How to Show Topography in your Plan Drawing in AutoCAD

A useful AutoCAD tutorial to help you with topography lines in AutoCAD. Computer aided design (CAD) software doesn’t come up with great concepts, as pointed out well by Barry Lupton. However in pretty much every project you reach a point where you want to digitalise sketches. Amongst others AutoCAD is probably the most used CAD program in landscape architecture and many other professions. As it is an extremely extensive program, only a few use it to it’s full potential. Even though you create drawings with it, it’s nothing like a box of pencils from which you pick the color you want just by looking at the box. You need to find your way. And it doesn’t stop there. AutoCAD can be customized and extended in virtually endless ways. So some pointers may come in handy! Lisa Tierney showed us 10 ...Read More

The New Tel Aviv Port, by Mayslits Kassif Architects, Tel Aviv, Israel. Reading the title of this article, you might already be wondering how Tel Aviv happened to get known for an urban redevelopment project? My reaction was similar, as was that of the 1,000-person audience at the issuing of the most prestigious award in Europe for landscape architecture — the Rosa Barbara European Landscape Prize in 2010. People were telling the architects of the port transformation: “We didn’t know that there are things like that in Tel Aviv.” Tel Aviv Port The project won out of more than 420 entrants, being selected both by the official jury and the audience. It was the first time Israel has been awarded a prize for landscape architecture, putting it on the global scene for remarkable projects. T...Read More

The Forest and Pool at Pyne, by TROP Terrains + Open Space, Bangkok, Thailand Some projects are simply impossible to forget, blurring the lines between art and design and mixing old with new. Unique in their design and conception, they create a lasting impression. The Forest and Pool at Pyne in Bangkok was commissioned in 2010 as part of a high-end condominium building by Thai real-estate developer Sansiri. The selected designer, TROP Terrains + Open Space, is an award-winning firm that previously received global attention for its design of The Garden of Hilton Pattaya and is among our Top Ten Names in Landscape Architecture. Whimsical and almost dreamscape-like, TROP’s design for the Forest and Pool at Pyne can perhaps best be described as enchanted forest meets Zen garden design. It mixe...Read More

Escale Numérique, by JCDecaux and Mathieu Lehanneur, Paris, France. The city of Paris aimed to increase the function of its urban infrastructure in 2012 when city officials held a competition to design intelligent street furniture. The need to integrate technology into the urban context is imminent for many cities, and this has led to a variety of design solutions. The winner of this competition was the world-leading outdoor advertising company JCDecaux, in collaboration with designer Mathieu Lehanneur. Their project, Escale Numérique (Digital Break), creates a series of WiFi stations where people can access information about the city and connect to the Internet. Smart Urban Furniture This urban development project is designed to create a space for people to use the Internet. A shade struc...Read More

Promenade Plantee, Jacques Vergely and Philippe Mathieu, Paris, France. Can you commute to your city and enjoy the experience like a tourist would? This isn’t the case in every city, but Parisiennes can get a glimpse of what visitors might see – and not just because of the fabulous monuments Paris obviously has to offer. In East Paris, in the XXI arrondissement, an abandoned, old-fashioned brick viaduct is the starting point for an inspired requalification that has created a significant change for the city, its citizens, tourists, and for landscape architecture at large. The Promenade Plantée, also known as Coulée Vert, is the inspiration for New York City’s famous High Line Park. An Historical Setting The viaduct was built in 1859, dismissed in 1969, and eventually restored in 1988 thanks...Read More

Smart Highway by Studio Roosegaarde. Energy efficiency and sustainability are some words that we use in almost every sector of our life now-a-days. Our planet has become vulnerable and her residents are already started to take care of her. We are conscious, yes, but are we smart enough? This is the very question the concept of “Smart Highway” brings before us. Smart highway is an innovative concept that targets the time yet to come. It is a result of the “brain” of Daan Roosegaarde, the designer and the “hands” of Heijmans, the builder and developer. We need collaboration between different fields to find the solutions of problems and difficulties of the contemporary world. Smart highway is a groundbreaking example for this kind of inter-expertise collaboration and effort. The Smart Highway...Read More

Find the perfect plants for your projects with this unique online plant finder. Have you ever sat in front of your project, wondering which plants would be the best options for it? Even the most expert landscape architects have to stop to think before making this essential decision. As living things, plants have their own needs in terms of soil conditions, temperatures, or sun exposure, and designers also have their expectations about the landscape. Putting them together is a key factor in the success of any garden or landscape design. Fortunately, there are several awesome tools available to make this easier. This week, we want to introduce you to one of them — PlantSelectr.com, an online search tool created by Sven Henrik Karlsson. An Easy Tool to Use for Finding Plants At first si...Read More

Starry Bicycle Path, Studio Roosegaarde, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The city of Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands, is the hometown of Vincent Van Gogh, one of the most well known Dutch painters. The opening of a solar bicycle path inspired by Van Gogh’s most recognizable painting, “Starry Night,” this November marked the beginning of an international year celebrating his work and legacy, with activities spanning three countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Daan Roosegaarde, a Dutch designer who explores the relation among people, technology, and space and the author of the Lotus Dome project, has created this magnificent, glowing cycle path. This one-kilometer path is Roosegaarde’s second achievement in the Smart Highway project, through which he...Read More

The Pool, By Nippaysage, Emile Gamelin Plaza, Montreal, Canada Illusion and whimsy combine to create a cool, blue oasis in Montreal’s Emilie Gamelin Plaza in the center of the city. Architect Nippaysage has used paint and geometric designs to give a rectangular slab of hardscape the optical shimmering feel of a real swimming pool. Draw closer, and you will see that the pool is a place to play: Hopscotch grids, chessboards and giant tangram puzzle pieces invite users to take a break from their busy urban lives. The Draw of Water in the Landscape Humans and water are inextricably linked. In the landscape wherever you find water you will find human settlement. In designed landscapes users are similarly drawn to water. In their design for Emilie Gamelin Plaza, Nippaysage has used the blue pain...Read More

11th Street Bridge Park, OMA + OLIN design, Washington, D.C. In metropolitan areas, land comes at a premium and outdated infrastructure can be abundant, so when Washington, D.C., was seeking a plot of land on which to install a new civic space, the city decided to host a competition to transform an aged-out freeway bridge over the Anacostia River. At the end of the seven-month competition, the unanimously winning team for the 11th Street Bridge Park was OMA + OLIN design. “The 11th Street Bridge project is a special precinct in the structure of the city,” said competition juror Harry G. Robinson III, FAIA, professor of urban design and dean emeritus at Howard University. “It is at once both a crossing and a place. In its purest role, it is a hyphen that connects and celebrates the physical...Read More