Tanya Olson

Great point Thomas. We have a terrible problem with winter kill already because of the warm winter days followed by bitter cold. I don’t know how conductive the pipe is to the surrounding ground – I wouldn’t imagine it would be very conductive or the heat would all be lost before it gets to the building. It must some amount of heat loss because…[Read more]

The only problem with the idea of understanding the goals and objectives and using design to realize those is that many times, in my experience, the goals and objectives aren’t always clear, or you and the client think they are one thing, but through the design process it emerges that they are something else. In other words this has never been a…[Read more]

Closed system. The geothermal well consultant thinks maybe small trees planted between lateral lines would probably be ok. The laterals are 5′ deep and 15′ apart. I was hoping for large shade trees, but I would imagine their roots could easily be 5′ deep at 7′ from the trunk.
As far as maintenance, I don’t think they have to access any of the…[Read more]

No – in fact our local well driller says that since he’s been using plastic pipe he has found no roots in and around any of his wells.

So…Function and adaptability to add to the list.

I had to chime in on this one, having traveled through some hilarious landscapes over the weekend (I wish I would have stopped to take some pics to show you all).
Seems like there is design all along the scale of goodness > badness, from sublime > what the @%#*$? Do you know it when you see it?…[Read more]

Maybe you could track the global ‘seeding’ of ideas by finding out which landscape architects are being studied in different universities across the globe. You could ask some of the Land8 members from other countries who they studied…???
You could use an application like ‘social graph’ (you can download a version of it on FB) to visually map the…[Read more]

Very interesting read with lots of great points – many of which we’ve been discussing here over the last year or so.

My thoughts:
LA probably doesn’t need a unified theory – we have different ‘schools’ of thought and tradition – the authors named many of the modern ones; social conscience (though social control is closer to the truth), modernism,…[Read more]

It seems like they should waive the fee if you are correct that it was scored incorrectly and require payment of the fee if it was scored correctly – that would fit better with the way our legal system is set up.

For foliage, get flocking from a model train store. It comes in all different colors of greens, crumbled or sheets if I remember correctly. Using crumbled with several colors on one tree really gives some depth. Don’t use hot glue, it will melt the flocking. If I remember right, we just kind of dipped the wire trees in the flocking and it…[Read more]

Oops – I meant tighten the bit hole around the wire – and ‘drill’ SLOWLY!

Twisted narrow gauge wire trees are the best. You can dip them in foam flocking from a model train store. They have a beautiful texture and you can make black, silver, copper, and bronze. We were discouraged from using dried plants as they tend to still look like the plant that they were and not a tree.
To twist the wire, you take 10+ fairly long…[Read more]

Two significant sites to landscape architecture – Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson – its up near Golden Spike National Historic Site and Hovenweep National Monument if you can get down there.

hahahaha! Thanks for the great laugh!

The main problem has been in getting it installed correctly. It is messy and somewhat challenging for contractors to install as well, so might have some hidden costs (this is the mixed kind). Some of the companies require inspection during installation to warranty the product, which can be difficult if there are no certified inspectors in your…[Read more]

I don’t know if you are looking for a HUGE CE group, but Barr Engineering out of Minneapolis has a good reputation….I know a LA who work(ed?) for them doing wetland restoration and I’m certain soils were are significant part of his work. They do a lot of remediation / contamination / wetlands / etc. I worked with the LA in college, but have not…[Read more]

I absolutely agree. One of the most wonderful things about art is that everyone can have an opinion about it – it doesn’t matter if you are 5 years old or the curator of the Met. What is it? What does it mean? How is it relevant or irrelevant? Or in this case, what does it say about landscape? Or what could it say about landscape?

Saying one…[Read more]

He has a number of wonderful books published of his work and if you get Netflix, there is a documentary about him – ‘Rivers and Tides’ – a whole new take on landscape art if you ask me. Check out his work in icicles.

Interesting and compelling photos – the earthwork seems to flatten the landscape into a ‘picture’…which might be what she meant to do – certainly a concept with a long history in landscape architecture if we want to include Zen gardens in our tradition.
On the downside, it does appear to be pretty weedy. I can’t imagine any farmer or county weed…[Read more]

I hope it makes you feel better that two of the most original and creative landscape architectural designers I know failed and failed and failed. One is a highly respected practitioner and professor, another worked for one of the big three mid century LAs and was a partner in a firm for years before he could pass that state’s LARE. Another good…[Read more]

I think he meant that you have to achieve 70% on the exam to pass…