the projects I worked on that are now abandoned construction sites!
I must concur about the Springs Preserve. It even has a sustainable design library. City Center is worth seeing for a one-of-a kind urban design…make sure you sneak out to the pool area of Aria. Its really well done. Dress nice and act like you belong…[Read more]

Meh. If I had to work with their labor costs, lack of public participation/nimbyism in the design process, a forward-thinking population with enthusiasm for new construction in the built environment, and government policies that encourage development, I could build some pretty cool places as well! ; )

I just read an interesting article about a…[Read more]

Update – I’ve been using VizTerra for about a month now and its really grown on me. The building modeling tools are a bit crude, but if you are doing residential design, you could still convincingly model at least 90% of the homes out there. I like the fact that it comes with all these different trees and models of site furniture that you don’t…[Read more]

I’ve noticed that major homebuilders have resumed building here in Las Vegas in the last few months, which is rather amazing considering that there is a huge inventory of unsold homes and forclosures either on the market or kept waiting in the wings by the banks that own them. I don’t know who they think will buy these homes. As has been mentioned…[Read more]

One of the reasons I let my NJ license lapse was because of the CE requirements and I’m now living far from that state. As others have suggested, it is easier to get reciprocity in another state when you have an active license. I now have a NV license, and they don’t have any CE requirements. I also had a CA license that I allowed to lapse. Yes, I…[Read more]

I was under the impression that you are not able to handle files done in Civil 3D with AutoCAD LT. If you intend to work with engineering firms, you may have trouble working with their files, or getting them to save it in a file format you can use and then, in turn, them being able to use it when they need to print it our with their plan set.
I’ve…[Read more]

Look up James Howard Kunstler’s presentation to TED. He talks about the inspiration of the architects for a particular bland building. Its good for a laugh.

I’m remined of a line from a song by Matt Johnson (The The). It goes “One day I asked the angels for inspiration, but the devil poured me a drink.” Its about how much inspiration gets…[Read more]

I think its a cool idea. Maybe a good way to test the waters, if you will, without offending anyone, would be to post photos and a description of a project that no member was involved with the design of. Just to see how it goes, establish ground rules like no ad hominem attacks, etc. Maybe it could be something in your town that was recently built…[Read more]

This book about Olmsted http://www.amazon.com/Clearing-Distance-Frederick-Olmsted-America/dp/0684865750/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5 is supposed to be good. I’ve heard recommendations from at least two people who read it, though I have yet to read it myself. I read his The Most Beautiful House in the World and found him to have a very comfortable, lucid…[Read more]

I grew up in the Philly area, and I’ve seen the ones flanking the staircase working, and the one in front in the middle of the oval. I really don’t recall a fountain at the top of the steps. I’m gonna Google some photos!

I always liked the parks and promenade along Battery Park City for more contemporary LA work and there are some cool memorials, like the one for the Irish Potato Famine. The area is more kid-friendly too, with playgrounds, fewer sketchy characters.

Kendall, I heard that info on water use directly from green building consultant Chris Klehm, so I took it as gospel. It has occurred to me that a huge amount of fuel could be saved if all garbage hauled by trucks was dry, even if you are just drying things out before they’re hauled off. We must be trucking millions of gallons of water to landfills…[Read more]