Roland Beinert

Sounds like a something worth exploring. Would I need my LA liscence first or are there landscape architects employed by the non-profits? I stopped by a non-profit here in Boise a while ago to see if they might have something for me. I think I took the wrong approach, though. I asked for a job directly rather than discussing the issues and seeing…[Read more]

I guess when I used the word “bias” it was more confrontational than I intended. I chose that word because of some of the responses to the article in Landscape Architecture Magazine.
I am seeing trends in the use of edible plants these days that I think landscape architects could probably use to increase and broaden their business. People outside…[Read more]

I was not suggesting we strap our clients to a chair and electrocute them until they accept the idea of food plants in their design. If I had ever tried to force my values on clients, I would have been fired right away with good reason. I am well aware of the one suggestion rule. Suggest something once and if the client does not agree, let it go.…[Read more]

Here’s a link to an article from Mother Earth News titled “Living on Less and Loving it”: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/2007-10-01/Live-on-Less.aspx . I realize the majority of us wouldn’t actually love living on less, but I think it’s important to understand how to do it. I wish I’d known some of this stuff in college, and it…[Read more]

Sometime this month I’ll start a job as a mow crew leader for a landscape maintenance company. It has nothing to do with design, so I’m still looking around for something else, but I’ll take what I can get for now.
At this point my goal is to go back to school when I’ve saved enough. There’s a lot of computer programs that became popular right…[Read more]

I got interested in parking lots that served other functions at one point,but I had a hard time finding any examples. There was a book that might have been about it, but it was out of print and impossible to find used. The closest thing you might find information on is the dutch woonerf streets. They can incorporate everything from parking to…[Read more]

I actually have several of those, believe it or not.

I think your experiment sounds pretty cool. There are whole books on rainwater harvesting in drylands, including three volumes titled Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands by Brad Lancaster. The author lives in Santa Fe, NM, where rainwater harvesting has become fairly common, apparently. My sister is moving there soon, so I may ask her to gather info…[Read more]

In the US it varies from city to city. San Francisco seems to have a lot of urban farming from what I’ve read. Reno, NV has a group called a permaculture guild, which focuses on sustainable urban/suburban agriculture. In most cases, it’s being driven by the environmental movement in the US, I think. Many environmentalists are concerned about where…[Read more]

See if you can find a copy of Regenerative Design for Sustainable Development by John T. Lyle. You may have already heard of it. It was written by a landscape architect. He wrote another book that I’ve never read called Design for Human Ecosystems or something similar. Maybe I’ll hunt down a copy of that one myself.

I don’t think there is an easy answer. Some plants really can be ornamental to one person and not to others. This was proven to me by working at two very different firms. My first boss hated plants with purple or yellow leaves, for example. He thought they were gaudy, I guess, and he favored native plants with very subtle color differences. My…[Read more]

I see what you are saying, but I think food plants and gardens do fit into the bigger picture of what landscape architects do. A gardener would be responsible for planning what food plants would go into a vegetable garden every year. But what is the best place on a plan for a vegetable garden? What should raised planters look like? If a client…[Read more]

I haven’t read that book, but there are other books as well. The idea is that you plant in layers like you find in a forest. Herbaceous plants are the bottom-most layer, then shrubs and vines and finally the tree canopy. Edible forest gardens are a part of a whole movement to farm in a way that mimics the natural ecosytem found in a region or…[Read more]

Here’s a good example. I didn’t design it.

I’ll never understand the lack of aesthetic appeal. How many ornamental grasses have fruits that look as interesting as heirloom corn, for example.
I think it’s a good point about landscapes evolving over time. A more permanent set of principles may be more important than the original plan in some cases. Even in landscapes that don’t have food…[Read more]

I agree that lack of affordable housing is more of a problem than not enough housing. Instead of decent affordable housing options, low income people were offered a choice between renting and owning huge homes with mortgages that seemed like a great deal at the time. I wonder if as many people would have opted to go for the huge home if they could…[Read more]

I found another answer for my original question on another website. Here are some links if anyone is interested:
http://designactivism.net/archives/26
http://designactivism.net/archives/40

I actually agree. There are other certifications that seem more relevant to landscape architects. The Sustainable Sites Initiative will be coming soon. Permaculture has a lot of good ideas that landscape architects would find very useful, and there is a way to get certified in it. Unfortunately, so few employers have heard of permaculture that it…[Read more]

I’m glad you mentioned that. I didn’t know about the rule changes. I’ve had the LEED reference manual for a while, but I’ve been dragging my feet on studying.

I’m still at a point in my career where I don’t know what exactly I want to focus on. I like design work, but restoration work intrigues me. I like working on a variety of projects, anyway. You’re right that the science and analysis is more important for these types of firms, especially in the beginning of projects. Of course, design and…[Read more]