David Cristiani

Did Crossroads close?

Congrats to you for making that move! Wish you the best.

Your next move does not have to be permanent. You might look for where there is growth in the things that you are most qualified and/or experienced in. This is a slow profession as career building is concerned. Patience is everything.
 
My understanding is that the area around DC has the most growth. You have to look for areas of growth and w…[Read more]

When it is all set, save your workspace:
 
“workspace”
type “sa” for save as
then type your name.
 
next time anything gets out of whack, type “workspace”, then “c” to set the current workspace, then type the name you named your workspace.
There is a pull down menu for it, if you like using icons.

Thanks, everyone. I’m hoping some of the discouraged people who are so often told that landscape architecture is dead and to get a job as a plumber will be relieved to hear that with persistence and patience it can work out.
 
The more that I looked for the perfect job, the more I came to realize that I had to create the position myself and then…[Read more]

This is interesting to me because more often than not we do much of development of any design in plan view – from above. I’ve always looked at the bigger problem being the conversion of the client’s understanding the of  the plan view, which they typically get rather easily, to that of being on the ground.  
 
Maybe it is that we are trained to…[Read more]

Two years ago I went part time at a civil engineering office in order to develop my own LA office. They have been steady all along, but cut out overtime in 2008. Their work load has not changed much since 2006 when I got there (different types of work, but equally busy)..
 
I just gave my final notice on Wednesday because my LA office is too busy…[Read more]

The hard thing is that the drafter is extremely limited without the input of the person in charge.
 
It is oftened assumed that you can grab a trained person or one with several years of experience, throw him or her into a chair and they will produce the plans in the absence of the principal. That can work for existing conditions plans and cookie…[Read more]

One thing that we can’t overlook, and NCA777 touched on it, is that it is one thing to out grow your ability to produce the work all by yourself and another thing to become a manager of people producing your work.
 
The questions are “When to hire? How to hire?” Most of us think that the “when” is simply at the time that there is more work than y…[Read more]

I’m not the Andrew who runs Land8. I’m just a fequent visitor.
Sorry for using an example near and dear to you.
I have no arguement of whether green rooftops are beneficial to the environment or not. I just used it as an introduction to the subject of what I feel is a strange phenomena in Landscape Architecture – the need to come up with a higher…[Read more]

If someone else is stamping it I would not be worried about insurance.

Idaho taught 3D Studio Max when I was there in ’97.

ISA staking guidelines for trees over 3″ caliper show them to be cabled down to a stake or anchor at about a 60 degree angle with 1/2″ hose protecting the tree and surveyors flagging tied to the cables to make them visible. The 96″ crate would indicate that the tree is more than 3″ caliper
Vertical posts with the tree tied to them horizontally are…[Read more]

What is competency in one office may not be competency in another. Office standards are something to be aight and learned rather than something to test for.

What your office needs to determine is at what point on the learbing curve do you need a person to be at in order to match the effort you are willing to make that will make them proficient…[Read more]

Are you saying that you have to provide the methodology for how the tree is to be installed, or just a planting detail? The detail would be very similar to a container grown or b&b planting detail with the added note to remove the grate. My opinion is that if you supply the methodology, you are taking on the liability of the installation. I would…[Read more]

I meant where does Coordinates live where a municipality is turning staff LAs loose to “explore your true power of imagination and creativity, and implement all your ideas to offer a new compelling look”.
 
I’m guessing sarcasm, …. or someone from a distant land.

Where do you live?

Thinking it through, NCA is absolutely right.

The biggest impact is made when YOU yield a different result than the PERSON YOU DISPLACE. Public policy is much less impacted by any single individual than is design work simply by the nature of how it comes about. A person designing on the land does not have total control, but is right at the point where the rubber meets the road.
 
The next…[Read more]

I’d like to think that after at least 4 years of a professional education we would all have evolved a pretty good understanding of creating order in the landscape. It all stems from the design process which is not something that can be taught in a few paragraphs or a single presentation.
The process can be outlined and described as a concept, but…[Read more]