landscape architect
| Dictionary: landscape architect |
n.
One whose profession is the decorative and functional alteration and planting of grounds, especially at or around a building site.
landscape architecture landscape architecture n.
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| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Landscape architecture |
The art and profession of designing and planning landscapes. Landscape architects are concerned with improving the ways in which people interact with the landscape, as well as with reducing the negative impacts that human use has upon sensitive landscapes. Landscape architects are involved in such diverse areas as landscape and urban design, community and regional planning, interior and exterior garden design, agricultural and rural land-use planning, parks and recreation, historic site and natural area preservation, landscape restoration and management, research and academic programs, energy and water conservation, and environmental planning.
Landscape architects are generalists in that their educational and professional experience is very broad. Many environmental and cultural factors affect landscape design and planning, and landscape architects have to know how these factors relate. Design process is the main area of specialization for landscape architects, and decision-making related to design process is fundamental. See also Civil engineering; Environmental engineering; Forestry, urban; Land-use planning.
| Real Estate Dictionary: Landscape Architect |
A professional who designs building sites, subdivisions, and other projects that require work on drainage, grading, vegetation, installation of utilities, and site improvements.
Example: On the office park project, a landscape architect advised the developer on the placement of drainage sewers, parking lots, plantings, and other landscaping requirements.
| Geography Dictionary: landscape architecture |
Originally the design of gardens, this term now also covers the planning and management of a landscape in order to meet aesthetic standards while also fulfilling some functions. An adventure playground may be laid out in a pleasing fashion or a motorway may be designed to clash as little as possible with the landscape.
| Architecture: landscape architecture |
The practical art and science of adapting land for human use and enjoyment, based on the premises that land use and beauty are compatible and that neither is complete without the other. Includes the planned combination of living plants, such as flowers, grass, ground cover, shrubs, trees, and vines, as well as natural features such as rocks and stones; and may also include reflecting pools, fountains, outdoor artwork, gazebos, screen walls, benches or fences.
| US History Encyclopedia: Landscape Architecture |
Landscape Architecture is both the art and profession of landscape design, in which topographical, horticultural, and other elements are arranged to suit human use. While humans have shaped landscapes since antiquity, landscape architecture developed as a profession only in the mid-1800s, and the term was first used in 1858 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who were then designing and constructing New York's Central Park.
Olmsted and Vaux may have coined the term, but they did not originate the art. Americans had long intentionally shaped landscapes to suit various needs, particularly in streetscapes, garden designs, and park construction. Colonial Americans borrowed heavily from European landscape design, particularly in creating classical, rectilinear gardens, with straight paths and square beds of formal plantings. Although regional differences developed early, as the southern climate and plantation culture encouraged the development of larger gardens, formal design remained a constant. George Washington's Mount Vernon gardens represent the grand gardens of the late 1700s—the long bowling green provided a striking vista, and the symmetrical garden plots provided both beauty and produce. The University of Virginia and the grounds of Monticello remind us of the importance of landscape design to Thomas Jefferson, who built them with an eye to both attractiveness and efficiency.
Andrew Jackson Downing's A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Adapted to North America (1841) was the first major work on gardening by an American. Downing attempted to describe a growing uniqueness of American landscape design. While the work marked the movement away from the classical style and toward a picturesque aesthetic, Downing's book also revealed the continuing debt American landscape design owed to Europeans. Deeply influenced by Romanticism, itself of European origins, the picturesque style emphasized more natural landscapes, with variety, irregularity, and informality. The picturesque style played to America's growing appreciation of its distinctive wilderness. In essence, picturesque gardens could capture a bit of the wildness and preserve it in accessible spaces. Since gaining popularity in the 1850s, the picturesque style has continued to dominate landscape design, with formal gardens playing a smaller role in American landscape architecture.
The profession of landscape architecture developed with the growing urban demand for parks after 1850. After Olmsted and Vaux set the standard with their designs for Central Park and Brooklyn's Prospect Park, most American cities sought their own landscaped parks. Olmsted became the premiere landscape architect and, as that new term implied, he intended to design the landscape as fully as architects design buildings. Natural elements, such as trees, shrubs, and water, would be among his tools, but his creations would be primarily cultural. Mixing open spaces, formal walks, rustic architecture, and naturalistic woodlands, these picturesque landscapes offered variety to increasingly regularized lives.
Even as landscaped parks provided relief from monotonous city life, some visionaries sought to provide more pervasive relief by designing picturesque neighborhoods and communities. In the mid-1850s Alexander Jackson Davis, a protégé of Downing, designed the first picturesque suburb, Llewellyn Park in New Jersey. With its curvilinear streets and planned open "ramble," Llewellyn Park became a model for future suburban developments, including Olmsted's Chicago suburban design, Riverside, built in the following decade. In addition to the movement to create new, planned, landscaped communities, late in the 1800s, the City Beautiful Movement encouraged a greater level of planning throughout cities. While not strictly concerned with landscape design, the City Beautiful Movement did emphasize urban beauty as created by streetscapes, vistas, and architectural design. Inspired in part by the great success of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago, reformers demanded more beauty in their cities, particularly in the form of Beaux Arts architecture, open civic plazas, and striking street vistas. These ideals made their way into the 1902 plan for Washington, D.C., with its long, formal mall, neoclassical architecture, and formally placed monuments. Many other cities initiated redevelopment on a smaller scale, including Denver's civic center, created by 1921. By that date most large American cities had transformed some significant public space to fit the City Beautiful vision.
The World's Columbian Exposition and the City Beautiful Movement marked the return of formal landscape design, as suited the renewed interest in neoclassical architecture. Private development also witnessed a turn toward classical design, particularly in the gardens of America's new castles, built for the growing number of superrich robber barons. These massive estates often included a range of landscape designs, but by the early 1900s the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, and other refuges for the extremely wealthy, were surrounded by well-trimmed hedges, straight paths, and formal fountains.
Despite the return of classical design, the picturesque continued to dominate city planning, particularly as cities spread out along railroad lines and increasingly important roadways. The curvilinear roads, ample tree plantings, and open spaces of the early planned suburbs continued into the twentieth century. John Nolen's 1923 Mariemont, Ohio, design, for example, relied on European ideas of the garden city, as is evident in the Tudor architecture of the town center, the large central commons, and abundant open and wooded spaces. Mariemont residents, just fifteen minutes from downtown Cincinnati, could think themselves living in the English countryside. The picturesque suburban ideal persisted, influencing the United States Resettlement Administration's design of several "greenbelt" cities in the 1930s, including Greenbelt, Maryland, in 1936. The lush landscapes of these communities, and other less planned suburbs around the nation, contrasted markedly with dense urban cores. They also hid the numerous and necessary connections between suburban and urban landscapes.
After World War II, American landscape architecture revealed a greater diversity of influences, including Asian gardens and massive modern art. Particularly on corporate campuses, where the picturesque could be inappropriate or impossible, modern landscape designs turned again to straight lines, but often at a tilt or on multiple levels, and natural components often found themselves extremely confined, as waterfalls clung to rectangular walls and trees sat upon pavement in large pots. Modern landscape designs created deceptively complex visual spaces, more accepting of artificiality than the picturesque designs of previous decades.
Bibliography
Major, Judith. To Live in the New World: A. J. Downing and American Landscape Gardening. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997.
Newton, Norman T. Design on the Land: The Development of Landscape Architecture. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Rybczynski, Witold. A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Scribners, 1999.
| Gardener's Dictionary: landscape architect |
A professional, licensed in most states, who is trained to design solutions for all kinds of landscaping situations, including jobs that require earth-moving, drainage, or major construction work as well as choosing which plants to grow.
| Wikipedia: Landscape architecture |
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Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, and/or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions that will produce the desired outcome. The scope of the profession includes urban design,site planning, town or urban planning, environmental restoration, parks and recreation planning; green infrastructure planning and provision, all at varying scales of design, planning and management. A practitioner in the profession of landscape architecture is called a landscape architect.
Contents |
History of landscape architecture
Through the 19th century, urban planning became more important, and it was the combination of modern planning with the tradition of landscape gardening that gave Landscape Architecture its unique focus. In the second half of the century, Frederick Law Olmsted completed a series of parks which continue to have a huge influence on the practices of Landscape Architecture today. Among these were Central Park in New York, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and Boston's so called Emerald Necklace park system.
Landscape architecture continues to develop as a design discipline, and has responded to many of the movements of design and architecture through the 20th century. Today, a healthy level of innovation continues to provide challenging design solutions for streetscapes,parks and gardens. The work of Martha Schwartz in the US,and in Europe designs such as Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam by the Dutch design group (West 8) are just two examples.
Ian McHarg is considered an important influence on the modern Landscape Architecture profession and land planning in particular. With his book "Design with Nature", he popularized a system of analyzing the layers of a site in order to compile a complete understanding of the qualitative attributes of a place. This system became the foundation of today's Geographic Information Systems (GIS). McHarg would give every qualitative aspect of the site a layer, such as the history, hydrology, topography, vegetation, etc. GIS software is ubiquitously used in the landscape architecture profession today to analyze materials in and on the Earth's surface and is similarly used by Urban Planners, Geographers, Forestry and Natural Resources professionals, etc.
Duties
Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, which includes:Geography,Mathematics,Science,Engineering,Art, Horticulture,Technology,Social Sciences etc. 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.
In some jurisdictions, such as the province of Ontario, Canada, all designs for public space must be approved by a licensed landscape architect.
The breadth of the professional task that landscape architects collaborate on is very broad, but some examples of project types include:
- The planning, form, scale and siting of new developments
- Civil design and public infrastructure
- Stormwater management including rain gardens,green roofs and treatment wetlands
- Campus and site design for institutions
- Parks, botanical gardens, arboretums, greenways, and nature preserves
- Recreation facilities like golf, theme parks and sports facilities
- Housing areas, industrial parks and commercial developments
- Highways, transportation structures, bridges, and transit corridors
- Urban design, town and city squares, waterfronts, pedestrian schemes, and parking lots
- Large or small urban regeneration schemes
- Forest, tourist or historic landscapes, and historic garden appraisal and conservation studies
- Reservoirs, dams, power stations, reclamation of extractive industry applications or major industrial projects
- Environmental assessment and landscape assessment, planning advice and land management proposals.
- Coastal and offshore developments
- Ecological Design any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with natural processes.
The most valuable contribution is often made at the earliest stage of a project in generating ideas and bringing flair and creativity to the use of space. The landscape architect can contribute to the overall concept and prepare an initial master plan, from which detailed designs can subsequently be prepared. He or she can also let and supervise contracts for construction work, prepare design impact assessments, conduct environmental assessments or audits and act as an expert witness at inquiries on land use. He or she can also support or prepare applications for capital or revenue funding grants.
For the period before 1800 (see section on History, below), the history of landscape architecture is largely that of master planning. The first person to write of "making" a landscape was Joseph Addison in 1712. The term "landscape gardener" was invented by William Shenstone in 1754 but the first professional designer to use this term was Humphry Repton in 1794. The term "landscape architecture" was invented by Gilbert Laing Meason in 1828 and was first used as a professional title by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1863. Lancelot Brown, (also known as "Capability" Brown), who remains one of the best known "landscape gardeners" actually called himself a "place maker". During the nineteenth century, the term "landscape gardener" became applied to people who build (and sometimes design) landscapes and the term "landscape architect" became reserved for people who design (and sometimes build) landscapes. This use of "landscape architect" became established after the American Society of Landscape Architects was founded in 1899 and the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) in 1948.
Specializations
Landscape designers and Landscape technicians or engineers are employed with landscape construction and service companies or may be independent professionals. Landscape designers, like garden designers, design all types of planting and green spaces - and are not registered. Many landscape engineers work in public offices in central and local government while others work for landscape architecture firms.
Landscape managers use their knowledge of plants and the natural environment to advise on the long-term care and development of the landscape. Landscape managers work in horticulture, estate management, forestry, nature conservation and agriculture.
Landscape scientists have specialist skills such as soil science, hydrology, geomorphology or botany that they relate to the practical problems of landscape work. Their projects can range from site surveys to the ecological assessment of broad areas for planning or management purposes. They may also report on the impact of development or the importance of particular species in a given area.
Landscape planners are concerned with landscape planning for the location, scenic, ecological and recreational aspects of urban, rural and coastal land use. Their work is embodied in written statements of policy and strategy, and their remit includes master planning for new developments, landscape evaluations and assessments, and preparing countryside management or policy plans. Some may also apply an additional specialism such as landscape archaeology or law to the process of landscape planning.
Garden designers are concerned with the design of small gardens and outdoor spaces and also with historic garden conservation.
Green roof designers design extensive and intensive roof gardens for storm water management, evapo-transpirative cooling,sustainable architecture, aesthetics, and habitat creation.
Profession
In many countries, a professional institute, comprised of members of the professional community, exists in order to protect the standing of the profession and promote its interests, and sometimes also regulate the practice of landscape architecture. The standard and strength of legal regulations governing HI landscape architecture practice varies from nation to nation, with some requiring licensure in order to practice; and some having little or no regulation. In North America and Europe, landscape architecture is a regulated profession. [1]
United States
In the United States, Landscape Architecture is regulated by individual state governments, with only one state requiring no regulation at all (Vermont). For a landscape architect, obtaining licensure or membership of a professional institute requires advanced education and/or continuing training and work experience. Full membership or licensure often depends on the outcome of examinations in professional practice matters, and/or an interview with senior members of the profession. In the U.S. licensing is overseen both at the state level, and nationally by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB). Landscape architecture has been identified as an above-average growth profession by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and was listed in US News and World Report's list of Best Jobs to Have in 2006. Landscape architects are considered professionals because they are often required to obtain specialized education and professional licensure.
Canada
In Canada, Landscape architecture is regulated by provincial or territorial components. These components are then governed by a national organization, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects / L'Association des Architectes Paysagistes du Canada. Membership in the CSLA/AAPC is obtained through joining one of the provincial or territorial components. Two provinces, British Columbia and Ontario, require successful completion of the L.A.R.E (Landscape Architecture Registration Examination), a series of exams that aims to determine whether potential landscape architects have sufficient knowledge to practice the profession without endangering the public, in order to acquire full membership in the CSLA/AAPC. Quebec has an innovative mentor system in which experienced landscape architects mentor new intern members toward gaining full membership after at least two years of practice, of which six months should be under the direct supervision of the mentor.
Australia
The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) provides professional recognition for landscape architects. Once recognised, landscape architects use the title ‘Registered Landscape Architect’.
Across the eight states and territories within Australia, there is a mix of requirements for landscape architects to be ‘Registered’. Generally there is no clear legislative registration requirement in place. Any regulations or requirements are state based, not national.
The AILA’s system of professional recognition is a national system overseen by AILA’s National Office in Canberra.
Most agencies require AILA professional recognition or registration as part of the pre-requisite for contracts. Landscape architects within Australia find that many contracts and competitions require the AILA recognition or ‘registration’ as the basis of demonstrating a professional status.
To apply for AILA Registration, an applicant usually needs to satisfy the following pre-requisites:
- A university qualification from an AILA accredited program.
- At least two years of practice.
- A record of Continuing Professional Practice (CPD).
The application is in two stages:
- First Stage: A minimum 12 months of mentoring and assessment.
- Second Stage: Oral assessment/interview.
Professional recognition includes a commitment to continue professional development. AILA Registered Landscape Architects are required to report annually on their Continuing Professional Development.
The AILA has in place processes to recognize equivalent qualifications and experience, which when combined with a number of years of recognized practice as a landscape architect, may provide the basis of recognition as a Registered Landscape Architect.
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The Landscape Principles
The major advocacy direction for 2008 - 2009 has been to develop a set of Landscape Principles. The Australian Landscape Principles articulate an ethical decision making framework for landscape planning, design and management within the built environment. Their purpose is to strategically direct landscape interventions, both in our existing and future built environments, towards more sustainable, holistic outcomes.
Information updated by the National Office, Australian Institute of Landscape Architects
Republic of Ireland
The profession is now firmly established in the Republic, though its penetration into the public sector is problematic and under-represented. The recent economic boom saw a flourishing and expansion of private practices.
The profession has gained a standing and status, outweighing its relatively small numbers in Ireland; and is closely involved in multi-disciplinary endeavours and initiatives with allied built environment and natural heritage professionals, including architects, civil engineers, spatial planners, ecologists and chartered surveyors.
United Kingdom
The UK’s professional body is the Landscape Institute. They are a chartered body who accredit landscape professionals and university courses. At present there are fifteen accredited schools in the UK. Membership of the LI is available to students, academics and professionals Landscape Architects and there are over 3000 professionally quaified members.
The Institute provides services to assist members including support and promotion of the work of landscape architects; information and guidance to the public and industry about the specific expertise offered by those in the profession; and training and educational advice to students and professionals looking to build upon their experience.
In 2008 the LI launched a major recruitment drive entitled I want to be a Landscape Architect to encourage the study of Landscape Architecture. The campaign aims to raise the profile of landscape architecture and highlight its valuable role in building sustainable communities and fighting climate change.
Italy
AIAPP (Italian Association of Landscape Architecture)is the Italian association of professional landscape architects formed in 1950 and is a member of EFLA and IFLA. AIAPP is in the process of contesting this new law which has given the Architects’ Association the new title of Architects, Landscape Architects, Planners and Conservationists whether or not they have had any training or experience in any of these fields other than Architecture. At the same time the Existence of AIAPP has been totally ignored in spite of its international recognition [2] In Italy there are several different professions involved in landscape architecture :
- Architetti (Architects)
- Paesaggisti (Landscape designs)
- Dottori Agronomi Paesaggisti e Dottori Forestali Paesaggisti (Doctor landscape agronomists and Doctor landscape foresters)
- Periti Agrari e Periti Agrari Laureati (Agrarian Experts and Graduated Agrarian experts)
See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Landscape architecture |
- Architecture
- Energy-efficient landscape design
- Environmental graphic design
- Green roof
- Hard landscape materials
- History of landscape architecture
- Landscape engineering
- Landscape Institute
- Landscape products
- Landscape detailing
- Landscape planning
- List of landscape architects
- Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies
- Master of Landscape Architecture
- Planting design
- Principles of Intelligent Urbanism
- List of schools of landscape architecture
- Soft landscape materials
- Sustainable landscape architecture
References
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009) |
- ^ www.oala.on.ca
- ^ http://www.efla.org/base/frames/centre.asp?LG=uk
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Mentioned in
- Vaux, Calvert (British-born American landscape architect)
- Sven Hermelin (architecture)
- Olmsted, Frederick Law
- Downing, Andrew Jackson (American landscape architect and horticulturist)
- Erick Glemme (architecture)
- William Hammond Hall (architecture)
- Dieter Kienast (architecture)
- Alwin Seifert (architecture)
- Carl Theodor (Marius) S?rensen (art)
- landscape contractor
- Frederick Law Olmstead and the Public Park in America (1992 History Film)
- James C. Rose (architecture)
- Arthur Asahel Shurcliff (architecture)
- jensen
