Filmtastic Fridays – I Want to be a Landscape Architect

In celebration of National Landscape Architecture Month, we’ve dug up an old favorite for this week’s film. Commissioned by Landscape Institute and produced by Room60, “I Want to be a Landscape Architect” offers a glimpse into the diverse range of landscape architecture and is sprinkled with inspiring phrases like “I want to be visionary” and “landscape architects shape the world we live in.” Although the film doesn’t go into specifics, its artistic execution is great for piquing interest in the profession, especially with the younger generation. From the description: If you are thinking about what to study at university or looking for a career change, if you care about the environment and the places where we live, work and play, this f...Read More

Have you seen the great video series “The surroundings”. They are a series of short films looking at Metro Vancouver’s public spaces from the perspective of the landscape architects that created them. It is an opportunity to learn from experienced professionals and their role in the creation of our surroundings. The first video of the series is dedicated to Don Vaughan and is focused on the public art as an instrument of place making. Don Vaughan is now a retired landscape architect with a work experience of more than 40 years. After exploring landscape architecture he decided to turn his attention towards art. The combination of both disciplines results in his assignment from the authorities for the City’s Public Art Program. The video (see below) captured me because it tells a story abou...Read More

I’m often hesitant to tell people that I’m a landscape architect. It’s not because I have anything to hide – it’s due to the misconception that comes with the title. What is landscape architecture? People tend to hear the word “landscape” and ignore the “architect” that follows. Reactions often range from “you should look at my yard” to “winter must be your slow season”.  I tend to cringe at most responses, but politely try to explain what I do. I think that removing the word “landscape” from the title and substituting it with something else, such as “site”, would do a lot to avoid confusion, but the ASLA isn’t about to alter a name used since the 1800s. We therefore need to keep educating the public about landscape architecture, in any way that we can.   In the meantime, I have star...Read More

At the tallest-building-of-the-world’s feet lies a park of equivalent grandiosity. Burj Khalifa skyscraper is Dubai’s highest masterpiece: at an impressive 829.8 meters (2,722 ft) tall, the tower is embraced by eleven hectares of land, which consists of a functional island, a leisure forest grove, a lake-edge promenade, outdoor dining areas and a children’s play space. Dubai has a desert climate, characterized by strong winds, extremely hot temperatures and high humidity during summer. Because of these rather uncomfortable conditions, one of the preoccupations of architects must be to integrate gardens and buildings into one. The renowned SWA Group was responsible for the landscape design of Burj Khalifa Tower Park and offered sustainable solutions for this challenging environm...Read More

Green roofs are popular for their environmental and aesthetic benefits, and in Italy they’re often used to help buildings blend into hilly surroundings. During my travels in Italy last summer, I decided to seek out the region’s top green roof facilities. My passion for green roof design goes beyond the inherent beauty associated with biomass on the rooftop; the introduction of green roofs to city landscapes can bring about many social and environmental benefits. In fact, green roofs are one example of how easy it is to introduce regenerative architecture and a natural environment back into the city landscape. While in Italy, I found prime examples of green roofs in the North, Central and Southern regions. Salewa Headquarters in South Tyrol The Salewa headquarters is located in ...Read More

Today marks the first day of National Landscape Architecture Month (NLAM)! For the next thirty days, landscape architects across the U.S. will host public awareness events to bring attention to our profession. To keep pace with the country’s changing demographics, this year’s NLAM theme highlights Career Discovery with a focus on providing early exposure of landscape architecture to students in underrepresented minorities.  According to the ASLA Press Release: “While landscape architecture is itself a minority profession—it employs just 21,600 people, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor—it is marked by homogeneity. The U.S. population will be much more racially and ethnically diverse by 2060, according to projections by the U.S. Census Bureau. The total minority populat...Read More

Modern cities are in grave need of great public spaces – plazas and squares, meeting places for communities, green areas inspiring people to spending time outdoors. The trick is to make the area interesting while keeping it human friendly and practical. Cliff Garten, internationally recognized sculptor, founder of the Cliff Garten Studio and the designer of the Receptor project, seems to have nailed it; his constant search for a public space which can become more than just a sum of its functions resulted in several extraordinary projects, the Receptor at Patriot Ridge in Springfield, Virginia being one of the most recent. The designer Cliff Garten is a recipient of several rewards and fellowships, including being cited for design excellence by the American Society of Landscape Archit...Read More

The Zombie Bench by NEON No, the zombie apocalypse is not upon us (well, not yet). This sculptural concrete bench challenges the stereotypical idea we have of public benches as boring and strictly functional pieces of furniture. Originally built at the Pontoon Dock in East London, it is an unusual — and beautiful — outdoor seat that is sure to make an impact on the public with its dark concept. In 2012, RIBA London launched a design competition as part of London Festival of Architecture entitled “Pews & Perches”. The competition aimed to create one-off seats to be installed at London Pleasure Gardens, which was meant to be an outdoor festival venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Thirty-two designs were selected by the judging panel, which included RIBA Londo...Read More

Fans of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty will love “Desert Breath,” a stunning and monumental land art installation located in the arid Sahara desert. Created by artist Danae Stratou, industrial designer Alexandra Stratou, and architect Stella Constantinides, this cosmic, swirling environmental artwork was constructed in 1997 over the span of two years. Centered on what had been a 98-foot artificial pool of water, 178 conical sand mounds and depressions spiral out to cover an area of nearly one million square feet. Seven years later, “Desert Breath” is still visible, but will gradually fade away as the wind and other elements erode the spiraling mounds back to a flat desert plain.   From the description: “The project is rooted in our common desire to work ...Read More

Today I invite you to take a trip through Spain to learn about the classical gardens of Spanish Landscape Architecture, both in history and in contemporary times. We all know the major achievements of the 17th century garden designer André Le Nôtre, from his work on Versailles to Vaux-le-Vicomte. What is equally as remarkable, however, is how his cultural and artistic influence spread throughout the European countries. Some of Spain’s finest examples of classical gardens, including El Retiro Park in Madrid and the gardens of the palaces of La Granja in Segovia and Aranjuez, were created by gardeners and hydraulic experts brought in from Italy and France. El Retiro Park When entering El Retiro Park from Paseo del Prado in central Madrid, the first thing you will notice are its  large ...Read More

HMH, a California-based planning, engineering, and landscape architecture firm recently bolstered its design portfolio with the completion of THE Campus, a renovated 250,000 square-foot office complex in San Jose. The project situates the workplace within a more sustainable landscape that offers newly configured connections, amenities, stormwater management facilities, and plantings. THE Campus came to fruition in part because of San Jose’s masterplanning initiatives that seek to increase commercial space, largely by transforming old buildings into new, flexible offices and research facilities. A major factor in choosing the site for redevelopment was its proximity to public transportation and bicycle routes, which offer alternative modes of transportation to commuters – a welc...Read More