[Chris Carpenter]

An interesting project would be to design a great public park on Alameda Point in Northern California. The peninsula which was formally military property will be cleared for development in about five years. Recently city voters have rejected a proposal from a developer to commercialize the area. I believe city officials want to turn the area into a wildlife refuge. Transforming the area into a public park would be an amazing use of the space. The geography of the site allows for a precedent study of Stanley Park in Vancouver. Alameda Point offers beautiful views of the bay and San Francisco and has the potential to become an amazing gem of Landscape Architecture. How this project would get funded (city, state or corporation) is a bit of question, but for those with the means and motivation, I hope this opportunity is recognized.

[Chris Carpenter]

I graduated with an Architecture degree from USC in the fall of 2008, and worked as an estimator for a contractor. It was a good experience to go through the process that builders undertake when making bids. I learned a lot about how bad the market was for people in construction. I made bids as low as my boss would let me go and we still were getting way underbid. I found an accounting job in Atlanta and moved away from Los Angeles but want to get back into design – particularly landscape architecture (now just doesn’t seem like the best time). Having talked to older people in the architectural field it does seem there is a disconnect because of advancements in technology, but I would also argue that they have more responsibilities in life to worry about. Unless you are a celebrity architect it seems that the profession is not financially secure as others. I still work on architectural projects in my spare time and will try to market them to developers, but I don’t feel that I can depend on architecture as a good career path – though it is a passion.

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