Have you ever gone on a vacation (or a staycation), walked outdoors somewhere and thought, “Wow, this place is beautiful”? You were most likely in a park, around monuments, streetscapes, or looking around in an outdoor public place. If you thought it was beautiful, it was because landscape architecture enhances the natural beauty of any environment.
The discipline and profession is of environmental design that encompasses all aspects of natural and built environments. Landscape architects analyze, plan, design, manage and steward these spaces to conserve, develop and restore. Wherever you are, landscape architecture can intensify your experience. If done exceptionally well, it can strengthen a community. That is the goal of every architect.
What Makes Landscape Architecture?
So, other than parks what does landscape architecture include? The scale of work ranges from small spaces to entire regions. Some examples of landscape architectural projects can include the following: residential site design; parks and recreation sites & facilities; cemeteries; streetscapes; public spaces; urban design; low impact development; monuments; historic preservation; habitat restoration; therapeutic gardens; conservation planning; gardens and arboreta; landscape art & earth sculpture; transportation corridors and facilities; institutional; hospitality and resorts; academic campuses; security design; interior landscapes; and so much more. The works of landscape architecture surround us.
What It Takes To Be A Great Landscape Architect
You can’t necessarily wake up and just call yourself an architect. There’s a lot of work that is involved such as earning a bachelor’s and/or master’s degree in landscape architecture and becoming licensed in your state. One way to tell if an architect is good at their work is if they have had experience with difficult issues like retaining walls, steep slopes, irrigation and drainage systems, solving elevation problems, designing outdoor structures, or designing/giving advice on where to place service lines, entries, driveways, and parking areas. Paying attention to detail and being able to see the big picture are two qualities that make for a great architect.
What We Appreciate
A few aspects that we appreciate most about landscape architecture are the amount of time, care, creativity and resources put into each project. It builds and strengthens communities, magnifies and protects natural environments, and increases the quality and value of the focused area. This architecture is innovation and collaboration at its finest, and we have all witnessed it time and time again. Whether we’ve been aware of it or not.
