[Stephen Lovering]

Hey Mike

How are you finding Dynascape? I am thinking about dumping CAD and going with it, what are your thoughts?

Cheers

[Stephen Lovering]

Hey Ben

 

Yeah that’s a tough one and Rob has nailed it!!

I worked for a while in a small firm (9 people) and it was nice. The bosses became your friends, you got to go out for lunches/games of golf etc and the work was manageable. I was about as far from a number as you could get.

Now had I chosen the larger firm I would have been a number with a mundane office full of “officey” people and a boss that didn’t even know my name. Every firm is different obviously but if you choose the small firm and the people are great you can work your way up and within a year or two you will have the pay rise you needed and you live in possibly the greatest city in the world.

Sydney is also one of the best cities in the world right now for LA as they have a 25 year masterplan in place and are focusing a lot of money on improving the livability of the city.

Both are great options, don’t be fooled by the big corporate office and the name is all I will say as those things are all “smoke and mirrors” and will not contribute at all to the enjoyment of the job. My advice to you would be to go and check both offices out!

[Stephen Lovering]

Thanks guys

Yes Craig we have had our differences and I appreciate the words, great points with the low overhead etc and while I do have a good view from my basement it is as far from a corner office as you can get lol. It does serve great tea and lunch is 10 steps away which are obvious benefits!!!

Henry you have nailed mine and my business partners relationship, unfortunately I was not growing landscape businesses before but instead renovation companies so while I am now in the right field the business development side is a slightly different approach. Know what you mean about the land developers lol, the firm that I was working in before were 97% Land development work and those developers were clueless at times which was okay as long as they were not advising us (which they were) of which plants/trees to encorporate and what grades and grass species to use.

Architects are a necessary evil, I understand that. We do have one dream job lined up so we can take some of their shitty linear planting plans on without too much regret!!lol.

Thanks again Andrew, you have a very valid point as I currently live in a small town just outside Calgary with huge potential to be a part of council meetings etc to keep up on incoming landscape work.

Some good points too Calico, unfortunately I wasn’t in front of to many clients and was always the “green guy” if I was. Also have a lot of respect for the owner of my last firm so I wont be going after his clients, thanks though!!

[Stephen Lovering]

Hey Andrew

Thanks again for responding with some positive info. I am doing some large scale works with some planners and Engineers, also some redevelopment of some older run down playgrounds with the city. I have also approached a design/build residential company who are looking to give me their design work so I have a few fingers in the pie.

 

Thanks again, if you remember any other business development ideas please let me know.

Cheers

[Stephen Lovering]

Hey Robert

How much of a transition is this to VW? I am not that proficient in AutoCAD anyway and to be honest hate the programme so that would not be a big deal, i am very proficient in Sketchup and Photoshop though and i am thinking that if this VW is a 3d software it will make my sketchup skills obsolete!

Also how do you find working with Engineers/Architects etc who for the most part use AutoCAD?

Thanks for the input!

[Stephen Lovering]

Cheers guys

[Stephen Lovering]

Barcelona is king, loads of new landscape related structures being built there as well as a cathedral that Architecturally puts all other to shame, also one of the most beautiful cities in the world!!

 

Paris, France is beyond amazing. The Architecture there is like nothing you have ever seen and the Champs Elysees is one of the most awesome streets on the planet. Early Landscape Architecture at its best!!!. The palace and gardens of Versaille (outskirts of paris) are very good if you really feel like geeking it up. The gardens are a Landscape historians paradise.

 

Obviously you will have to do both spain and france to fit these two in but i would highly recommend them and they are both doable in 8 days. Trains can get you anywhere in relatively no time over there. Good luck

 

 

[Stephen Lovering]

I had recently been asked to design a “natural playground” in a subdivision near Calgary, AB. After several hours of practically falling over myself with excitement designing this playgound i got a very sharp reality check from a member of the towns park’s department.

 

He was not interested in a park that was made from fallen down trees (that you would have to replce in 5-10 yrs or even worse was a law suit waiting to happen), natural boulders (that a kid could stub their toe on) or earth mounds with hollows (that would collect water). Instead our direction was moved towards either the steel blue and red monstrosity that you see in every playground from Orlando to Vancouver or a concrete version of the natural log and boulder combination.

 

We went with a hybrid of the two and are awaiting construction. While i think the playground will look great and will be fun for kids to play on it is certainly not a “natural playground” with all the benefits that come along with it.

What chance do we have when our towns and cities are putting such strict instruction on what goes in. Its not based on “how much will the child learn” or “how much fun would a child have” but rather “will this boring piece of equipment still be here to NOT entertain the kids in 20 yrs”. Its all a money thing!!!!

 

[Stephen Lovering]

Thanks Wes

Any “tasters” of what i am to find there? How far up do you suggest i go? Much happening in Seattle?

Cheers

[Stephen Lovering]

Thanks Tosh

I had heard there were things happening in SF, might contact a firm there to get a locals perspective!!

Cheers

[Stephen Lovering]

Good comments Rob!!

 

[Stephen Lovering]

Yeah i wouldnt say that your life will be consumed by your job, in fact not atall. It will at university but thats just university life and its all fun at the same time.

If your unsure of what to do with your life at this point then i would suggest you look into it, as mentioned its alot of fun, you learn lots of computer skills and get to be very creative and arty all at the same time.

The main question i suppose you have to ask yourself is “Do you want to be sat in an office for 8 hrs a day” Is that your personality, would that drive you crazy etc. The design work is great fun but at the end of the day you are in an office environment with those “officey people”. I have worked in an office environment before that was not design related and the feeling is very similar.

Cheers

To add to that, i havent put in many weeks where i have worked over 40 hrs, i believe this to be a modern day myth. The perks of the job can be nice too (games of golf, lunches out every other week and field days exploring other peoples projects) but these are definately not reasons to join the profession as again these are a very small percentage of the office working week.

[Stephen Lovering]

Hey Mark

My only response to this would be to go with what you most enjoy. One thing you realise after being in the profession for a couple of years is that its not all “unicorns and rainbows” and there is definately a boring side to the profession (just my opinion). Every LA probably wishes that they had gotten into a firm that specialized in what they enjoyed doing, that way you are doing what you love to do and actually know what your talking about.

Life is about enjoyment of your work and personal life, aim for the stars my friend. Get into sustainable design if thats what you enjoy, there will be firms out there that purely specialize in that. Dont let this profession take you where you think you should go to get “some” work, take your professional life on the road that would make you most happiest.

Enjoy and good luck!!

[Stephen Lovering]

Hey Lauren

I can only tell you of my experience: I started off as a landscape gardener and found a course in landscape design at the local horticultural college. Enjoyed that course so much that i looked into “a next step” which was a degree in LA so i went for it.

 

University was an awesome time in my life, being a little older i knuckled down into the course and loved the “possibilities” (like you) of what you could be designing. This kept me hooked and once i finished the course was very disappointed to find that there were no jobs and the possibilities of getting one were not looking good.

So i moved from England to Canada and for the first year the same thing. Now things are booming and their are a host of jobs avaliable and some pretty cool projects too (no highlines though) they are extremely few and far between and only the experienced firms and individuals would get a look in.

I guess my questions would be.

1, Are you able to relocate to a different country? (as the states doesnt seem to have alot going on right now for new graduates)

2, Would you be okay doing AUTOCAD drawings for the majority of your first few years?

3, Would you enjoy drawing up and creating planting plans etc?

If these three above are a yes i would suggest you have your answer as most firms require somebody with these skills, you have to want to them though otherwise you will find the profession when starting off to be “boring”

Dont be put off by anyone, its a great profession and creating spaces for people is definately what you will be doing whether its a park planting plan or a grading plan for a greenway pathway system. There are also a number of professions that stem off from this one, playground and site furniture design, town council positions etc. The list is endless

I got really lucky as i was running with my own projects from the get go, i realise that my situation is not the norm but i was keen and had the passion and bugged the firms out here constantly before one of them gave me a shot. The term “you can do anything if you want it bad enough” is a good one but i suppose your question is “Do i want it” which unfortunately only you can decide.

Cheers and good luck

 

[Stephen Lovering]

Formfonts is great, it has loads of images!!! I cut most of mine out but do use Formfonts on the occasion!

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