I’m in college minoring in LA and was planning on getting an MLA after finishing my bachelor’s, but I’m starting to reconsider.

I hate learning graphic design, especially 3D modeling/rendering. It doesn’t feel intuitive to me at all, and I keep getting frustrated. I’m sure I’ll get better at it if I keep practicing but I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to actually enjoy it.

Are there any opportunities in the field where I won’t just be using CAD or other design software all day? I love everything else about LA- plants, ecological infrastructure, looking at/designing site plans, construction documents, hand-sketching, etc.

Hi everyone! I am a third year LA student working on a project for one of my classes, and I have a few questions for anyone with some experience in the professional world of this field.

1. Why did you choose to become a Landscape Architect?

2. What are some of the long-term benefits of this profession?

3. What skills are most important to be a successful Landscape Architect?

4. Are there any strategies that a BLA Graduate should employ in order to begin a career in Landscape Architecture?

5. If you have worked in different practices (private vs. public, large firm vs small firm), how were they different?

I’m a first year landscape architecture BLA student. I have access to adobe creative suite on my personal computer, so over the summer I can keep working on something with that. But I don’t have access to SketchUp or Lumion, the other two softwares we’re learning, as the licensing is only on the physical computers at the school. Any tips to try and retain that knowledge without actually being able to use the software?

Anyone have any recommendations for civil 3D grading tutorials online?

I’d like to teach myself so that the civils in our office are not always in control and give me stupid rectangle ponds and get volumes to test designs.

Thanks in advance.

I've been a project manager for a couple years now and have always been one that needs organization tools to keep track of everything that is going on.

At the moment I use Dropbox paper to create notes for each project I'm managing and I have a running to-do list doc that anyone working for me can check. I like it but one of the reasons I picked Paper was because we use Dropbox for cloud storage as a firm so it was a easy transition where I didn't need to request people to make new accounts. We use slack to communicate and outlook for all my emails.

Are there online/cloud tools that other managers have found helpful? I want a easy way to organize my notes/projects along with helping to delegate what people can work on and keep them up to date with deadlines.

I've heard of other programs/tools like Monday, Asana, notion, but I don't have any experience with them.

Hi, my name is Emma and im 28 years old
Backstory

!during this past month i have been looking for Trade jobs to try and change my career to i am currently working in healthcare in Mental health. im just burnt out and tired of it after 4 years, i have reached the peak in my field which is 20 a hour despite having Certifications. While i make decent money now, in 5-8 more years with no chance of ever making more in this field, would not be good money later. i had this realization when my co worker who has been in this industry for 33 years and with the company for 15 of those years only makes a dollar more then me. thus i started looking!<

Question about landscape designer, how would i possibly change careers? i see with other trade jobs people said i can just go to a union and request a apprentice ship where i get paid to learn with them. as i work. Is that something i should do with landscape design?

this isnt the only trade job im interested in, and if anyone asks why i took a interest in it, The money later on seems good, and i really like gardening and flowers already.

last question, What do you guys do during the winter as landscape designers?

What are these made of? (It seemed like carved cement, definitely not stone.) What process would be used to recreate? Any way to track down the landscaper who did this?

Hi all,

Is there a resource for purchasing detail diagrams for irrigation and soil plan notes to add into CAD? For example for irrigation: Typical Sleeving, Typical Trenching, Ball Valves, Wire Connectors, Backflow devices, Valve Manifolds etc.

For soil: Tree Planting, Shrub Plantings, Soil Amending etc.

Thanks!

Hi everyone I am so excited to be a part of the Reddit community! I am actually based out of Connecticut and would to change my line of work in Landscape Designing I aspire to open my own firm one day. I really want to know how do I get started in this field? I am currently a program manager at investment bank and I want to move towards a creative field since I know this has always been my calling and I hate to do anything with admin work. I want to be my own boss eventually and it’s been a dream to work in a creative field. Any suggestions or guidance will be of huge help.

Please use this thread to discuss whats going on at your school or place of work this week. Run into an interesting problem with a site design and need to hash it out with other LAs? This is the spot. Any content is welcome as long as it Landscape Architecture related. School, work, personal garden? Its all good, lets talk.

Hello everyone,

I'm grateful to share that I've been accepted for a Landscape Architecture Master's at the University of Calgary. I'm interested in learning about job opportunities for Indian students in Canada in this field. Additionally, I'm curious about the living experience in Calgary. Any insights or advice would be highly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey all,

Happy spring! I wanted to get some opinions on landscape fabric placed under a shredded mulch pathway. It's going to be a woodland style, and the client insisted on wood mulch over decomposed granite or others. Normally, under a compacted decomposed granite pathway, I'd suggest fabric, but with wood mulch, I can't figure out the point. Do any of you have experience with this and some thoughts?

Some times you do in fact "need" a turf field. There is currently innovation happening with e-layers, base pads (waste diversion and recycled for both) and with the cork fill, I feel like we are getting closer to an ecofriendly turf. But im stuck on the grass fibers. Is there a suitable more-eco-friendly grass fiber we could be using? Been wondering about it. Please post ideas!!!

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to reach out to see if there was a wise word of advise going into my yearly review.

To give you some context, this is a planning heavy firm with only two LA’s actually doing the landscape items as well as construction details, landscape plans, irrigation, graphics etc.

I’m not licensed yet I’m doing the work of an RLA, handling most, if not all construction documentation and detailing, extremely involved in the design process and I’m the only one who can do the graphics as well. ( photoshop, Indesign, lumion, sketchup)

I know I bring a lot of value to the table given the size of projects I’m working on… just have a hard time putting a $ amount to the kind of work i do.

The last thing I want to come across as is entitled… but i bust my a** off for this company and I don’t want to get short changed with this review…. Is there a good way to prepare for this? I don’t want to expect much but I know how hard I work and don’t want to be left short changed..

Thanks in advance.

Hi! I’m taking the LEED green associate exam tomorrow. And they sent an email expressing their strict policy on jewelry. I have a naval piercing and I’m trying to figure out if they’ll make me take it out? Which can’t happen because I just got it 😅

hi! just curious about how landscape architects thrive in Singapore? do they earn well? what is their system of planting and design?

Is an LA degree as versatile as some say?

I want to move out of traditional LArch but I'm having so much trouble figuring out how to transition to something else. I have an MLA and graduated in 2022. I did really well in school (high functioning).

But I find traditional firms/roles aren't for me (firms don't seem to be kind to neurodivergent folk who need a lot of structure). I was working at a small firm and got fired for not learning quick enough. It was very traumatic for me (yes, I've had therapy for this). I am currently unemployed. I wish LArch schools would better prepare us for the realities of practice. I'm feeling hopeless.

I'm having trouble distilling what I've actually learned and how to apply it to something else. I feel I would work better in a more structured or specialized back-end role...but also my technical skills are limited due to inexperience.

How are people finding specialist roles (like planting or irrigation designer) at entry level? Or moving into adjacent planning, environmental, historic preservation or other creative roles? Or even CAD or GIS roles? I've applied to many of those but I'm underqualified.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Any advice welcome.

Edit: added a few words

I’ve worked at this firm for a year, haven’t done any projects alone. Just basemaps and construction drawings, plant lists, plant pictures and meetings. What should I do for a portfolio when applying to other jobs.

Hello,

Would anyone be so kind to give me some graphic design advice on some of my work I finished up recently for our final review.

CONTEXT: In this project as was assigned the typology of a utility corridor. I had the task of creating 2 plans, 2 sections, 2 detailed sections and 2 models of this typology before and after a change. I decided on a change from a pine stand to a pine stand that has been cut for the installation of transmition towers. Then, we were asked to incorporate a room into this space that builds off of the spatial qualities of our typology. I won't go into detail here on the design process.

Can somebody give me their thoughts on the annotations and overall composition of the plans.

Thank you!

https://preview.redd.it/wv1d4fo7icwc1.jpg?width=8100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c91123809b10a6ab047d9ea7ed4282cf543c2538

https://preview.redd.it/0dqpht28icwc1.jpg?width=8100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d420f8e2082e07c8271cebf3455c2e74af573499

https://preview.redd.it/dp42jne8icwc1.jpg?width=8100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9ecbb03211d94b0cff30220a0fdc987a1333c56

https://preview.redd.it/s63bder8icwc1.jpg?width=8100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee36f9c8961debba314522600ec84c036e3e71d2

https://preview.redd.it/is2n6e59icwc1.jpg?width=8100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95f5e0a17e488b87836d727951989e78df048689

https://preview.redd.it/aq238ho9icwc1.jpg?width=8100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3005d8099dd81dac3fdbe7730f3de927dd32e75c

Where is the best university to take Masters in LA. I plan to specialize in urban planning or town planning

I’m a graduating landscape architecture student in the Philippines. But I want to work in Las Vegas after grad.

Would that be possible? What is the process of obtaining license in the US?

I’m a Landscape Designer for a small firm, they are very known for doing work for politicians and celebrities in the area. I make 53k. Do you think this is a good salary? I’ve worked here for a year. Realistically speaking I don’t think that’s a lot especially for the type of people we work for also the area we are in. My billing rates for clients is ($175 per hour) UPDATE JUST CHECKED THEY ARE HIRING NEW PEOPLE STARTING SALARY 65k