Hey im wyatt, im a 1st year LARC student at texas tech uni and im trying to finish some photoshopping for a project. I was wondering if there was anywhere i can go to find vegetation png's . like a sketchuptextureclub.com but for vegetation, I spend way too long manually cutting out plants for my designs, any help? thank!

Hello everyone, I am considering going to UGA for their MLA program (3 year path). I have an undergrad in Building Information Modeling and Management but just recently started working in the public water/ wastewater industry. I want to do something related to the design of spaces for a living and being able to design outdoor spaces for people to enjoy seems very satisfying. However, I have never particularly loved plants. I love the outdoors but plants, agriculture, and ecology have never interested me too much. Therefore, I want to see your perspective on if this is a love that is developed through study and usage or if you must naturally love plants to be satisfied working with them all day.

My personal theory is that the motive of molding a space into something beautiful can exist without this passion for plants in particular. I also know landscape architects aren't glorified gardeners and there is a plethora of other sources of knowledge you use. Where does your satisfaction for this career come from and what sparked your initial interest in it? I would love to hear your thoughts and advice on this and I appreciate it in advance!

I’m looking at Master’s programs and while related undergrads are acceptable for admission to the program (environmental sciences, forestry, ect), I don’t feel I have much to include in portfolio for admissions. What sort of things might I include from my Agriculture degree? What other skills can I develop and projects can I work on now to include in my portfolio that will make me a strong candidate but will also prepare me for the course? I’d hate to feel like I’m always catching up to those with a LArch undergrad…. TIA!

Edit: I’m in in the EU thanks

I have been asked about whether or not to use landscape fabric by a few individuals and my initial response is that it is not worth it in planting areas because soil will accumulate on top anyway and eventually weeds will grow. It makes more sense to me to use on large areas of rock where there aren’t very many plantings. But there seem to be conflicting opinions. What are your thoughts?

Hey all!

I read the community rules and don’t believe this breaks them. At least I hope not. I want to be clear I am not asking for design advice. I’m looking for insight into hiring a landscape architect and what kinds of services they should or can provide.

For more context:

I sit on the board of a small foundation that supports a very small local public school (50 students per graduating class or less).

We have an idea for a currently unused outdoor space that would include landscaping, concrete, brick and outdoor classroom space.

No one on the board has any design experience apart from napkin drawingsand we need to sell local businesses and public officials on our idea.

I have convinced the board that we need a comprehensive visual design in order to fundraise and properly design this space and further convinced them a landscape architect is the way to go.

Here is the issue - we are in a small town and there are no licensed firms in town. There are some in a nearby city or more remote services in websites like fiverr etc.

What kinds of things should I look for or should I ask from a landscape architect? Are remote services trustworthy? If we hire locally what sorts of services are industry standard?

I want to make sure we do this right and don’t waste money or time that could go toward the school. In other words we’re willing to pay someone, but are wary of being duped!

Any insight whatsoever would be helpful as we embark on this project.

Also, I’m happy to elaborate on the project if that helps, but I’m being purposely vague as I’m trying not to break any rules in this community. I am specifically not asking for designs just gathering intel so we don’t screw up when we hire someone.

Thanks all! I appreciate you.

Hey folks,
What I'm trying to do is to calculate the remaining volume of a feature after "filling" it with stone. So, picture a 5 gallon bucket. I fill it with 3/4 drain rock. How much water could I then put in the bucket before it overflows?
I'm looking for something similar to but not exactly a packing factor. I don't know if there is such a thing for what I'm asking but if so... does anyone here know?

I have a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field. Is it possible to go directly into a Masters level program, or should I get a bachelor's degree in LA first? I have spent the last ten years in the military and prior to that worked ten years in golf course maintenance. Thanks!

What skills are needed for this? I heard that it is not necessary to be able to draw, but is this really true? (in order to enter a good university) What extracurricular activities and projects should be created? ( high school student) Is this promising? In fact, I really like the profession of a landscape architect, I like to create, imagine, and I also love nature. But I still doubt it. I'm not very good at drawing. So l'd love to hear your tips and stories about how you got into university! (sorry for bad English)

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.

Hi all,

I'm presently a 2nd year MLA student at a public program on the east coast. I am wondering what experience others had with job / internship prospects directly out of, or during school.

I did not do an internship my first summer, and have gotten rejected from every place I applied for this summer. With only one year left in this program I'm starting get worried that I may never get an internship until after school.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I'm worried that not having any internship experience at graduation is going to put me substantially behind my peers who have, making it even more difficult to get hired.

I'm planning on spending the summer responding to design competitions in an attempt to build my portfolio, but it's difficult to escape the feeling that I'm at risk for a complete failure to launch from a career perspective.

Any advice / input would be appreciated. Thank you.

Hello everyone, I'm a landscape designer and I work in a garden company.

The boss asked me to find an alternative to classic renderings to be able to respond to customers more quickly.

Obviously the work will then be done with traditional programs for both 3D modeling and rendering, but initially, in order to have drafts to propose to customers, he would like to find an efficient AI.

Can you tell me some sites I can try? Even for a fee

Thank you

Hey everyone, curious what other offices are using as naming conventions for their dimensioning, construction etc. sheets. Do you separate a hardscape plan from a built amenity callout & location plan or does this info live on one plan? Do you provide a separate site furnishings plan?

I'm hoping to do some research into flood management and drainage ponds. If this isn't the right subreddit can you suggest one that might be more suitable.

Some backstory, we live backing onto greenspace that is developer owned, with a swamp/ pond directly behind us, bordered by homes on 2 sides. Due to the amount of fill, and blasting required to develop behind us combined with recent laws surrounding the management of wetlands we thought it would be difficult to develop that particular section.

This development has been proposed and approved since the late 1980s. Work has recently begun on a 3rd edge of the pond roughing in a road, which is being billed as exploratory work to determine feasibility.

The pond may not be as protected as we assumed turns out it was created due to developing the 2nd side about 20 years ago, it's main source is a storm drain. The drain has always been there but the development on the 2nd side changed the water table. Looking a historical satellite maps the pond was a depression covered in vegetation.

There is a real possibility that this pond may be filled in the next 5 years depending on housing demand. I would like to start learning more about the potential implications to determine if it's worth it to fight or if we should just move once work officially starts. Our city is very developer friendly.

Thank you.

Hello there! Our city is updating their Urban Forest Master Plan and I'm curious if there is an alternate term to describe the "tree lawn," aka the strip of unpaved area between streets and sidewalks. The language we use is important, and I think describing this area as a "lawn" limits our imagination of what that space could be.

I've seen "tree pit" or "tree basin" before, but they seem to be slightly more specific situations, curious to hear what folks have come across most often.

More urban environments are utilizing that space not only for trees and lawns, but also rain gardens, pollinator gardens, and ornamental plantings. I think it's really important to start to shift our mindset around what kind of landscapes we build and maintain in our cities. By broadening our planting scope to more than just lawns, we can enhance the health of our Urban Forests.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions!

I need help. I believe that using as little construction material as possible on any given design is an ethical way to manage our dwindling resources, reduce emissions for trucking and reduce the obsession with outdated aesthetics.

But, it seems like on every project that I have to cover every square inch with concrete or gravel. On rare occasion I can slip in wood mulch, but even that is mostly a no go.

What are some design strategies that cover area and isn't irrigated, isn't gravel and isn't paved?

Can't we just let things alone to develop thier own look. In my opinion most abandoned lots have a better look than designed landscapes.

I am interviewing for a Landscape officer job and currently going through the description and trying to familiarize myself with the terms. I’m a planner new to the UK. Can anyone advise on what these mean?

BNE D + BNE

Are they specific types of plans? I can not narrow down any information with google searches!

Thanks in advance!

Hi fellow Landscape architects, I have a project in Wexford Ireland on an extremely sloped site. The client would like to create a semi natural lake/ pond in at the area highlighted in the photo. Would such a pond be possible at this position without the use of concrete to retain the water? I am afraid due to the slope of the site groundwater wouldnt gather here. What would you guys do?

Thanks :)

https://preview.redd.it/p86woktiegxc1.png?width=1261&format=png&auto=webp&s=e816a9b026e8cf2fd0dfd532a3bb4905edb3eb15

Why do these projects take a year? Two projects in my city are planned for 8-12 months- I think . Both are roughly the size of a city block. Both are mainly refreshing an existing park with the same generally layout; not creating one out of a forrest nor are they making radical design changes.

One is a basketball court, playground and green space with some approx 3’ retaining walls that I think are decorative and create benches for seating.

The other is green space with a fountain and flower beds.

Both have drainage concerns so I know that’s a factor.

I have some project management experience so I understand the risk of unknowns, and that one guy and one excavator generally take longer than 5 guys on 5 excavators. I also realize that the drain company might not have time available the day the excavator guy finishes, and that the sod needs a few weeks at the tail end to establish. So maybe that adds some time.

But all that said…. It still seems like 6 months should do it. Thoughts on why these things take a year?

Edit to add- I don’t mean this as a gripe. Genuinely wondering what I don’t know. One park in particular seems to have a fairly small crew working (my reference to one guy /one excavator). Anyway, curious if it’s just the usual project being dragged out? Or if there is some aspects of landscape construction I just don’t understand.

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?