A landscape architect needs:

Sensitivity to landscape quality

Understanding of the arts and a humanistic approach to design.

Ability to analyze problems in terms of design and physical form.

Technical competence to translate a design into a built work.

Skills in all aspects of professional practice including management and professional ethics.

A formal education is essential to gain these skills and knowledge.Professional education in landscape architecture can be obtained at the undergraduate or graduate level. There are two undergraduate professional degrees: a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture (BSLA). These usually require four or five years of study in design, construction techniques, art, history, natural and social sciences.

There are generally three types of graduate degree programs:

The first-professional Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) is for persons who hold an undergraduate degree in a field other than landscape architecture, and intend to become landscape architecture practitioners. It can usually be earned in three years of full-time study.

The second-professional Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) is for persons who hold an undergraduate professional degree in landscape architecture. It normally takes two years.

Read more:
ASLA Your Path to Landscape Architecture - American ...

Thirty images of youngsters being sexually abused were found on Vincent Tabaks computer - police only started considering evidence two weeks ago

Welook back at the most memorable courtroom moments, all done from notes because drawing in court is banned

Murdered Jo Yeates' parents have told how they frantically banged on car boots as they joined the search for their daughter last Christmas.

The parents of Jo Yeates are dreading Christmas without their daughter, one year after she was murdered.

JO Yeates' mum has told of her heartache at finally clearing out her daughter's flat nearly a year after she was murdered there.

Murdered Jo Yeates' father has told how her family have been astonished by the wave of public sympathy from across the country.

IF pornography was not as readily available as running water then Joanna Yeates would still be alive today.

VINCENT Tabak had sick images on his laptop showing children being sexually abused, police have revealed.

THE killer of Jo Yeates may have kept a sock as a trophy, it was claimed yesterday.

A FUND set up by the boyfriend of murder victim Jo Yeates had raised more than 4,000 yesterday.

Follow this link:
Vincent Tabak

If good design is invisible, then you might not notice the intentional choices that go into designing a landscape. Its the work of a landscape architect to subtly guide you through a physical space and shape how you interact with it, and its a bit more than just choosing the potted plants.

To learn more about the work of a landscape architect, we spoke with Bret Hanson, who has worked for a variety of firms on projects ranging from public infrastructure to landscapes with Walt Disney Imagineering, and now is working in sustainable urban design with LPA Inc.

Pictured above: Plan for West Hollywood Park, image by LPA Inc.

Howdy! My name is Bret Hanson and I am a licensed landscape architect, which gives me the awesome authority to legally call myself a landscape architect, sign documents into construction, and explain to people I do more than residential. Currently I work for multi-disciplinary design firm, LPA Inc., in our Orange County office, specifically our Urban Design Studio. I have 10ish years of experience (straight outta Kansas) having worked at (four) very different companies and covered probably every market segment imaginable. Currently, my portfolio in LPAs Urban Design Studio focuses on civic, health care, life science, and various targeted developer work.

I was born, raised, schooled, and corn bread fed in Kansas. My mums side of the family were people of the soil, before, during, and after the depression. I spent a lot of my youth on our grandparents farm hunting, fishing, camping, hay bailing, off-roading, cow-tipping, and adventuring throughout the rural surroundings. One of my dads passions is sailing (yes, we actually have lakes in Kansas) so we also spent a lot of weekends on the water. Additionally, my mum has a background in textiles and my dad is a professional guitarist so I like to think some creativity inherently runs through these country veins.

As a kid my toy arsenal included LEGO, Lincoln Logs, G.I. Joes, He-Man, etc. From these tools many elaborate structures and forts were built with epic battles ensuing. This evolved during high school by me delving into architecture classes, even though I had the drawing skills of a two year old. I originally attended college to pursue architecture but switched to landscape architecture because I thought it offered more variety and was more encompassing. The biological nature of a landscape being alive was, and still is, poetic to me. These traits and experiences helped guide where I landed today, and planted the seed for my love and respect for working with our exterior environment.

I was born a surfer in a Kansans body, so after graduating with a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture from Kansas State University, it was California or bust. KSUs program offers a semester long study abroad or internship program. I decided to intern abroad in California and snagged a couple of great internships in Orange County, which led to a permanent position after graduation. The steps to becoming a professional landscape architect are similar to architecture.

The internet memes usually portray landscape architects as either mowing lawns or sitting behind a desk clicking CAD all day. Part of this is true and you can definitely get pigeon-holed. In reality, no matter the discipline (landscape architect, architect, engineer, etc), our profession is extremely expansive. We are not only designers but planners, innovators, communicators, writers, coordinators, managers, marketers, green building leaders, and more. Landscape architects not only need to know about plants but also paving, walls, fence, rails, concrete, wood, metal, furniture, lighting, water features, irrigation, water management, and sustainability. Additionally, we must understand the construction of each piece and how they all stitch together cohesively within the overall site and ecological cycle. We do not just draw beautiful lines those lines must be approved by agencies, to code, within budget, buildable by contractors, and hopefully sustainable. As Ned Stark once quipped, One does not simply draw a paving joint.

Additionally projects have multiple phases and each phase has different players clients, multiple disciplines, consultants, product vendors, cities, agencies and contractors. This makes coordination and communication two of the most important skills within our profession as they are continuous throughout project life. An over simplified project phasing would be Conceptual Design, Construction Documentation (drawing and writing how project is built, agency approvals, bidding), and Construction.

Personally my current week is roughly 25% coordination (email, phone calls, meetings, submittals), 30% documentation and design (sketches, exhibits, CAD, Adobe, Bluebeam), 20% construction administration (field review, submittals, RFI, putting out fires), 20% management (project tracking, scheduling, reviewing plans), 5% miscellaneous (internal operations, marketing, recruitment, etc).

Visit link:
Career Spotlight: What I Do As A Landscape Architect

Bonnie Chen

Monday, March 02, 2015

Now, chairman of landscape architectural firm Earthasia International (6128), Lau relishes his profession as it allows him to have a strong positive impact on the environment.

Currently, there are only 100 licensed landscape architects in Hong Kong, making them an elite but unique group of professionals.

"It's a sunrise industry," says Lau.

He has been outspoken in the past about the environment, drawing the attention of senior officials in the government who then decided to tap his expertise.

Lau is a member of the Town Planning Board and the Lands and Development Advisory Committee. In the past, he was a Eastern District Councillor and a member of the Harbourfront Commission.

Landscape architecture is a combination of diverse disciplines including botany, horticulture, fine arts, architecture, earth sciences, geography, and ecology that helps improve outdoor environment.

Three decades ago, Lau enrolled for a degree program on landscape architecture at the University of Toronto.

"I did not know what to study at that time. I first came across the term landscape architect while in a construction site one time... I then chose it even if I didn't know whether I could get a job after graduation," he recalls.

Read more here:
Landscape wizard

One morning in 1961 at the Querini Stampalia, I asked him to keep water outside the palace He looked at me and after a pause he said: Inside, inside! Water must be inside, like everywhere in the city. We just need to control and use it as a shining and reflecting substance. You will see the light reflections on the yellow and purple stuccos on the ceiling. That is so gorgeous!

- Giuseppe Mazzariol,director of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia,recalls Carlo Scarpas attitude to the creation of the museum space in the centre of Venice.

When I arrived at the Fondazione one afternoon last week, the tide was rising and canal water was slowly infiltrating the dusty channels cast into the museums interior, making its way through round holes cut into the walls. The steel grilled watergate in the museums facade is permanently submerged and the sound of water lapping against stone inside the corridor and its cooling effect makes the spaceuniquely beautiful, neither interior nor exterior.

In the garden to the rear there is a beautiful continuity of form and material from the inside spaces.

I think Scarpas design and many of the older buildings in Venice offer a positive glimpse of future opportunities for living in cities threatened by rising water levels.

The rest is here:
Landscape Architecture - People and Place

Alan Rickman directs and stars in A Little Chaos with Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Stanley Tucci and Jennifer Ehle. Rickman also co-wrote the story with Alison Deegan and Jeremy Brock. Winslet plays Madame Sabine De Barra, an unlikely candidate for landscape architect of the stillto-be-completed Palace of Versailles. She has little time for the classical, ordered designs of the man who hires her, the famous architect Le Ntre (Schoenaerts). However, as she works on her creation, she finds herself drawn to him as she is forced to negotiate the perilous rivalries and intricate etiquette of the court of King Louis XIV (Rickman). A Lionsgate UK and BBC Films production, it was acquired by Focus Features in Toronto where the romantic drama was the closing night gala. Lionsgate has an April 17 UK release set. Check out the trailer above.

See original here:
A Little Chaos': Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet Stroll Versailles Gardens Trailer

By Mark Jenkins February 25 at 9:55 AM

Blanketed under a few inches of snow, the new rain garden at Tifereth Israel doesnt look like much. Thats partially because the garden borders the side and rear of the Shepherd Park synagogue, not its 16th Street frontage. But its also because the water-loving new plantings havent started to bloom.

Unfortunately, it got put in at the very end of the season. It will be fun to see it burst forth in flower this spring, said Ethan Seidel, the congregations rabbi.

The garden, designed to absorb and filter water that would otherwise go directly to the citys sewer system, is a project of the synagogues environmental committee. Carla Ellern, one of the committees members, said the group has been trying to do a rain garden for a very long time.

Ellern is a landscape architect who works for Montgomery Countys RainScapes program, which has the same basic goals as the Districts RiverSmart initiatives. The program offers incentives to communities, congregations and businesses to take steps to reduce stormwater pollution.

Ellern took courses at the Anacostia Watershed Societys Watershed Stewards Academy, and that connected the dots for me about where I should be putting my energies, she said. It just seemed like a no-brainer that we should be doing something here at the synagogue.

It fits within the ethos of our congregation, which is very much focused on environmental issues, Seidel said.

The project began with a $1,000 grant from Hazon, a nonprofit Jewish organization that supports sustainable communities. The next stop was the D.C. Department of the Environment, which provided a $65,000 grant.

I think were the first synagogue or religious organization, period to do it, Ellern said. The city wanted to do it, but we were kind of the guinea pig.

The three varieties of permeable paving used in the project were more expensive than the committee expected, and working with existing buildings is more complicated than installing rain-capture features in new construction. Ultimately, the synagogue went back to the city for an additional $17,000.

Originally posted here:
D.C.s Tifereth Israel waits for new rain garden to bloom

Have an item for Business Beat? Send it to businessbeat@spokesman.com.

Dell Hatch has joined Bernardo|Wills Architects as a landscape architect and design coordinator. Hatch was previously with the firm from 2009 to 2013. He has 32 years of experience in landscape architecture, including experience in master planning and design of municipal and state parks, recreational complexes, outdoor sports and athletic facilities, higher-education campuses, K-12 schools, and urban-revitalization streetscapes. He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and is licensed in Washington, Idaho, Arizona andNevada.

Avista Corp. has named Kevin Christie as

You have viewed 20 free articles or blogs allowed within a 30-day period. FREE registration is now required for uninterrupted access.

S-R Media, The Spokesman-Review and Spokesman.com are happy to assist you. Contact Customer Service by email or call 800-338-8801

Have an item for Business Beat? Send it to businessbeat@spokesman.com.

Dell Hatch has joined Bernardo|Wills Architects as a landscape architect and design coordinator. Hatch was previously with the firm from 2009 to 2013. He has 32 years of experience in landscape architecture, including experience in master planning and design of municipal and state parks, recreational complexes, outdoor sports and athletic facilities, higher-education campuses, K-12 schools, and urban-revitalization streetscapes. He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and is licensed in Washington, Idaho, Arizona andNevada.

Avista Corp. has named Kevin Christie as vice president for customer solutions. Christie was previously the senior director of customer solutions and has been with Avista for 10 years. He completed the utility executive cfourse at the University of Idaho and the finance for senior executives program at Harvard BusinessSchool.

River Linguistics has opened at 811 W. Second Ave., Suite 208.This business provides translation, transcription and telephonic interpreting services for businesses and individuals. For more information, call (707) 474-8374 or visit riverlinguistics.com.

Kevin Cook, with Champion Concrete Pumping & Conveying Inc., has been named a recipient of the national 2014 Safe Operator of the Year Award from the American Concrete Pumping Association in recognition of his outstanding work as a concrete pump operator. He received the award at associations World of Concrete 2015 convention in Las Vegas earlier this month. Cook has been with Champion since 1994 and has been certified by the association for 19years.

Read more:
Business beat - Sun, 22 Feb 2015 PST

By KATHY STEVENS

kstevens@njherald.com

Nineteen years ago, a greenhouse was built at the Sussex County Fairgrounds, which planted the seed of holding a spring flower and garden show.

David Wright, of David Wright Landscape Architect LLC, in Branchville; Brian Hautau, of Hautau Landscaping Inc., also of Branchville; and Tony Cerbo, of Cerbo's Nursery, in Hampton, put together the show that was held in the newly constructed greenhouse building during a snowy March weekend.

The greenhouse still had a dirt floor. We hadn't poured the concrete floor yet. And it snowed quite a bit, Wright said. He recalls the show did draw a few visitors.

Wright, director of the Springfest Garden Show for 19 years, said Springfest has grown from its initial one greenhouse building to include the greenhouse, adjoining Conservatory, Farm Fun Building and several tents. The show now spans four days and is a breath of spring for the winter weary. Over the years, in addition to an increased number of flower and garden exhibits, the show has added educational lectures, a cafe and multiple vendors, and is attended by thousands of people.

The show opens at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 12, and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through March 15 at the Sussex County Fairgrounds on Plains Road in Augusta. Admission is $12 for adults; $9 for seniors 65 and older and free for children under 12 years old.

On Senior day, March 12, admission for those 65 and older is $8. The show is rain, shine or snow, as it is all under cover and indoors.

The area's landscape companies, including Wright's, have been busy all winter designing their displays for the show, forcing flowers from winter dormancy, and building the gardens that will inspire visitors with the latest outdoor-living trends or perhaps a new planting to enhance curb appeal.

For anyone considering an outdoor project, visiting the garden show is a way to meet with representatives of landscape companies, chat with the owners and peruse their portfolios. Landscape architects, such as Wright, can advise how to draw a plan for your garden.

Here is the original post:
It might as well be Springfest

Eau Claire (WQOW)- The turf takes a pounding every year, but change is on the horizon for Carson Park's field.

The Eau Claire City Council will vote Tuesday night whether to hire a landscape architect to study replacing the artificial turf at Carson Park. The turf was originally installed in 2004 at a cost of almost $850,000, and it is beginning to show signs of wear and tear.

The city council recognized it needs to be replaced in the future, but it said the investment in Carson Park has paid off and the artificial turf has been a success.

"We've been able to play something like 160 games a year on the turf," Eau Claire Parks and Recreation Director Phil Fieber said. "Where as in the past when Carson Park had the natural turf we could play maybe twenty, so the artificial turf has been a good move for a community that has a shared facility."

The project is estimated to cost anywhere between $400,000 and $500,000. The city is budgeting about $100,000 and Eau Claire School District along with private donations would fund the remaining costs.

Continued here:
Turf likely replaced at Carson Park