Roland Beinert

Good design fits the site and context and accomplishes the goals of the client. There are many different ways to get a good design. I see the term “high-end” as meaning using expensive materials, and don’t really think this always leads to good design. It bothers me that even some landscape architects seem to confuse these terms, and think any…[Read more]

Thanks, Les. I’ll take a look. I remember reading the book version of Last Chance to See when I was a kid, and was going through a Douglas Adams phase.

I hate any type of plastic weed barrier. Soil builds up on top, so the weeds grow anyway. People seem to think it will last forever, but it usually ends up disintegrating. Then when someone has to dig up the planting bed again, they end up with lots of tiny bits of plastic. I like using cardboard or newspaper instead. Both break down, but at least…[Read more]

I’ve heard of that guy before. It’s pretty amazing.
Here’s an article from Mother Earth News with good tips for people who are unintentionally living without money (people who are unemployed): http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/2007-10-01/Live-on-Less.aspx

Ryan,
Take a look at the second link I provided at the start of the discussion. It will take you to the follow-up article. That article goes into more detail on how one of the goat owners handles the issue of transportation and fuel. It’s worth a read.

It is an interesting idea worth exploring more. It’s probably another example of an idea used a lot in the past that was ignored when mowers and herbicides came along.
I wonder what type of goats are used for this. My friend in Reno had african pygmies, I think. They were actually pretty friendly. She fed them a lot of her yard waste.

I’ll have to look for that book. Jane Jacobs wrote a book that sounds similar called Dark Age Ahead.

I don’t think functional has to mean minimum standards. I’m tempted to post a bunch of pictures now.
What I meant by “functional” is that I think form should follow function rather than the demands of any particular style. At the first place I worked, all the LA’s tended to recommend dry streambeds. But the descision to use them wasn’t based on…[Read more]

I prefer a naturalistic style, but I think any style can look good in the right situation. It all depends on the context.
I agree with Trace about function. Aesthetics is just the icing on the cake.

You’re right. It’s the political correctness that I worry about. In a lot of cases environmentalism is seen only as a cool fad or a matter of ethics. Fads go away when something else becomes cool, and ethics are regularly ignored. That’s exactly why we need to concentrate on practicality when we present green building options to clients.…[Read more]

If you’d be willing to try something in Reno, NV rather than Las Vegas, try contacting Interpretive Gardens/Pinyon Design
( http://www.pinyondesign.com/ ) . I can’t promise you they would be able to help you, but it’s a very inspiring place to work. They specialize in water efficient design and permaculture.

I think that’s why we should promote what we currently call green building techniques simply as practical techniques to help towards the goal of reducing long and short term costs. If I think a swale is the best option for reducing infrastructure costs or something in some project, I’d rather not have the idea dismissed simply because it’s…[Read more]

I think I’m more fascinated than anything. I’ve always been a nature buff, and I see a lot of elegance in some green building solutions. It helps that I worked for a firm run by an old hippie (something he occasionally calls himself) for a year and a half and have seen this stuff work. But even he cared about budget and never forced anything on clients.

You all bring up good points. I guess what started me thinking about this again was some comments on the treehugger website from some very conservative people. They seemed convinced that environmentalists, in general, were just sitting around judging average people as morally inferior. I really don’t understand how people can think that. I have…[Read more]

Andrew, you bring up a good point about it being hard to retrofit built up areas for bike infrastructure. Then again, plenty of cities have added extra lanes for cars at a huge expense, and bike infrastructure is much more compact and probably much less expensive.
I think this article from treehugger illustrates the compactness of bike…[Read more]

I think Reno or a town close by uses sheep to help clear cheatgrass.
I’m still kind of impressed that goats eat poison ivy. I’ll have to tell my parents. Their yard is covered in it, and nothing has worked to get rid of it so far.

Well, I have a need, but I guess I’m the minority, so I’ll never count. I see your point about the “build it and they will come” mentality. I know of plenty of places where some forms of alternative transit, like buses, are actively disliked.
On the other hand, I know of places where there is demand, but it’s ignored because of a conservative…[Read more]

I guess I’d just settle for decent bike lanes that don’t end abruptly and actually connect me to every place I need to go in the city. In Boise we have a greenbelt bike path. It’s a nice place to ride, but it only connects me to parks and only goes east-west.

I read that comment by Rex, too. But the thing is, because of the limited range of bikes that you mentioned, things would have to be a less sprawled out. It’s true that fewer people live and work in the inner city anymore, but a small part of a population can still be a large number of people.
I’d go so far as to say that bikes have some huge…[Read more]

I’ve never been to a Mike Lin workshop, but I was living in Reno till February of 2008. I worked for Tom Stille (Interpretive Gardens/Pinyon Design) for about a year and a half. Now I’m in Boise, ID, though. Do you work for Hansan Landscape Architecture?
Nick, it’s kind of funny how all the newer LA’s seem to be going through the same thought…[Read more]