Noah Mabry

Mostly agreed. Although we may be able to recite the names of the starchitects (and not so starchitects), the general public cannot.
 
However, I don’t think thats what I’m after when I copmlain about people not knowing what LAs do. I think its just important for landscape architecture as a proffession to have a certain ammount of public aw…[Read more]

Thanks Aaron! It’s nice to see some positivity on these boards from time to time…..especially for us recent grads who’ve had a rough time these last few years. I really try to take the long view of things hoping there’s still 40 or 50 years of LA work ahead of me!!

I suppose I never intended to proclaim the entire body of Field Ops/Corner’s work as superior to everything else. I was really just trying to comment based on the context of the article. That is to say those who are labled as landscape urbanists are producing stuff that I really find compelling. I didn’t mean to get pigeonholed into being some sor…[Read more]

Nick, oddly enough I was recently talking with someone about my annoyance with designers over-intellectualizing of projects (mostly just to look genius-er than thou) and one of the points I made was that the highline is not that at all. I suppose if you gave Corner 5 uniteruppted minutes that my point could easily be proved null, but I really thi…[Read more]

I agree that the article paints LAs as arranging shrubs until 1980….that makes no sense.
 
And as for your direct question….I guess I’m just a sucker for the highline and fresh kills.

HA! I think you’ve got the gist of it with your post title Jason. I suppose this means we all have to take a side and dig in huh?
 
Maybe I haven’t read quite enough, but why is it that these are are only two options and we must go for one or the other 110%? This sort of reminds me of the split between modernism and mchargism (for lack of a…[Read more]

I totally agree trace. It could be that I just really lucked out with some pretty cool landlords, but I just don’t see the advantage to buying a house anytime in the near future. For years the mantra was that buying a house was an investment that couldn’t go wrong…HA! Also the trend in people hopping from city to city for work is only going to…[Read more]

 
The important thing to notice is that this was a National Association of Home Builders cenference (not exactly the vanguard of the design world). I think that the reason that they were presenting those boilerplate design ideas was more an outcome of who was putting on the event. The NAHB is basically a “we’ll build whatever sells” organization s…[Read more]

Hi Nikko.
 
You have a few different points of inquiry there but to hone in directly on the last part…”retain the rural feel to it while letting the adjacent areas being developed” I would recommend looking at a talk by Shane Coen of Coen and Partners. Its on iTunesU if you search for the “Down the Garden Path” lecture series at P…[Read more]

I do understand the point that not everyone wants to live in the city, even if it were the most wonderfully designed neighborhood imaginable. However, the prevailing suburban model is not a sustainable alternative in the long run. As Jim Kuntsler says our suburbs are a fantasy cartoon versions of living in the country. The whole article sets up th…[Read more]

Although I agree that doing anything compelled only by blind faith is unwise I also dont buy this guy’s argument. First of all if you really love the burbs that much go ahead and live in them, but don’t pretend your promoting sustainability based on the fact that your developement has acres of lawn that you call “pervious area”. Also it seems to…[Read more]

ditto.
 
also i think this article was really focusing on industrial design which is a bit of a different animal.

As far as HP goes I have always liked their news coverage and I just think the other stuff they throw in the mix is, as you say, dissapointing. I check it all the time for real news, so the fact that this is the chosen platform for TCLF is great and I can’t believe I haven’t stumbled across a post before. It looks like Birnbaum has been blogg…[Read more]

Amy,
 
Thanks for the link. HuffPo’s non news sections are so often polluted with celebrity gossip and psuedoscience new agey fake health news crap that it makes me happy when something awesome like this gets in.
 
I totally agree with the premis here that LA needs some sort of strong publically visible crit in order to really establish itself as…[Read more]

I understand your point and agree. It’s just that it seems like right now a lot of firms that are posting for entry level jobs are giving a lot of preference to MLAs. I’ve also heard directly and indirectly from employers that anything above cad/graphics robo work is reserved for advanced degree holders.

I have heard that for Australia, not sure about New Zeland (I didn’t know they built anything there…hehe). From what I understand the Aussies managed to whether the recession because of their huge mining economy out in the western desert, and any interruption they did experience they have pretty much recovered from.
 
It would be a mistake to n…[Read more]

Hi Kirstin!
 
First of all I’d ignore some of the negitivity you may have encountered here. With the recent economic situation a lot of us have had extra time to complain about not having work/getting laid off/not finding a job. If you really want to pursue a BLA go for it! It is extremely challanging and rewarding if it’s where your passions…[Read more]

Chad,
 
I really think it depends on what the goals are, whats wrong with your current setup and the willingness of the people affected to make the change. Having used both my prefence if the Mac, and thats what I use at home (which until I get a realy job is where all my work is being done).
 
I especially like it for any of the Adobe sui…[Read more]

The point has already been made, but those original suburbs are today considered urban neighborhoods. And the reason they were built was that conditions in the city were so deplorable that those burbs were intended to escape the unlivable cities. The more we relied on cars and highways the further we were able to live away from the places we work.…[Read more]

I think you’re absolutely right Ben, except that we probably wouldn’t have to worry about economic collapse as the armed insurrection at instantly exorbinant gas prices would most likely be the main concern.

Just the slight increase in gas prices to over $4/gal a few years ago led to more public transit ridership in many places (including here in…[Read more]