Welcome!

This is my first real attempt to blog, so first of all, pat me on the back for squeezing some time out of my insane graduate school schedule to do this.

I am creating this blog as a forum for anyone interested in the profession of Landscape Architecture, as I want to not only share my enthusiasm for my career but also educate the general public about what Landscape Architecture actually is, or is not. Hence the name for the blog, because the vast majority of people seem to think that all we LA's do is plant bushes and show bed layouts using garden hoses on HGTV.

I cut and pasted this definition from Wikipedia because I think it is a fairly good starting point: "Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, including within its fold geography, mathematics, science, engineering, art, technology, social sciences, politics, history, philosophy. The activities of a landscape architect can range from the creation of public parks and parkways to site planning for corporate office buildings, from the design of residential estates to the design of civil infrastructure and the management of large wilderness areas or reclamation of degraded landscapes such as mines or landfills. Landscape architects work on all types of structures and external space - large or small, urban or rural, and with "hard"/"soft" materials, hydrology and ecological issues."

Now, I must say that it drives me crazy when horticulturists and others in the industry criticize LA's for not knowing plants very well. This is because I, for one, actually do know quite a bit about plants and I resent being lumped in with those who do not. Unfortunately, however, there are many LA's out there who simply flip through a book and get a plant for a particular spot without having any clear understanding of what they are specifying. I think this is irresponsible and just plain bad. If you don't know what to use, please ask someone who does. Otherwise you are perpetuating the stereotype about us.

Apparently there has been some desire in the past to change the title of the profession to something less married to the field of Landscaping. I suggest that because there are many LA's who concentrate on residential design, that they remain "landscape architects", while those who do more urban and large-scale work call themselves perhaps "environmental designers".

At any rate, I have been summarizing Booth and Hiss all night for my studio class, and I am pooped, so after I try to add in a few sections on this thang, and perhaps some pics, I am calling it a night. Toodle pip old blog.





















This is a pre-1603 map of Belfast from Jonathan Bardon's book "Belfast: an illustrated history".

Landscape architects in general are very interested in urban form and how it develops historically.