Trace One

CEQR is pretty much national in one form or another – in New York it is SEQR.
I don’t mean to demean trust fund babies, I am just pointing out an area of work for LA’s that is huge, and will only be getting bigger.
I also don’t mean to diminish small gardens, just to clumsily depict levels of projects that require review. Actually even residential…[Read more]

My point is that fulfilling the requirements of CEQR and NPDES are huge employers of LA’s, and will only continue to get bigger in the design process for all projects, unless you are on a very small scale. If you do not enjoy filling out forms, filing forms, and public meetings, you may have trouble getting work.
These laws have nothing to do w…[Read more]

Michael, No-one says LA is going to be useless in 4-10 years. Where is that coming from? 
 
My point is, do you know what CEQR and NPDES are? These are legistlative driving forces behind employment of LA’s (with health benefits), in addition to local zoning regulations. In my experience, if you do not have the patience to deal with these laws, i…[Read more]

Steady jobs in LA are heavy on the form – filling  out stuff – if I were you, I would check out our national review processes like CEQR and NPDES, as well as try to check out   your  local zoning laws – this is bread and butter (and health benefits)  for LA’s, and stormwater applications (NPDES) are only getting more significant, better codi…[Read more]

very funny Roland! I think you forgot the unobtanium that will circulate through the virtual air-waves harvesting any bad energy and transmitting it to the architects in the parallel universe..
I actually read that whole thing. Ya got me..along with NPR’s story about embryos getting DNA tests for pre-school admissions in Manhattan..
..I was…[Read more]

My only thought on monochrome, which is of course beautiful, is that it would be nice if the decision to go monochrome had some relevance to your design.

wow. That’s a great piece, thanks for posting..If one of the things that is so incredible about the High Line is the planting plan, as I have been led to believe, it is incredible that Field Operations doesn’t get credit..I am also amazed because  I don’t remember modesty as being one of Corner’s prevalent characteristics..

Sapsucker, I think. The bird is worth more than the tree.
Just kidding.

I agree, thanks for posting this Roland..It is amazing how prescient she was..Charlottesville Virginia took out this neighborhood called Vinegar Hill, to be replaced by really hideous parking lots, basically….U of chicago, of course, raized all the jazz clubs around them to create a ‘buffer zone.” Jane Jacobs really had her act together, and…[Read more]

Yeah, I know..he was one of my faves..Despite his somewhat ‘flim-flam’ man overtalking of his projects, but they were still beautiful designs and drawings..and landscapes..
: ( 

what the heck is ‘Building Architects’ , Zach? And you seem insulated by your choice of location for graduate school..At UPenn, we had all working LA’s as design studio masters, and the whole program revolved around design studios..No ‘senior  thesis’ – someone asked me about that the other day..What the heck is that? But I am surprised – my…[Read more]

Your answer makes my point, Mr. Trojanowski..We are, as a profession, limited by our imaginations. Architects are trying to make buildings that work like cells, David Bryne  is using buildings for musical instruments, and all we can think of is to  make the swales in the parking lot bio-retentive..We need to open our minds and seize the f…[Read more]

Wow, thank you, the interview with MVV is outrageous..”A tyranny of flatness…” Nice!
as for how to elevate role of LAs good luck with that..
My own personal opinion is that we fail to engage attention because we refuse to seize the high ground with environmental design.. green landscape architecture…we could be at the forefront in designing…[Read more]

I think I see the article more as design criticism from the perspective of the cops. This site is not just a bus, a street, a tall building  in Manhattan, any one of which can be used to commit suicide. It is a site designed for people who have suffered a loss, perhaps, to some, a devastating loss that they have not recovered from yet. (actually t…[Read more]

Very funny..Looks like a portal to another world.

that is too bad about the consigning of plan reviewers to robots,but it is consistent with what I saw in the Atlanta suburbs – huge shopping malls, developed with just filling out the list of required items properly, yes or no..(water wars to to come, for the future, I predict..)
It was not so in the smaller more liberal new york towns – my…[Read more]

then that is not as it used to be – but also, in reviewing others designs, I am sure they have a program that is required to be met..and that is the power of their reviews..
I used to review designs for site plan submissions for commercial properties..developers wanted me to put a sheet of trace over their drawings (some of them, at least) to…[Read more]

Huge subject, many different categories..Private sector – designing for nurseries, working for wallace roberts and todd, working for yourself..public sector – working for the National Parks, designing gorgeous expensive stuff meticulously, working on just environmental impact statements, working for federal Highway commission, working for local…[Read more]

there is something wrong with your sentence, “we can’t whitewash every manmade intervention on the land as …”..I don’t think you mean ‘whitewash” – I think you mean the opposite, i.e, “we can’t slime every manmade intervention…”
just being picky..
If you read todays NYT article on the objections raised by residents, “don’t file the papers yet”…[Read more]

I disagree, Nick. The bears and elks do care about the highways, guardrails and train tracks because these things result in their deaths by the thousands, across the country..Look up the statistics on Mooses (?) getting hit by cars and trains..And having lived in these environments, I find the animals are very sensitive to changes in their…[Read more]