Why Use A Landscape Architect?
Why Use A Landscape Architect?
Friday October 05, 07 09:56
By Mark Beyer, President, Arizona Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects
Why use a landscape architect?
Nestled within the surrounding mountains and wide-open pristine landscapes in metropolitan Phoenix, are new master planned communities and a home building industry that continues to grow. In the community building and design process, a number of professionals play essential roles — architects, engineers and landscape architects. Each makes a contribution to the process. Landscape architects provide an integrated approach to blend economics and sociology with environmental issues and forces landscape architects to create civic art.
Over the years, the Valley of the Sun has become a home to many well-designed master planned communities that result in a large amount of new home construction particularly in the East Valley and North Scottsdale. In the years to come, we will start seeing even more growth in the West Valley. With this new construction, a variety of new home products such as single-family homes, multi-family apartments and "soft" lofts also appear in the center of our cities such as Phoenix and Tempe. As such, there is a need and desire to preserve the unique character of Arizona and its desirable quality of life.
Collaborating with architects and engineers, landscape architects actively participate and lead the design efforts in the creation of master planned communities and the integration of new home construction, to ensure the preservation of our environment and quality of life. Trained in the art and science of creating and planning new communities, landscape architects are able to plan the entire arrangement of a site, including the location of buildings, homes, schools, neighborhood and district parks, recreational trails and golf courses.
Having a working knowledge of architecture, civil engineering and urban planning, landscape architects borrow knowledge from each of these fields to design aesthetic and practical relationships with the land. By understanding these practical relationships with the land, the landscape architect is able to add long-term value and reduce costs by providing well-managed design and development plans to the developer and homebuilder.
Why use a landscape architect? Landscape architects integrate a vast array of specialized areas ranging from grading and stormwater management, urban design and town planning to land development planning and recreational planning and design to shape the form of towns and cities.
Landscape architects’ involvement in designing a new community ranges from the master plan of the entire community to the residential landscape design. The reason builders, designers, remodelers and architects should utilize the services of a landscape architect is because a quality design adds value to both individual properties and the surrounding neighborhood.
The benefits that a landscape architect brings to each project are designing with plant materials that provide year-round color, designing comfortable and usable decorative site walls with water features as well as identifying and selecting various forms of pavement types for hardscape and pool edge treatments. The landscape architect preserves, and sometimes screens, surrounding views both inside and outside the home through careful placement of art and plant materials. They frame focal elements in the landscape to further accentuate the architecture of the home.
Landscape architects consider the exterior of the home as outdoor space. Backyards become outdoor rooms, acting as extensions of the indoor space. For instance, working in concert with an architect and interior designer, the landscape architect strengthens the design concept of an indoor family room space by understanding critical dimensions, ceiling heights and materials to continue the same "feel" outdoors. Similarly, these types of outdoor rooms can also occur in the front as well as the sides of the home. Depending on the home and its homebuyers wishes, the landscape architect is able to understand where and how best to create these spaces.
The value of creating "curb appeal" is also a mission of the landscape architect. Creating memorable front door experiences through the use of local stone or an arbor trellis supporting colorful flowering vines is yet another skill in the landscape architect’s "tool bag". By understanding the builder, designer and homebuyer’s intent, the landscape architect is able to provide the home with a sense of entry that would make any visitor feel welcomed.
Early involvement in planning and design is essential for success, typically during the initial project kick-off stages. The landscape architect will bring a specialized perspective to the project by identifying critical project costs for construction such as siting of the home, grading for required cut and fill, drainage, site furniture and irrigation.
Bringing a landscape architect into the project early also benefits the project by making sound decisions regarding the character of the natural site. Understanding the character of the site as it relates to drainage, soil characteristics
and solar orientation enables the builders to make quality decisions that may affect unforeseen and costly problems such as poor soil drainage leading to health, safety and welfare issues.
A good landscape architect has complete knowledge of the design and construction process. In addition to commanding the core technical skills of the profession such as understanding plant knowledge and technologies in paving systems, a good landscape architect is someone that balances and appreciates the value of the design process with an understanding of the client needs.
Finding a state registered and licensed landscape architect is an easy process. For more information about the profession of landscape architecture, visit the local AZASLA chapter website
at www.azasla.org. or contact the local Arizona State Board of Technical Registration to inquire about these licensed Landscape architects.
As the 320 members in the Arizona Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects (AZASLA) celebrate its 30th anniversary, landscape architects throughout our nation are also celebrating the 1st annual National Landscape Architecture Week, April 20–28, 2002. The purpose of this event is to celebrate the legacy of the Landscape architecture profession and the role of Landscape architects in creating the special places in which we live, work and play.
Marc Beyer, ASLA, LAIT
AZASLA Chapter President
Marc Beyer is a practicing landscape architect based in Design Workshop’s Tempe, Arizona office.
Founded in 1969, Design Workshop practices sustainable design and planning on sites ranging from urban infill and community development projects, to brownfield redevelopment and resorts. The firm has received more than 70 national awards for designing and planning. Design Workshop has 123 employees in nine offices in North America, including New Mexico and three offices in South America.