Table of Contents
Other Titles in the Series
Becoming an Architect, Second Edition
Lee W. Waldrep, Ph.D.
Becoming a Digital Designer
Steven Heiler and David Womack
Becoming a Graphic Designer, Third Edition
Steven Heller and Teresa Fernandes
Becoming an Interior Designer, Second Edition
Christine M. Piotrowski FASID, IIDA
Becoming a Product Designer
Bruce Hannah
Becoming an Urban Planner
Michael Bayer, AICP, Nancy Frank, Ph.D., AICP, and Jason Vaterius, AICP
To my family,
for their stead fast and encouraging support;
in particular, to my parents, for trotting us kids
all around North America to numerous cities,
and state and national parks and forests,
where the seeds for my love of the land
and its diversity were sown
FOREWORD
Perry Howard, FASLA, RLA, 2008 ASLA President
MOST LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS find out about landscape architecture by accident. It is not a profession that is the subject of much media attention; nor does it have a deep or long history. The term landscape architect was first used in the mid-1800s by Fredrick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park in New York City. Our professional association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, was founded in 1899, and the first School of Landscape Architecture was started in 1900 at Harvard University. Landscape architects do not often make it into the limelight, as do doctors, lawyers, engineers, firemen, teachers, the clergy, or even architects. The hope is that this book and other efforts like it will help illuminate the profession of landscape architecture, because we need more landscape architects today. Why is this so critical now?
Simply, we need more landscape architects to help restore the damage we humans have been causing to our planet, in particular over the last 50 years. To cite just one statistic, the human population has more than doubled in those 50 years, adding untold stresses to an already overburdened and highly complex ecosystem, further weakening the life-support systems of planet Earth. It is said that we cannot solve even the poverty problem for the world without first repairing our damaged ecosystems.
We in the profession of landscape architecture are equipped with the tools to help repair our shared home. Through research, planning, design, and management of our landscapes, we have been turning out cutting-edge works that both promote environmental awareness and encourage ethical design practices. With the help of a multitude of scientific and allied disciplines, we are making headway in finding solutions to the air, water, and soil problems, and putting those solutions into action. We are at the forefront in demanding green and blue infrastructure, at all costs, in our old and new urban areas. We are beginning to find ways to provide food and housing for everyone on our planet, and to grasp and appreciate diversity and, thereby, become an integral part of the restoration of our ecosystem. We are raising our voices as advocates for all people and creatures everywhere, and in doing so becoming stewards of land, humanity, and culture. We are focused on designing and building walkable and livable communities, demonstrating that all our human needs can be met in the neighborhood, in order to conserve energy. We are focused, too, on ensuring privacy, even in the face of great population density in our urban centers.
Through these works we are healing the earth and the human spirit. We are addressing global issues through issues on the home front. We are walking the talk, and thinking globally and acting locally. Our works are celebrating the spirit of individual places, adding torather than taking away fromthe continuous landscape mosaic, and doing so in an artful manner. Expressive forms are being generated from user and ecosystem needs. More responsive and creative site details are installed at all levels of design. There is a rich blending and contrasting of the natural with highly refined man-made machined objects and materials.
All of this is apparent in Becoming a Landscape Architect. Included in this book is a very wide-ranging group of people, who represent the best of the profession. Through their voices and experiences, readers will gain a comprehensive snapshot of the practice.
I grew up in New Orleans but spent my summers near my birthplace of Morganza, Louisiana, a rural wonderland of levees, lakes, wetland areas, seafood harvesting areas, and farmland. New Orleans, in contrast, is probably the first true urban community of the so-called New World. When I grew up there, all the neighborhoods had corner stores; barber shops, bakeries, and hardware stores were close at hand. But there were open spaces, too, room enough for a football game in the middle of the streets between parked cars.
It was the combination of those two environments from my childhood that stoked my inner fire to study landscape architecture, which I discovered my first day on the campus of Louisiana State University, where I had gone to study architecture. After reviewing the landscape architecture curriculum, which just so happened to be on the page opposite the one describing the architecture curriculum, I decided to change my major. It was the best decision I ever made.
PREFACE
I HAVE BEEN TEACHING LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE for nearly 20 years and enjoy helping students explore the many career paths open to them in this exciting and expanding profession. I wrote this book in large part as a reflection of my passion for this profession coupled with the need to increase the number of individuals going into landscape architecture. One of my roles as assistant department head at Penn State has been student recruitment, and I have given a great deal of thought about how to raise awareness about landscape architecture as a rewarding career choice for creative individuals who care about humanity and our planet. I also wrote this book because I am concerned, as are many in the profession, about the need for greater diversity within our ranks. Therefore, another of my goals in writing this book is to present a broad cross section of career opportunities. To achieve that objective, I interviewed more than 50 noted landscape architects from a broad range of backgrounds and ethnicities and representing all sectors of landscape architectural practice; in addition, I included the voices of a number of landscape architecture students, both undergraduates and graduates, from schools across the United States. All these men and women share their thoughts: why they went into landscape architecture, what they feel the future holds for the profession, and what their work means to them. They also offertips on the job search process, among other issues.
Chapters 2 and 3, which form the core of the book, are structured to emphasize the variety inherent in the profession. Chapter 2 focuses on the myriad types of design (broadly defined) in which landscape architects practice; Chapter 3 describes the broad scope of professional practice settings available to landscape architectspublic, private, nonprofit, and academic. Reading these two chapters will make it abundantly clear that this profession truly can offer something for just about anyone interested in design.
