Keven Graham

a few years ago we did a team building exercise in our office which is interdisciplinary consisting of LA’s, planners and ecologists. We asked each group to write a definition of their profession and one of the other two. It is a real interesting exercise if you have time.

For LA here is what we came up with:

Landscape Architecture is the…[Read more]

Katherine, I heard the meeting was real good and generated a lot of good thoughts. You are right we need the nurseryman on board, we also need the contractors on board and as a complete green industry we need to inform the GC’s so we get and keep sites prepared the correct way. The shift in thinking needs to be happening where landscape is not the…[Read more]

I believe Chris you are correct. ASLA does not require licensure to use the designation. ASLA signifies years of professional experience and membership in the professional organization. It would be very difficult to require licensure due to the very different laws in each state from practice act to title act to no licensure not that very long ago.…[Read more]

So Merideth, does this mean you will be doing the opening routine for this years Illinois Holiday Party???

Gil, I like the questionaire..

In responce to some of the discussion on requiring ASLA designation to only licensed professionals, remember ASLA does not govern licensure across the US and abroad. You have indivdual linesure in all statees and the professional practice act and title acts differ from state to state. I think it would be a false indication to state those using the…[Read more]

ASLA is a professional association and RLA denotes registration. Note that these are two completely different things. And depending on the state you may be registered or licensed in you need to verify based on your states law and rules the proper designation. RLA may not be the correct designation in some states. I know we ran into that in…[Read more]

Interesting comments and thoughts. I enjoyed the clip of the bottle game and it makes you think about how we do design for pure function, how we design for liability and how we value engineer the hell out of project so they are not fun. Seems like the easy way out and as designers we need to think more about the user experience if we want to…[Read more]

Plant material, hardscape material and site furnishings were donated by many ASLA Expo vendors for this project. The materials are in storage and ready to go in.

I have started doing more expert witness and highest best use studies for attorney’s. It might not get built but it keeps the design skills active. If you like to indure stress and pressure it is a fun approach to design.

Katharine, thank you for your offer the Illinois Chapter Host Committee would like to discuss this with you. You can contact me at kgraham@planres.com and we can see what can be done.

For what it is worth and whether you agree or disagree with Al Gore we should be glad he and many others have made the environmental movement forefront in mainstream media. The conversation has started and programs like HGTV and the Planet Green have thrived because people want to express their connection to nature. I am glad this is happening.…[Read more]

The official ASLA web site for the Annual meeting is http://www.asla.org/2009meeting/

The Illinois Chapter web site is http://www.il-asla.org/news_events.html#EnjoyIllinois

Andrew, there are still some good tours and field sessions to take in on Friday and some start in the afternoon. Different this year is the fact that there are education sessions going on Friday. There are several private alumni receptions starting at 6:00 and the main Alumni reception gathering at 8:00.

if you are looking for close in stuff…[Read more]

There are a lot of great eats in Chicago to go after the expo, what type of food or entertainment are you looking for? i would be happy to recommend some options and if you go to the Illinois chapter web site we have posted recommendations based on the different neighborhoods in Chicago. You can also stop by the Host Chapter Booth and pick up…[Read more]

It depends on the material but for the most part the installations we have used it in and they have varied including high traffic commercial applications, we have pretty much done nothing except put it down. We have in some situations had to put a fabric under neath to stabalize the soil. Decomposed granite is a very good path material and is…[Read more]

Spatial Mitigation

Greenscapes