[Jordan Lockman]

They are a great very short term solution. Especially if you plant a tree in the hottest part of the year. Otherwise they feel really gimmicky.

[Jordan Lockman]

Mulch and turf I can see working without edging, but rock could be a nightmare without edging.

[Jordan Lockman]

Wow that is an awesome drawing.

[Jordan Lockman]

Fun. I have really enjoyed playing disc. We played a lot in college, way cheaper than actual golf and less to get frustrated with, unless  you throw a $20 disc into the Red River in Fargo. Not cool. I even had a period playing with my kids being little, willing to stay in stroller was the key. When they got older it was hard to keep them into the game.

It has been fun watching courses pop up everywhere in the last 10 years. Our local county park system has some really expensive ($5 per round) courses at three of their parks. Many local city parks still offer it for free, but are usually shorter courses and less maintained. There is even a private course in our area that people go crazy over, I have yet to make the trip to that one. My favorite courses are probably the courses located on seasonally flooded land in Fargo, ND area. They were a little muddy, but you always had nice views and disc golf may have been the best use of this land.

Something that I thought would have been interesting to explore in a L. Arch. thesis. Alternative Recreational activities and their ability to improve the landscape. Can LArch do something to make Disc Golf, Geocaching, Mtn Biking, etc. improve the environment. 

An example is how disc golf is obviously terrible for trees, but what if the trees they were bad to were invasive species. How else can these activities actually improve the environment.

[Jordan Lockman]

It never hurts to think outside the box for networking. You don’t just want to meet other Landscape Architects. You want to meet potential future clients, other professionals(Archs., Engineers, Nurseryman, etc), and people involved in the building industry. You would be amazed how sometimes these contacts can be just as fruitful in a job hunt than other LA’s.

[Jordan Lockman]

Another option if you have no relevant experience is to cast a wider net. Look at jobs that will build skills that you can ultimately use as an LA.

Examples would be:

1. CAD tech positions in any field.

2. Landscape/Design Build.

3. Nurseryman jobs.

4. Graphic design/presentation.

5. Construction(landscape, concrete, etc.)

There are other options, but mainly you need to keep an open mind and understand that out of school it is not always easy to get everything that you are looking for. Sometimes it is good to have a diverse work experience that will help you understand how to design, present, or construct the built environment.

[Jordan Lockman]

[Jordan Lockman]

Why bother planting trees at all?

[Jordan Lockman]

I would suggest calling/emailing some local Landscape Architects or getting in touch with the local ASLA group. Then asking if you can visit their office to look at projects, possibly work shadow for part of a day, see what the day to day work is like, office culture, pay rates to expect, job security, travel demands, etc. You may learn some information by just grabbing lunch with some folks or in a phone call. I would look into the different types of firms that hire LA’s and see if any of them match your personality or passions.

You will find that the day to day at any office in any career is not as glamorous as your imagination would lend you to believe. So keep that in mind. Good Luck.

Look into:

• Landscape Architecture firms
• Architecture Firms
• Civil Engineering Firms
• Park Districts
• State Agencies
• Municipalities
• Design/Build Landscape Contractors(Most helpful if you find one that has LA’s and not designers, usually higher end)

[Jordan Lockman]

We have been using Revit for about 5 years as a office. We are primarily an Architecture Office with 2 LA’s and an Interior Designer. Overall, I have found Revit to work better than Microstation, that we were using and sometimes still use. Revit is amazing for buildings and okay for landscapes.

Site Modeling/Rendering – It is really cumbersome and it is hard to get an accurate site model. So we usually just get the site close for rendering and that is it. The building is always fully modeled and the program is great in that respect. The site renderings do not come out of Revit looking as nice as the buildings. Mostly it is difficult to make the trees look good in these renderings, with each version this gets a little better, but we still spend time doctoring up site renderings after they are exported.

Landscape Plans and Details – The smart object and auto scheduling aspect of Revit make it a great for Landscape Plans. You never have to constantly update your planting schedule and you can easily compare plants between phases. You can add notes to differentiate plantings per site or portion of the site. If you take the time to customize your planting library it really makes planting plans efficient to produce. You also have the ability to make the planting symbols look however you like.

Site plans – Again since the modeling is tough most of our site is drawn flat, that works well and makes a nice easy to read set of plans. Areas can be easily calculated and scheduled also, which can save on time and mistakes.

Phasing – One of the best things that I have found with Revit is the ability to make phased drawings. We do many projects where there are multiple phases of building/site construction. You can easily assign a phase to an object and then filter your views by phase. This has made our city submittals go much smoother.

Compatibility – We have had some growing pains working with consultants that are using a different program, but it is easy to convert Revit to a .dwg or other CAD platform. We can also take topo from civil 3d and make a topo surface in Revit. It is not perfect, but it works.

Details – Details are usually done with the drafting views and function similar to CAD Drawings.

[Jordan Lockman]

A prize wheel is always a good ice breaker. Something interactive that gets people to stop at your booth always helps. You don’t want to be too gimmicky, but something that will catch peoples attention.

[Jordan Lockman]

What  a great article. They had a similar discussion on public radio here locally about six months ago.

[Jordan Lockman]

[Jordan Lockman]

http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2010327228_bushlibrary22.html

An article with a photo of the model.

[Jordan Lockman]

Thanks sorry must have been distracted..

[Author]

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