Landscape Architecture As A Career

Landscape Architecture as a Career

A landscape architect is an individual who arranges and modifies the

effects of natural scenery over a tract of land so as to produce the

best aesthetic effect for the land^Тs use. Landscape architecture is the

design profession which applies artistic, cultural, and scientific

knowledge to the design, planning, and development of the land.

Landscape architects accept certain responsibilities related to the

health and welfare of the public and are concerned with resource

conservation of the land. The practice of landscape architecture

requires an appreciation and understanding of natural and social

processes, a creative imagination, and a commitment to preserve or

improve the environment for human use and enjoyment.

Landscape architects plan the most harmonious relationships between the

land and the objects on it by proper combination of open space and

planting, and by wise use of land formation (Concise 151). They may

work on parks, gardens, housing projects, school campuses, golf courses,

or airports. They begin a project by reviewing the needs and desires of

the client. They study the site, mapping such features as the slope of

the land, existing structures and the type of soil. They check local

building codes and availability of utilities, make drawings which

outline the work in detail, and draw up lists of materials to be used.

They then invite bids from construction companies and landscape nursery

companies. With the awarding of the contracts, their work may be

finished, or they may stay on to supervise the work as their client^Тs

representative (151).

A major branch of landscape architecture, golf course architecture,

integrates the skills of a landscape architect on a larger scale. The

aim a golf course architect is to create a truly great golf course by

utilizing to the fullest extent possible the potential of a promising

piece of land (Golfplan 1). This potential is expressed in the site^Тs

location, slope, vegetation, water features, soil types, climate and

orientation. The role a golf course architect is the realization of

this potential under the constraints of design criteria that separate

the truly great golf course from the ordinary (1).

Landscape architecture, the science and art of modifying land areas by

organizing natural, cultivated, or constructed elements according to an

aesthetic plan (Encarta 1). The elements include topographical features such as hills, valleys, rivers, and ponds; and growing things such as

trees, shrubbery, grass, and flowers; and constructions such as

buildings, terraces, roads, bridges, fountains, and statuary. No

unalterable rules exist in landscape architecture because each plot of

ground offers unique problems caused by variation in contour, climate,

and surrounding areas (1).

As early as the third millennium BC, the Egyptians planted gardens

within the walled enclosures surrounding their homes (Encarta 2). In

Mesopotamia, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven

Wonders of the World. In ancient Greece, sacred groves were preserved

as the habitats of divinities. Greek houses included a walled court or

garden usually surrounded by a colonnade. In 5th-Century BC, Athens

public gardens and colonnaded walks attached to the Academy (^Уschool^Ф)

and the Lyceum (^Уgymnasium^Ф) were much frequented by philosophers and

their disciples (2).

Domestic architecture in the first half of the 20th Century attempted

to achieve a closer integration of the house with it^Тs surroundings, as

seen in the works of Sven Markelius in Sweden, Alvar Aalto in Finland,

and Frank Lloyd Wright in the United States (Encarta 5). The worldwide

economic depression between the two world wars forced a shift from

domestic settings to large-scale public works, in which landscape

architects and planners worked together on entire communities, regional

areas, and vast state and national projects. The proliferation of

shopping malls, new suburbs, cultural centers, revitalized urban cores,

and new educational facilities, has given landscape architects in the

later decades of this century unparalleled opportunities to refine their

art and to create new forms. They have become, in conjunction with

their colleagues in architecture, engineering, planning, and public

office, the shapers of both the future and the present physical

environment (Encarta 5).

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