david maynes

Go to the cheapest program. Given the current opportunities within the profession, and really the overall fiscal payback for the profession, I would go cheap.You wont really learn landscape architecture in school anyway, just prepare for it. No need to break the bank (IMHO)
Its not a get rich profession, especially when you’re fresh.I had to move…[Read more]

Where on the east coast? Northern or Southern? Southern exposure?
I’ve used low-bush blueberry sod (V. angustifolium) for instant and extremely effective erosion/bank planting. Its likely a bit expensive, but available! Typically harvested in square foot sizes by blueberry farmers in Maine to supplement their income in the slow times of the…[Read more]

Check out Peter Latz’ work – Emscher Park/Duisborg Nord in particular. Niall Kirkwood from Harvard has written a couple books on the subject as well.
Good luck!

It’s not the ‘MLA’ degree that gets you the better job, it’s the knowledge you gain from the research you choose that becomes your professional value and attraction.
I had a BS in landscape hort, then went to grad school (later in my career) to explore the hard science of phytoremediation and its project integration with design and implementation.…[Read more]

Check out Rusty Keeler out of Ithaca NY (Earthplay) He specializes in natural playscapes and has an interesting ethos regarding implementation and construction…very community outreach based. Nature-based playscapes are typically much cheaper and often times able to avoid the fall height regs and surface material requirements.
Here in…[Read more]

Agreed with the Nyssa…I didn’t read closely enough…’dunes’. Oops.
Sassafras is superb, but I have found it to be a bit finicky to establish.

Smaller is better in most situations. A good rule of thumb I use for trees is a year of establishment for every inch of caliper. So many times I argue for the small tree, but everyone demands the instant…[Read more]

Nyssa sylvatica (black tupelo) is a wonderful tree that does well in sandy coastal soils. I also second the shrubs cited by Mr Garulay…both myrica and comptonia fix nitrogen too! Bonus
I would use caution with the rugosa rose…I believe they made the list of invasives in the northeast a couple years ago.
Best of luck

MVV started his career in a CE firm…for what it’s worth
 

Agreed to all mentioned.
Here in Newfoundland, skilled labor and materials for realizing a particularly inspired project is near impossible. The firm I work for is exploring the seemingly obligatory need to build what we design, just to enable design progress on the island. I believe some places/regions can force the hand of construction upon the…[Read more]

playground precast rubber edging/curbing might work. It wouldn’t be a super clean look, but a kid wont bust his noggin on it.
see: Softline Flexi Edge for example
best of luck!

I recall Topos 2010 ‘Sustainability’ had a piece about a waterfront project that used solar panels as a sort of paver (the units were customized to be walked on, etc). I wish I could remember the project and where, but anyhow the general point being using photovoltaics as a hardscape. 
 

Thinkpad (use to be IBM, now Lenovo). Very solid laptop. Always reliable.
I’ve been using a T60 for a few years. Never had a problem with any of the afore mentioned software…even Sketchup is smooth navigating high MB files.
The other nice thing is you can customize each component (give and take) to help balance the price-to-performance ratio for…[Read more]

I believe that planting design can be both, evocative and provocative.
I have always tended toward an eclectic planting aesthetic.
Evocative: context-based indigenous planting palette
Provocative: ornamental planting palette (cultivars propagated for provocation!)
The massing and interweaving of the two creates form, expression, exaggeration,…[Read more]

check out STA Pickett et al.
lots of research regarding urban ecology/systems
Here’s a particularly good paper:
http://urban.csuohio.edu/~2427076/papers/LUP2000_2007/lUP2004_Resilient%20cities_socioeconomic_ecological.pdf

IMO, if you want to understand how to implement theories of LU, you have to understand the systems and their interaction. Good luck!

Myself and a colleague checked it out last summer. We were both underwhelmed.
Darrel Morrison’s meadow plantings were by far way more interesting. Stormking in general, is awesome.
In torn defense to Lin…her exhibit (inside) on the process of creating the wave field was much more intriguing than the product.

for what it’s worth…
I went to the 3-day GSD conference that explored this question (a couple years ago). It featured many notable folks…R.T. Foreman, Rem K, Herb Dreseitl, Walter Hood, Walheim, Mitchell Joachim (sp?), Andrea Branzi, and numerous others who tried to figure out what exactly ecological urbanism is. After hours and hours of…[Read more]

Terry,
could the art benches be themed around reuse and reinvention of nontraditional materials? this might reduce materials cost, obligate creative thinking, recognize cultural context (ex. old lobster fishing equipment, etc), and promote sustainable solutions for experiential purposes. Im originally from Maine, and one thing Maine artists seem…[Read more]

green pushpins

I did! It was a design element within my MLA-thesis…which dealt with ecological remediation systems, thematic planning, and the use of a succession model, both literal and metaphoric, for integrating the science of site decontamination, individual and collective engagement in physical and social processes of remediation, and development of a…[Read more]

here’s a similar idea used for an urban plaza concept. The site and context was all about remediation and brownfield reclamation, with disturbance and succession being powerful themes. The trains served as both dynamic space-makers and metaphor. The appropriate solution when introducing the moving tree idea is to consider the place and cultural…[Read more]