Learning from Landscapes

12 Learning from Landscapes Landscape Architect Quarterly 08/ Round Table Learning to Play, Playing to Learn Features 14/ Places of Learning 18/ Pushing the Boundaries 20/ Showing and Telling Publication # 40026106 Winter 2010 Issue 12 Letters .12 03 Letter to the Editor President’s Message I just discovered Ground and I must say it’s a great addition to the Our two recent member surveys were highly successful, with an Canadian magazine landscape. As an outsider to the profession, astounding participation rate: approximately 44 percent of our I wasn’t aware how much landscape design has advanced from a 1,470 members responded. Council is using this data to assist with purely ornamental pursuit to one that is really at the forefront of so the creation of a new Strategic Plan. Council is listening to what many important issues in our lives: city design, water conservation you said and is acting on those issues. and recycling, playground and park use and safety, traffic (cars vs. bikes vs. pedestrians), and so many aspects of environmental As President, I have started to reach out to students at the stewardship. The magazine really fills the lay reader in on what’s University of Guelph and the University of Toronto; I have met with going on in this exciting and creative profession. I loved reading them to discuss membership in the OALA and to tell them what the extended dialogue among OALA members about how they we stand for. Our meetings focused on the L.A.R.E. process/exams chose the winners of the CSLA Regional Awards. And the big and were very informative sessions, with Aina Budrevics (OALA piece I read on irrigation solutions was fascinating: I’m going to go Coordinator) and members Rich McAvan and Stephanie Snow down and check out Sherbourne Park for myself after reading that. describing in detail the L.A.R.E. exams and the tutorial process. You could open this magazine up more to general readers like myself if you focused more space on individual properties and By now, you will see that the OALA is communicating more often solutions to various front and backyard problems, such as the through e-blasts and the OALA News. It is Council’s intention to vexed question of grass vs. stone paving. Before and after provide you with information of interest more often. I have had pictures are always great in this context. Congratulations on meetings with members in Ottawa through the Landscape a really interesting, important, and well-written magazine. Architecture Ottawa chapter. The membership is very strong in BRONWYN DRAINIE Ottawa and represents a vibrant, very social group. We are contin- EDITOR, LITERARY REVIEW OF CANADA (LRC) uing to promote the profession and meet with allied professionals. Our Continuing Education program will be strengthened in 2011 and you will see a range of excellent programs offered to the membership. Our Continuing Education Committee (C.E.C.) is working on delivering programs of excellence that you have told us you want. Council is reviewing and discussing the merits of mandatory continuing education. This is an issue we are examining carefully and we will report back to you in early 2011. Our annual conference and AGM, as requested, will be held in March 2011 in Toronto. The results of the AGM survey and the strategic planning survey will provide Council with the guidance required to strengthen the organization and move us forward. GLENN A. O’CONNOR, OALA [email protected] Up Front .12 04 01 01-03/ There are approximately 3.5 million trees in the City of Toronto’s parks and natural areas such as ravines. IMAGES/ City of Toronto 02 03 TREES with the USDA Forest Service and Spatial Up Front: counting the resource Analysis Laboratory at the University of Vermont to do sophisticated modeling and It’s difficult to manage something you know remote sensing, and the results of this data Information little about. When it comes to urban forests, collection are now available in a report often the most basic information is lacking. called Every Tree Counts. When cities set goals for increasing their on the tree canopy coverage—as Toronto has, According to Arthur Beauregard, manager for example, with a target of increasing in Urban Forestry at the City of Toronto, tree canopy cover from the current 17-20 “The study is fundamentally a tool so that Ground percent to between 30-40 percent over the we can manage this very valuable next fifty years—this baseline information resource. By understanding in detail what gap becomes more problematic. the asset is (age, species, location, etc.) and the attributes of different locations, In an effort to develop a “portrait” of we can plan to manage that asset in the Toronto’s urban forest, the City collaborated most efficient and effective way.” Up Front .12 05 06 04 Some of the key findings of the study 07 include: Toronto’s estimated 20 percent tree canopy coverage decreased slightly between 1999 and 2005; half a million trees 04/ Spring tree canopy were planted by the City and its partners IMAGE/ Rike Burkhardt 05-07/ Trees completely change the between 2004 and 2009; there are 119 streetscape, as seen here on Palmerston Boulevard in Toronto, different tree species in the City, though from 1908 to 1920. maple species account for approximately IMAGES/ City of Toronto one-third of the total leaf area of 08/ Soil volume is key to 05 the urban forest. street tree health. At least one statistic in the report will no IMAGE/ City of Toronto The data on tree locations will be useful doubt be used to bolster the argument in terms of setting the City’s planting that the urban forest is economically valu- priorities, according to Beauregard: able. According to the report, Toronto’s “We know with certainty now that 60 per- urban forest provides the equivalent of cent of all trees in the City are growing on more than 60 million dollars in ecological private property. We absolutely need services each year. Beauregard suggests to be working with all types of private that this information could be particularly landowners to get to our goal; we can’t useful to landscape architects: “Landscape just achieve it on public land.” Where architects may find it interesting to see trees are not can be as important as how Toronto’s tree canopy is valued where they are. For example, less than economically. They may be able to five percent of the trees in the City are use that with clients.” found in industrial areas. “This leads to TEXT BY LORRAINE JOHNSON, EDITOR OF GROUND. a question,” says Beauregard. “Can we get more trees in industrial areas, and how can we do that?” 08 Dare to Share .12 06 DARE TO SHARE In the spirit of learning from our From Morteza Behrooz, OALA: I worked with a team, and the drawing mark-ups had notes mistakes, Ground put out the call like “don’t show these lines” and “client doesn’t want this,” and for confessions and full disclosure the draftsperson had actually put them on the drawings! Lesson learned: Let no submission go without your final review. of mistakes made in the course From Real Eguchi, OALA: of work, so we could all benefit Setting fees for the design of landscapes has been a long “learning” from the painful lessons. Many process. Not specifying the maximum number of meetings in all phases of work were huge omissions that I quickly learned from. thanks to those who fearlessly Not excluding, or including, the many sub-consultants we are contributed responsible for was not quite so easily learned. Since all projects are different in their scope, the variety of subs needed seems to require a bit of forethought that I initially lacked. Then there are all the different municipalities and their varying requirements depending on the types of project and the phases of work. And as we all eventually learn, carefully documenting deliverables and reimburseables also seems crucial to survival. When I feel completely bewildered about setting a fee for a project, I often call a dear OALA colleague with much more experience. He often says, “it’s kind of a crapshoot.” I’m not sure if that means we both don’t know, or if we’re both chronic gamblers. From Vivien Lee, OALA: Early in my landscape architecture career I was given the respon- sibility of preparing a set of panels for a very important presentation to the client, the agencies, and local residents. The client’s name was on the bottom right corner in small letters on the boards. I had mis- takenly spelled the client’s name incorrectly, and no one caught the spelling error. I’ve learned to review everything with a fine-toothed comb and to always read what you type at least twice no matter how much of a rush you are in. Also early in my career, I had the opportunity to design a metal shade structure at the entrance seating area of a prestigious hospital in Ontario. During construction, the contractor requested specification for the paint colour of the structure. I recommended something I thought would be appropriate for the metal structure, cleared it with the principals of the firm and the architect. However, it did not occur to me that I should also confirm the colour with the client. During the painting process, the client notified us that they wanted something that would relate to the colour of their brand. This was a costly mis- take for the firm.

Load more