What sort of people are landscape architects?

People planning a career in landscape architecture should appreciate nature, enjoy working with their hands, and possess strong analytical skills. Creative vision and artistic talent are also desirable qualities. Good oral and written communication skills are essential. Landscape architects must be able to convey their ideas to other professionals and clients and to make presentations before large groups of people. Landscape architects must also be able to draft and design using CAD software. Knowledge of computer applications of all kinds, including word processing, desktop publishing, and spreadsheets is also important. Landscape architects use these tools to develop presentations, proposals, reports, and land impact studies for clients, colleagues, and superiors.

Many landscape architects are self-employed. Self-discipline, business acumen, and good marketing skills are important qualities for those who choose to open their own business. Even with these qualities, however, some may struggle while building a client base.

Landscape Architect’s Job

There are various places for people’s activities: parks, playgrounds, colleges, soccer fields, shopping centers, backyards. What do these places have in common? They all look better with good landscaping.

Landscape architects make outdoor places more beautiful and useful. They decide where to put flowers, trees, walkways, and other landscape details. They keep sports fields in good playing conditions. They work with architects, surveyors, and engineers to find the best place to put roads and buildings. They work with environmental scientists to find the best way to conserve or restore natural resources.

Landscape architects must first consider the reason for a project. They analyze the nature around the place where they are working. They see where sunlight falls at different times of the day and year. They think about the weather, the kind of soil, the water, and the plants that are at the work location.

Then, landscape architects draw what they want the landscape to look like. Most landscape architects draw their plans using computers and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems. Landscape architects also use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to say exactly where plants and other things should be.

Once the design is complete, landscape architects write reports. They also make sketches, models, and photographs to explain their ideas. Many architects use video simulation to help clients see what the land will look like when the plans are finished. They also need to estimate how much their ideas will cost. Then, they have to get clients to agree with their ideas.

Next, landscape architects draw up a list of needed materials. Then, they tell other workers how to do the planting and construction shown in the design.

Some landscape architects work on all kinds of projects. Others focus on one kind of outdoor place. For example, they might focus on backyards, on parks, or on the land around highways. More landscape architects work on projects to help the environment or to fix historic places.

Landscape architects spend a lot of time in offices. They also work outside to see the places they are designing and to watch the work being done. Landscape architects usually work regular hours. They may work longer sometimes to meet a deadline.

 

Reading & Writing

10. Read the text again and fill in the “marginal chart”:

√	+	-	?
I knew that	I didn’t know that …	The information about … contradicts my knowledge because …	The information about … isn’t enough or understandable for me, because …

Speaking & Listening

11. Pair work. Discuss the following questions:

1. What are the main stages of the landscape project?

2. What project stages do you find the most important?

3. How do landscape architects work on the project?

4. What difficulties do landscape architects face projecting?

Vocabulary Focus

12. Match the words from two columns to create a phrase and make sentences to use them in your own text entitled “My vision of the landscape architect’s job”. Share your ideas with the partner. (See appendix 1):  

a)

to make outdoor places	roads and buildings
to keep sports fields	falls at different times
to put	the nature around the place
to find the best way	in good playing conditions
to consider	using Computer-Aided Design
to analyze	more beautiful and useful
sunlight	to explain ideas
to draw plans	to conserve natural resources
to make sketches, models	the reason for a project

 

b)

to get clients	the planting and construction shown in the design
to draw up	regular hours
to do	with good landscaping
to meet	to agree with their ideas
to work	a list of needed materials
to look better	a deadline