Books, magazines and websites for landscape architects

Landscape architecture books
Landscape architecture books

Introductions for students of landscape architecture

Landscape Architecture: An Introduction by Robert Holden and Jamie Liversedge Laurence King; 2014
Landscape Architecture: A Very Short Introduction by Ian Thompson OUP Oxford 2014
The Fundamentals of Landscape Architecture by Tim Waterman Bloombury 2015

General Introduction to landscape architecture

John Ormsbee Simonds and Barry Starke’s, Landscape Architecture, A Manual of Land Planning and Design, McGraw-Hill Professional, is the comprehensive, classic, serious technical work, based on US practice and first published in 1961 (as Landscape Architecture, the shaping of man’s natural environment), but extensively revised and updated with each new edition.

Biographies of landscape architects

It is also useful to read autobiographies and biographies of landscape architects whch give an idea of what a landscape architecture career can be, whether they be architects in Cheshire or based elsewhere around the world. Two examples are Ian McHarg’s (1920-2001) Quest for Life: An Autobiography, John Wiley & Sons: 1996. McHarg was a Scot who after the war went from being a major in the Parachute regiment to study at Harvard and a short return to Scotland ended when with disagreement over the site for the proposed Cumbernauld New Town, as McHarg wrote it was “miserable place, wetter than most, with intractable mud, poor sour soil, a high water table, few trees and those wind pruned.”

Kathy Stinson’s biography of Cornelia Oberlander, (born 1924), a Love Every Leaf: The Life of Landscape Architect Tundra Books: 2008 which tells of the choice of landscape architecture as a career at the age of eleven, flight from Hitler Germany, landscape architecture education at Harvard and a career in Canada ranging from childrens’ playgrounds to embassy grounds.

Ian Thompson’s Ecology, Ecology, Community and Delight: An Inquiry into Values in Landscape Architecture: Sources of Value in Landscape Architecture Routledge: 1999 is a thoughtful book which includes short interviews with about thirty British Landscape Architects

Landscape architecture magazines

Landscape magazines are of three sorts: those representing professional associations; non professionally based general landscape design magazines and also landscape industry trade magazines. Professional magazines are published by or for national professional associations such as Landscape Architecture Magazine by the American Society, ASLA http://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/ or Garten + Landschaft for the German Bund der Deutscher Landschaftsarchitekten (BDLA) http://www.garten-landschaft.de/ the Landscape Institute’s Landscape http://www.landscapeinstitute.org/publications/landscapejournal.php .

Design magazines include Topos (http://www.toposmagazine.com/ ) which is generally themed around a subject for each issue, such as “Water”, “Crisis Landscape” (such as post Katrina hurricane New Orleans, or the Green Line buffer zone in Cyprus) or “City Regeneration”. Another more newsy magazine is the biannual ‘Scape published in English in Holland with an international editorial board http://www.scapemagazine.com/about.html ).

Monographs and landcape architecture practice websites

There are now a whole series of well illustrated monographs of individual landscape architects or of landscape architecture practices and recommendations include: William Saunder’s Designed Ecologies: the landscape architecture of Kingjian Yu Birkhaüser: 2012 or Erik de Jong and Christian Bertram Michael Van Gessel: Landscape Architect NAI Publishers:2008.

Outside of that exploring individual practices such as Atelier Dreiseitl in Germany who specializes in dealing with water, George Hargreaves on the west coast of the US is in known as a masterplanner, James Corner’s Field Operations in New York known for the Highline, the Englishman Kim Wilkie with his interest in cultural landscapes, Adriaan Geuze’s West 8 in Rotterdam with a world-wide practice, Michael van Gessel in Amsterdam who deals with landscape design with a light touch; or Kongjian Yu’s Turenscape in Beijing who advocates a “revolutionary” (his word) approach and Agence Ter which describes itself as “as network of agencies in France, Germany, French Guyana and the Middle East”.

Large multi-disciplinary landscape architecture based practices include Land Use Consultants in London, and in the USA, SWA, and Belt Collins (originally engineers and planners) originating in Honolulu. Large multi-disciplinary practices with strong landscape architecture sections include the US by origin and now international AECOM (so search for “AECOM landscape architecture”) or the UK’s Building Design Partnership (check Sectors to find landscape architecture).

The websites for the above practices are:

Of the above SWA is notable for having a website (in whole or in part) in English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Korean.

General landscape architecture website and forums

Finally we mention three websites aimed at those interested in landscape architecture generally whether professionally or otherwise, www.gardenvisit.com/ covers both history and contemporary developments in garden design and landscape design, and the landscape architecture profession. US based landscape architecture chat rooms, The Field http://thefield.asla.org/ and http://www.land8lounge.com/ and the ASLA based The Dirt http://dirt.asla.org/ are well worth visiting.

Definitions of Landscape Architecture

The definition of landscape architecture referred to in the Introduction includes the IFLA definition submitted to the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) which is on http://www.iflaonline.org/index.php?Itemid=42&view=article&option=com_content&id=37 (accessed 1.12.2012). The ASLA definition quoted Is found onhttp://www.asla.org/ContentDetail.aspx?id=12200&PageTitle=Education&RMenuId=54 a further ASLA definition is that for licensure prepared by the (US) Council o f Landscape Architecture Registration Boards (CLARB)which is onhttp://www.asla.org/uploadedFiles/CMS/Government_Affairs/Public_Policies/Licensure_Definition_of_Practice.pdf .

The BDLA definition is found in English onhttp://www.bdla.de/seite102.htm . Other definitions are to be found on national professional association websites (see http://www.iflaonline.org/ and refer to Member Associations) such as that of the Landscape Institute in its Royal Charter, http://www.landscapeinstitute.org.uk/PDF/Contribute/Landscape_Institute_Royal_Charter_Revised_Version_July_2008.pdf .

The history of landscape architecture

Two well illustrated and very readable introductory books which cover the history of landscape, garden design and landscape architecture are Sir Geoffrey and Susan Jellicoe, Landscape of Man: shaping the environment from prehistory to the present day Thames and Hudson, 1995 and Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architectural History Harry N. Abrams: 2001. The Jellicoe’s first published their book in 1975 and it is seen as a classic, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe (1900-1996) was an architect and landscape architect instrumental in setting up IFLA, and he designed projects and continued active until into his nineties. He was arguably Britain’s most notable landscape architect of the twentieth century.

Another general work is Patrick Goode, Michael Lancaster, Susan Jellicoe and Geoffrey Jellicoe The Oxford Companion to Gardens. Oxford University Press: 2001 which covers both garden design and landscape architecture very well. Tom Turner has written from a global and cultural history standpoint about both the Western and Eastern traditions of garden design in his European Gardens: History, Philosophy and Design Routledge: 2011, Asian Gardens: History, Beliefs and Design Routledge: 2010, British Gardens: History, Philosophy and Design, Routledge: 2012.

The development of the landscape architecture profession

The classic history of the development of the development of the profession in North America is Norman T. Newton Design on the land: the development of landscape architecture Belknap Press, 1971 which gives a comprehensive picture, but beware Newton had misogynist tendencies and a look at an index dominated by male names does not reflect a profession where world-wide well over 50% of the members are female. This book, however, has used Newton in dealing with the early days of the profession in the USA.

The note on the use of landscape architect as a title by Nesfield in the 1850s England is based on Nine Antonetti’s “William Andrews Nesfield and the origins of the landscape architect” Landscape History, May 2012, 33:1, pp.69-86. There is a large oeuvre dealing with Olmsted, such as Charles Beveridge’s Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape Universe: 2005 (Beveridge is series editor of the Olmsted papers) but here is may be best to refer to http://www.FrederickLawOlmsted.com/ which is a general introduction, and the website for the National Association for Olmsted Parks http://www.olmsted.org/home .

An inspirational writer on European and North American landscape history is Marc Treib, he edited Modern landscape architecture : a critical review MIT Press: 1993 which serves as a general introduction to modernism in North American landscape architecture.

Our section on the growth of the profession in Germany owes a debt to Frank Uekoetter‘s The Green and the Brown, a History of Conservation in Nazi Germany Cambridge University Press: 2006. This plots the origins of ideas back to the nineteenth century and in both Weimar Germany and in the 1930s and 40s. Thomas Zeller Driving Germany: The Landscape of the German Autobahn, 1930-1970 Berghahn Books: 2007 is also interesting in that is written by a historian and is a useful balance to the work on the early twentieth century in Germany (Europe’s leading national landscape profession with over 6000 state registered landscape architects) written by landscape architects. Jane Brown’s The Modern Garden Thames and Hudson: 2000 in fact is a history of design by landscape architects internationally, both in Europe and North America. W.reh C.steenbergen Metropolitan Landscape Architecture – Urban Parks And Landscapes Thoth: 2012 is largely European in scope.

The standard history of the British landscape architecture profession is by Tony Aldous, Brian Clouston & Rosemary Alexander Landscape by Design Heinemann: 1979 written to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Landscape Institute. There are also useful country histories such as Annemarie Lund Guide to Danish Landscape Architecture 1000-2003 Arkitektens Forlag: 1997.

Two books by the Danish landscape architect Malene Hauxner are of wide interest: Fantasiens Have Arkitektens Forlag:2000 covers the growth of modernism in Denmark in relation to much wider European developments until 1945 and then dealing with the post 1945 period is Open to the Sky Arkitektens Forlag 2003.

The growth of garden design and of landscape architecture in France is well covered in the lavishly illustrated, but serious and well informed Michel Racine (ed.) Createurs de Jardins et de Paysages en France du XIXe siècle au XXIe siècle. Actes Sud: 2002.

Finally a series with a European scope is produced by Foundation Landscape Architecture Europe, which aims to survey the contemporary state of landscape architecture. This started in 2006 with Fieldwork published by Birkhaüser and is published triennially in 2009 as On Site and in 2012 as In Touch. This includes thirty of so European-wide projects chosen by a jury along with thematic essays and essays which survey the best of European landscape architecture.

Ecology, sustainability and landscape architecture

Landscape architects tend to focus on plant ecology and there are a number of textbooks on this subject and one of the most comprehensive is perhaps

Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Erwin Beck and Klaus Müller-Hohenstein Plant Ecology: Springer: 2005 which reflects German and continental approaches to the subject while a more popular introduction to ecological theory is M Gillett Ecosystems Hodder Education: 2005 reflecting British theory. Landscape ecology studies spatial patterns and ecological process and a good North American primer on the subject is Monica G. Turner, Robert H. Gardner and Robert V. O’Neil Landscape Ecology in Theory and Practice : Pattern and Process Springer: 2001.

Nancy Rottle and Ken Yocom’s Basic Landscape Architecture 02: Ecological Design illustrates something of what this means for design and practice. While Claudia Dinep and Kristin Schwab ‘s Sustainable Site Design: Criteria, Process, and Case Studies for Integrating Site and Region in Landscape Design John Wiley & Sons: 2010 consists of an introductory tour d’horizon and then a series of well illustrated case studies from the USA.

We also recommend the ASLA (the American Society of Landscape Architects) Sustainable Design Resource Guides and Toolkit, which range from Green Infrastructure to Maximising the Benefits of Plants or toClimate Change each with recommended reading and on-line resources, seehttp://www.asla.org/ContentDetail.aspx?id=29222 .

The brief, types of client and fees

In part this chapter is about professional practice at the beginning of design process and here we recommend Paul Knox and Peter Ozolins (editors) The Design Professionals and the Built Environment, an introduction Wiley: 2000 as covering the political and economic environment in which built design professionals work, as well as issues such as the impact of globalization, deregulation, and ideas of service to the community; all this covered from a North American standpoint by a range of chapter authors. The digital library of the Commons hosted by Indiana University is a useful introduction to common goods, http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/ .

At a narrower and more technical level, there are two British books on the landscape architecture practice which can be recommended: Rachel Tennant, Garmony, N. and Winsch, C. Professional Practice for Landscape Architects Architectural Press 2002 and Hugh Clamp’s Landscape Professional Practice Gower Publishing: 1999. However, these cover the range of professional practice in depth, which we have touched on in this and the subsequent chapters. Clamp now is rather dated but contains much wisdom, Tennant et al is closely focussed on the topics in the Landscape Institute’s Pathway to Chartership professional practice procedure.

The Landscape Institute has some guidelines which are available free on download fromhttp://www.landscapeinstitute.org/publications/downloads.php . Among them is Landscape architecture: elements and areas of practice – an educational framework: 2012 which covers landscape practice as a series of lists. While Appointing a Chartered Landscape Architect: Guidelines for Best Value: 2003 is a guideline for clients. Finally Engaging a Landscape Consultant: Guidance for Clients on Fees: 2002 describes the various fee arrangements possible in some detail.

Both the Landscape Institute and ASLA have websites developed to support professional practice. That of the Landscape Institute is focussed on their Pathway to Chartership which is their professional membership qualification process, see http://www.pathwaytochartership.org/login (members only). However they also publish their Guidebook to the Pathway to Chartership: 2010http://www.landscapeinstitute.org.uk/PDF/Contribute/LI_Pathway_Handbook.pdf . ASLA’s Professional Practice website area,http://www.asla.org/ResourceLanding.aspx is equally aimed at supporting those in practice.

Given numbers of landscape architects can be small in some countries it is possible to either use such guidance notes from other countries as a basis for professional services contracts and in negotiating fees. For example the German BDLA has fee guidance and professional service guidance for its members on http://www.bdla.de/seite95.htm . The American society, ASLA, charges non members for its Standard Form Contracts for Professional Services http://www.asla.org/ContentDetail.aspx?id=14888.

Alternatively apply fee arrangements based on architectural or engineering practice. Freely available via the Dutch landscape professional association, the NVTL, websitehttp://www.nvtl.nl/service/beroepsondersteuning is the DNR or De Nieuwe Regeling: 2011, (literally the new rules) the standard form of professional agreement used in Holland by engineers and architects, of course in Dutch but also in English. Similarly the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects AILA refers its members, see http://www.aila.org.au/practicenotes/ (accessed 5/12/2012), to AS4122-2010, General Conditions of Contract for Engagement of Consultants published by Standards Australia (ref.http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/details.aspx?ProductID=143930 (accessed 5/12/2012). An consultancy agreement based on engineering practice is theClient-Consultant Agreement (White Book), 4th Ed 2006 of the International Federation of Civil Engineers (FIDIC ) ref. http://fidic.org/bookshop (accessed 28/12/2012).

Site Survey for landscape architecture

Landscape architecture unlike say architecture is nothing without site, “Consult the genius of the place” is how Alexander Pope described his approach to laying out a garden. That still applies. So site survey is a way of recording that knowledge and understanding. John Ormsbee Simonds, and Barry Starke Landscape Architecture: A Manual for Land Planning and Design McGraw-Hill: 2006 is worthy of close study and has chapters on climate, land, water, vegetation, landscape character, topography as well as site planning. Harvey M. Rubenstein. A guide to site planning and landscape construction John Wiley & Son, 1996 is a similar authoritative introduction, dealing with site planning and resource analysis based on US practice. For a British perspective see Anne R Beer and Catherine Higgins Environmental Planning for Site Development, a manual for sustainable local planning and design E. and F.N.Spon: 2000 which discusses site inventory, the physical environment, the natural and social environment, and the quality of life, referring to human environmental needs, but it is sparsely illustrated and therefore does not compare so usefully with the basic US guides above.

Revealing the site

Ormsbee Simonds and Rubinstein’s books noted above also cover site survey and site planning. Further to these basic texts we recommend Kevin Lynch and Gary Hack Site Planning, MIT: 1984 which is a classic text and still well worth reading. Norman K. Book Basic elements of landscape architecture design Elsevier: 1983 also covers this territory.

Principles of design

Eighteenth century book on garden design usually began with a chapter on geometry followed by a chapter on classical gods and goddesses and how to refer to them. Now our gods and goddesses are ecology, and ideas of nature and how to live in sustainable communities, but an understanding of geometry is still fundamental. Mark Ryan Geometry for Dummies John Wiley & Sons: 2008 fits the bill of a primer for high school students. But there are also lots of non US books on this subject, from a British point of view Keith Critchlow and Jon Allen Drawing Geometry: A Primer of Basic Forms for Artists, Designers and Architects Floris Books: 2007 is a practically based primer.

Gaston Bachelard, 1994 Poetics of Space Beacon Press is a key work by a philosopher and phenomenologist (who studies of subjective experience and consciousness) is a psychological investigation. For instance, he discusses perception of the four elements in classical thought: earth, air, fire, and water. How we see is key to making what we see. John Berger Ways of Seeing Penguin: 1990 is aimed at the layman and is by the artist, art critic, film maker and his book is a key text for the English speaking world on the nature and meaning of art.

Maurice de Sausmarez, & Kepes, G. Basic Design: The Dynamics of Visual Form McGraw-Hill: 1990 is an general introduction well illustrated in black and white and some colour. While Tom Porter, & Sue Goodman, Design Primer for architects, graphic designers and artists Butterworth- Heinemann: 1989 reinforces and amplifies an understanding of design. David Pye The Nature & Aesthetics of Design A & C: 2000 Black sees design as both an art and as problem solving, discusses clearly and articulately taste and style, and approaches such as utilitarianism and is a helpful and insightful read.

We recommend two books on colour, a recent introductory guide is Linda Holtzschue Understanding Colour John Wiley: 2002 which is a good and well illustrated primer while from a historical read the text by the Bauhaus teacher Johannes Itten The Elements of Color Van Nosrtrand: 1970 is a translation of his Kunst der Farbe: 1961. Finally we mention as a curious read Scott Olsen The Golden Section Wooden Books: 2009 which is a little book on the “mysteries” of numbers, harmony, geometry and cosmology, in case that takes you fancy. Sometimes with design it not how your arrive but the arrival which is important.

Environmental Design

The above books on design are aimed at designers and artists generally. More directly related to environmental design is Francis Ching Architecture, Form, Space and Order Wiley: 2007 which is a basic text for applied environmental design generously illustrated by his line drawings, Professor Ching is an architect and professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. It covers symmetry, hierarchy, lines, grids, and much else. For instance, grid organization is illustrated by two pages of generic types the five pages of specific projects which use grids. This is then supplemented later by coverage of the “Modulor” ideas of the French modernist architect, Le Corbusier, and also an exploration of the “ken” system used in Japanese domestic architecture.

Interesting books on ecology and natural process related to design include the architect Ken Yeang Designing with Nature: Ecological Basis for Architectural Design which is based on his Cambridge doctorate during which he spent time studying with landscape architect Ian McHarg. More recently Yeang Ecodesign: A Manual for Ecological Design is a project based illustrated manual and reveals recent influential architectural thinking. We equally look forward to his Ecomimicry: Ecological Design by imitating ecosystems Routledge: 2013.

Ian L. McHarg Design with Nature John Wiley: 1995 is a key work for landscape architects first published in 1969. It reveals his overlay process of mapping regional environmental factors, for instance, steep slopes, or floodable areas to be used in environmental planning. This process became the foundation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Anne W. Spirn The Granite Garden: urban nature and human design Basic Book: 1985 is another very influential text covering urban ecosystems. An equally imprtant Canadian book is Michael Hough City Form and Natural Process: 1989. More recent is Travis Beck Principles of Ecological Landscape Design Island Press: 2012 which deals with planting design based on plant geography and plant selection, assembling plant communities, competition and coexistence and discusses issues such as native and non native plants. Landscape architect and horticulturist Beck is project manager at New York Botanical Garden.

Drawing and sketchbooks

Chip Sullivan is a paragon of graphic representation in landscape design, so refer to his Drawing the Landscape John Wiley: 2004 while on-line is his Gonzo Gardens website http://gonzogardens.com/ where you can see an insight to his teaching at the University of Berkeley. A basic introduction to standard US style landscape presentation techniques is Thomas C. Wang Plan and Section Drawing John Wiley: 1996. Grant Reid’s Landscape Graphics Watson-Guptill: 2002 teaches techniques rather than relating drawing to design exploration. Francis F.D. King Drawing: A Creative Process John Wiley & Sons: 1989 is about design exploration. A rather different and particular recent English approach is Edward Hutchison Drawing for Landscape Architecture, Sketch to Screen to Site. Thames & Hudson : 2011. Here a practicing landscape architect reveals how drawing has driven his design work.

Gabriel Campanario The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing on Location Around the World Quarry Books: 2012 has 700 sketches by more than one hundred artists, which shows something of the range of effective sketching styles and possibilities. See also the associated Urban Sketchers blog http://www.urbansketchers.org / which promotes sketching made on location by one hundred invited artists (including one or two landscape architects, as well as urban designers, architects, and artists. Urban Sketchers is a no profit organization which began as a flickr group, but now organizes symposia and sketching workshops world-wide. Open access is the related flickr group, http://www.flickr.com/groups/urbansketches/ and their facebook page ishttps://www.facebook.com/urbansketchers . Finally a manual of sketching is Thomas C. Wang Pencil Sketching Wiley: 2001.

Manual drawing is important because it requires in situ observation, the process of drawing is a way of experiencing a place over time, and this is important for the student, and we are all lifelong students. Furthermore, digital representation can be so “real” that the built landscape design can be a disappointment for the client if the space is not filled with young smiling faces on a sunny days with glossy pristine finishes.

3-D modelling and video for landscape architecture

Landscape architecture is a spatial art form, so the three dimensions are vital. Theatre set designers and car designers make physical or “analogue” models as a matter of course to initiate design and test their concepts. Architects more and more rely on professional model making or digital model making, but this lacks the immediacy of “real” models. Nick Dunn Architecture Modelmaking Laurence King: 2010 is a good workmanlike guide. And a brief basic introduction to architecture model making tools from Chicago Architecture Today is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47lD_XQ5ID8 .

Video too can be useful particularly as a way of exploring and recording site. But then everyone can also do this on their mobile phone nowadays. Olivia Speranza Moviemaking with Your Camera Field Guide: The Essential Guide to Shooting Video with HDSLRs and Digital Cameras Ilex: 2012 is a good and cheap guide for those who want the higher quality of presentation quality movie making on a decent digital camera or video camera.

Photography for landscape architecture

Photography (and more recently film and television) has changed the way we see the world since the early nineteenth century. Ian Farrell A Complete Guide to Digital Photography Quercus: 2011 is useful. However, we also like Richard l’Arnson Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography Lonely Planet Publications: 2012. Both are cheap and worth buying. However, there are also free on-line resources: for instance, Photo.net is an on-line community established in 1993 which is still going strong, http://photo.net/ (accessed 26/1/2013) and includes various forums, reviews, and Digital Cameras – a simple beginner’s guide : 2003 by Bob Atkins which serves as a basic introduction.

Digital design for landscape architecture

Software changes so frequently that by definition any book will be out of date on the date it is published. However, a good general introduction remains Bradley Cantrell and Wes Michaels Digital Drawing for Landscape Architecture: Contemporary Techniques and Tools for Digital Representation in Site Design Wiley: 2010 which won the 2012 ASLA “Award of Excellence” and clearly written and easy to follow with over 500 good colour illustrations. It covers raster and vector images and Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat.

The industry standard for building and development is p.c. based Autocad (while graphic designers, publishing and advertising use Apple Macs) and a good free on-line introduction is pc digital design is David Watson’shttp://www.cadtutor.net/ which covers AutoCAD, 3ds Max and other applications such as Photoshop and Bryce. Over 400, 000 users per month in 2012 can’t be wrong. David Watson is a British landscape architect specializing in planning impact studies.

SketchUp is a popular piece of rendering and 3D programming and we recommend two guides, by Daniel Tal, his Google SketchUp for Site Design: A Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture Wiley: 2009 and his Rendering in SketchUp: From Modeling to Presentation for Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design Wiley: 2013.

A standard introduction is the rather dry Ian Bishop and Eckhart Lange Visualisation in Landscape and Environmental Planning: Technology & Environment Taylor & Francis: 2005. Martin Evening Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, a professional image editor’s guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintish and PC Focal Press: 2010, and the now dated Susan A. Kitchens & Victor Gavenda Real World Bryce 4 Peachpit Press: 2000 but still useful.

Modern architects need to understand how their designs might look when printed as well. Working with professional plan printing service providers can give students significant insight into how to better optimise their work for professional use cases. Academic literature is important for providing theoretical frameworks to develop intellectual perspective on creative choices surrounding architecture. Building up from that foundation by working with plan printing experts can create a better bridge between theory and practice.

BIM Building Information Modelling for landscape architects

Ray Crotty The Impact of Building Information Modelling: Transforming Construction: Routledge 2011 is a general introduction to the integrated three dimensional information handling software, which brings together 3D digital modeling, specification and quantities in one. BIM is the latest thing in construction information handling, Crotty spent ten years working on North Sea oil extraction management control. He also founded the UK chapter of Building Smart, the international, not for profit organisation supporting open access BIM, ref. http://www.buildingsmart.org/ .

Mapping, air photography, satellite imagery, GIS for landscape architects

Denis Cosgrove Mappings Reaktion Books: 1999 is an informative and provocative series of essays by a international range of experts, including the New York based landscape architect, James Corner who has also produced Taking Measures across the American Landscape: Yale University Press 2000 with photographer Alex S MacLean. This is a set of drawn interpretations aligned with air photographs of different North American landscapes and accompanied by essays explaining how the landscape patterns originate. Another well illustrated general guide is Roger Fawcett-Tang Mapping: An Illustrated Guide to Graphic Navigational Systems Rotovision: 2005 by a graphic designer.

Air photography dates back well over a hundred years (originally being balloon and airship based) and like mapping gives an overview of the world and is increasingly a valuable historical resource. The Professional Aerial Photographers Association ( PAPA) has a brief useful history and introduction on http://www.papainternational.org/ . Google map searches of course has the air photography option. But an comparable resource is to be found on the NASA websites, a general introduction is on http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ . NASA photography includes astronaut crew observations such as the night-time shot of Spain, and for a complete collection see http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov . Specialist NASA collections include the Cities Collection, Volcanoes and Glaciers and one of our favorites is the Terra satellite which monitors the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, land, snow and ice, and energy budget, ref. http://terra.nasa.gov/ . Of course NASA is American and other countries provide satellite photography, for instance the European Space Agency site ishttp://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth .

Report writing and graphics for landscape architecture

Robin Willams The Non Designer’s Design Book Peachpit Press: 2008 is what it says, and does introduce the reader to very basic concepts in graphic design. While Adrian Shaughnessy Graphic Design: A User’s Manual Lawrence King: 2009 offers a more professional view. The UK Design Council list basic introductions to graphic design on http://www.yourcreativefuture.org.uk/graphic_design/graphic10.htm# . It is worth also looking a good examples of graphic design, a classic site is Pentagram’s (it calls itself the world’s largest independent design consultancy) and this reflects European and North American practice:http://www.pentagram.com/work/#/all/all/newest/ .

Long term landscape management

Ann Marie Van Der Zanden Sustainable Landscape Management: Design, Construction, and Maintenance John Wiley: 2011 addresses the changes in landscape management which address sustainability concerns, for examples non pesticide weed control. A simple introduction to urban greenspace management plans is CABE Space A Guide to Producing Park and Green Space Management Plans: 2004 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/publications/producing-parks-and-green-space-management-plans . Alan Barber,A Guide to Management Plans for Parks and Open Spaces (Plus Supplement), Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management, 1991 is a classic work by the former Bristol Parks Director.

A more specialist area is the conservation and management of historic parks and for this the classic work is John Watkins and Thomas Wright The Management and Maintenance of Historic Parks, Gardens and Landscapes: The English Heritage Handbook Frances Lincoln: 2007.

Cultural landscapes is a term which covers the management approaches that English Heritage practices, a general introduction is on their website,http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/research/landscapes-and-areas/protected-landscapes/ . The US equivalent of English Heritage is the National Parks Service and a review of their websife will inform those interested in cultural landscapes (http://www.nps.gov/history/ .

Landscape architecture education websites

There are also a number of websites aimed at those considering landscape architecture as a career. Many who have made these sites will think about if they should host them on Wix or WordPress? The answer is individual, of course. Still, the American Society of Landscape Architects’ site is a first port of call.. It has an introduction to landscape architecture as a career,http://www.asla.org/CareerDiscovery.aspx and elsewhere there are thirty current project case studies on

http://www.asla.org/sustainablelandscapes/ links to a whole series of chatrooms and blogs with public access.

http://www.asla.org/design/ aims to promote landscape architecture generally

US schools of landscape architecture are listed onhttp://www.asla.org/Schools.aspx . There is also a list of landscape architecture schools on the website of the American based Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) website,http://www.thecela.org/school-list.php which also covers Canadian, Australian and New Zealand schools.

The (British) Landscape Institute’s web site

http://www.landscapeinstitute.org/ (accessed 1.12.2012) has an education section, http://www.landscapeinstitute.org/careers/index.php (accessed 1.12.2012) is also worth a visit, However, it also links to a specialised website,

http://www.iwanttobealandscapearchitect.com/ (accessed 1.12.2012) This includes interviews and talks by British Landscape Architects and hyperlinks to the Landscape Institute accredited landscape architecture schools.

In Holland the four Dutch landscape architecture schools and the professional body, the NVTL (Nederlandse Vereeniging voor Landschapsarchitectuur), has a good and lively site,http://www.dutchschooloflandscapearchitecture.nl/en/ (accessed 28.11.2012) in both Dutch and English language versions. Given the comparatively low fees in The Netherlands, English landguage students could well consider Dutch programmes, where the Masters programmes are taught in English.

International directories of landscape architecture schools

IFLA Europe has links to other national associations and lists their approved landscape architecture programmes on http://europe.iflaonline.org/ , but a much fuller listing of European schools is on the website of the European Council of Landscape Schools (ECLAS)http://www.eclas.org/ Elsewhere one has to identify landscape architecture schools by contacting the national professional association. A list of national associations world-wide is on the website of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA)http://www.iflaonline.org/ under Member Associations. There is also a list of landscape architecture schools on the IFLA website under the Education Drop Down Menu, but it is very incomplete.

Internships for landscape architects

In order to help find an internship or period of work experience consult the international guide edited by one of the author’s is available onhttp://europe.iflaonline.org/images/PDF/120715_landscape_internshipguide_rh.pdf.

Setting up your own Business and Marketing

A simple guide is http://www.architecture-student.com/professional-practice/things-to-do-before-setting-up-practice-in-architecture/ . While Walter Rogers, The Professional Practice of Landscape Architecture: A Complete Guide to Starting and Running Your Own Firm John Wiley & Sons :2010 is a more formal guide which covers establishment and Marketing.