Wyatt Thompson, PLA

The way I read California’s practice act, it doesn’t appear that a landscape architect needs to be a principal for the firm to practice there. I’m aware of at least two states (Florida, Kansas) that do. If you are licensed in multiple states and the company expects you to seal drawings in those states, be sure to check the respective laws.

After my brain stopped exploding from their crazy animations…. The product line looks really promising. Good find.

And you can usually get them for free!

Yes! NPC says their stump seats are part of a sustainable harvesting initiative, which is fabulous, but it’s not really sustainable to ship tree stumps across the country. My guess is that there is a development just down the road that would offer to give away some felled trees if you or your client were…[Read more]

Check out Natural Playgrounds Company for real tree stump seats.
http://www.naturalplaygroundsstore.com/p1035/Sitting-Stumps/product_info.html

I render SketchUp trees in plan view with Shaderlight. The same could be done with some of the free SU render engines.

Eric,  you seem to have identified need and are filling it. Good job. Andrew is right that SketchUp is taught in most programs, along with a number of other software packages. That diversity I think is a double-edged sword. It’s great to get exposure to the technology required in landscape architecture and design offices. That exposure, however, m…[Read more]

I’m not sure how scientific this is, but it’s an interesting tool.
http://www.treebenefits.com/calculator/

I take it the Knight bench was a no-go. Maybe something like these from Wasau Select? Not exactly what you described in your question but maybe a little outside the box inspiration is what you’re…[Read more]

What’s “the look” you’re going for? It’s difficult to recommend something without knowing something more about the project and the aesthetic you’re after. Have you checked Erlau? http://www.erlau.com/en/produkte/aussenmoebel/baenke.html

The key to foam core (and most card/mat boards actually) is a sharp blade. I’ve known people to replace the blade after 3 or 4 long foam core cuts. That may be extreme, but it might also be worth it to keep the edges looking nice. Lana is right: it looks like crap if you use a dull blade. I wouldn’t totally give up on it as a material though. The…[Read more]

Oh how I miss the days of building models. I doubt there is a truly “best” method, as the materials you use will depend largely on the look you want and the time/tools you have access to. Trees and plant massings could be made from wire, pipe cleaners, baby’s breath, styrofoam, cotton balls, painted twigs or foliage, foam core shavings, shredded p…[Read more]

I’m pretty sure the work truck will be revealed shortly after the pilot. I can’t wait for the episode where Rob’s character hires his illegal immigrant brothers-in-law to run his lawn maintenance crew. That’s the only way to get all the stereotypes that this show plays on out in the open.

Maybe Benjamin’s park pavilion will rival the Taj Mahal. Or maybe he could specify that it be built with slave labor. However, an “object of power” doesn’t have to represent power in the sense of government/industry use/abuse of its citizens/capital to memorialize itself. Knowledge is power. Influence is power. Energy creates power. There are many…[Read more]

“Benches are artifacts the purpose of which is to punctuate architectural photographs.” – William H. Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
In the same classic book, Whyte gives ratios for amount of sittable space vs square feet of plaza (1 ft. per 30 sq.ft) and provides some guidelines for placement and orientation of sitting spaces.  In…[Read more]

I don’t doubt that the LARE has been a painful and frustrating process for some, though you shouldn’t let this horror story thread discourage you. Lots of people have passed C and E, including many on the first try. If you’ve studied well and prepared yourself for the rigors of licensure and the intricacies of LARE-land you should not need to…[Read more]

I am certified by my State DOT as a job site inspector and by the American Concrete Institute as a Concrete Field Tester. Not really typical landscape architecture credentials, I know, but when work was really slow a year and a half ago, these creds kept me busy in the field for several days. And as luck(?) would have it, there happened to be a…[Read more]

You can actually bookmark the page after changing the View to Discussion. That makes it one-click to get there like it used to be. I also agree that I’m not a fan of the new layout.

Bummer. I probably could have used this on a recent project. We went a totally different instead, but this would have been a good (maybe even a better) option. Thanks for the link and info; I’ll keep it in mind for next time.

Can you call the City and ask them for an example set of plans? That should be public information, maybe even available for download on their web site – check the Engineering or Public Works departments. If that doesn’t work, it might be a good opportunity to introduce yourself to a firm that does local work and see if they could share their copy…[Read more]

1. Autodesk Civil 3D 2011 and SketchUp
2. ACAD: Express Tools.  SU: UI is easily customizable with Ruby scripts.
3. ACAD: like that it’s relatively easy to find answers (forums, etc) for how to do certain tasks when they are not readily apparent; dislike that certain tasks are not readily apparent in the existing UI, and directly related to that,…[Read more]