Month: November 2024

ASLA 2024 Conference on Landscape Architecture Recordings

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An education session at the ASLA 2024 Conference on Landscape Architecture in Washington, D.C. / image: nobilephoto

During the ASLA 2024 Conference on Landscape Architecture, 6,500 participants came together to learn, connect, share knowledge, gain inspiration, and bring value to their practice. This landmark event celebrated the 125-year legacy of the American Society of Landscape Architects while setting sights on the future of the ever-evolving field of landscape architecture.

If you missed the conference, 50+ education session recordings are available online so you can experience ASLA 2024’s informative sessions and engaging discussions led by experts and innovators on topics from equity in climate action to collaboration with AI to construction administration. Visit the ASLA Online Learning library to gain insights into pressing challenges and emerging possibilities, charting the course for a more resilient and equitable world. (And if looking at all these amazing sessions has you feeling inspired, the call for presentations for ASLA 2025 opens in early January!)

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Exclusive offer for ASLA Members: bundle and save! Purchase four or more conference recordings and enjoy a 25% discount on your total order.

Listed below are the 2024 conference education sessions added to the ASLA Online Learning library. Besides the general session and LARE Prep workshops, all conference recordings offer Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System™ (LA CES™)-approved professional development (LA CES PDH); five recordings also offer SITES-specific continuing education hours to maintain the SITES Accredited Professional (SITES AP) credential (GBCI SITES-Specific CE).

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PPN Zoom Book Club: The Nature of Inclusive Play

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by Katherine Lewis Mitchell, ASLA, PLA, CPSI

image: Chad Kennedy

The ASLA Children’s Outdoor Environments Professional Practice Network (PPN) is pleased to share a summary of the PPN’s sixth Zoom Book Club. Hosted on September 26, 2024, attendees were treated to not one, but two amazing authors who co-wrote The Nature of Inclusive Play: A Guide for Designers, Educators and Therapists, published in 2023 by Routledge. This guide is written to promote equitable play for all children, offering readers a comprehensive foundation in the vital role of play for mental and physical development. It explores how to create fair and inclusive play opportunities, ensuring every child has access to meaningful play experiences. Through nine detailed case studies, readers gain insight into real-world examples and practical strategies for designing outdoor spaces that prioritize inclusivity and accessibility for all.

Co-author Amy Wagenfeld, Affil. ASLA, PhD, OTR/L, SCEM, CAPS, EDAC, FAOTA, is an accomplished occupational therapist, educator, researcher, and author. She has great design perspective, as she regularly provides therapeutic and universal design consultation on an international level through her organization, Amy Wagenfeld | Design. Amy has won many awards and is recognized for her contributions not only to occupational therapy but also the landscape architecture industry.

Chad Kennedy, ASLA, PLA, CPSI, is an award-winning landscape architect at Westwood where he serves as a director and mentor. Chad previously worked with the Center for Persons with Disabilities where he built a strong foundation and understanding about what inclusivity really means. He demonstrates this daily through the work he guides both in healthcare and recreational design that are shining examples of the principles discussed in The Nature of Inclusive Play. Chad has also written many articles and presents regularly on the topic of socially inclusive and sensory integrated spaces. His work extends as far as Uganda, where one of the case studies highlights a standout example of creating an outdoor play environment that is both fair and equitable, serving the diverse needs of all its users.

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Recreation to the Max

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by Paul Reed, CID

images: City of Brighton and Kimley-Horn

Welcome to Brighton, CO, a medium-sized city in the Denver Metro. With a rich history that dates to 1887, Brighton is growing because it offers all the amenities that young families could ask for. Parks, recreation, and open space trails routinely get the most support from the community, and to keep up with growth, Brighton is tasked with expanding their recreational offerings, which means providing multi-use sports fields wherever they can fit one. This also means the City’s annual water use is on the rise. While the benefits of natural grass are well known, there are several advantages to artificial turf—advantages that tipped the scale in its favor when the City renovated Water Tower Park.

Originally built in 2009, the land was given to the City as a part of the parks and open space dedication for the adjacent development. Water Tower Park was converted from natural grass to artificial turf in late-2023 with the goal of providing the City’s residents with multiple benefits such as:

Increased programming opportunities – Natural grass on the Front Range of Colorado can offer 7-8 months of programming. Water Tower Park’s new artificial turf fields will now support the community’s recreational needs all year long. The increased programming allows for a wider range of activities, tournaments, community gatherings, and other outdoor events, fostering community engagement and active lifestyles.

Long-term water savings – The City was using an average of 2.7 million gallons of water each year on the park’s fields. By converting 4.2 acres of grass, the City is expecting to save an estimated 1.85 million gallons per year. Colorado’s semi-arid climate presents a constant challenge in managing water resources effectively. By replacing natural grass fields with artificial turf, Western-US communities can conserve water resources and reduce their dependence on dwindling water supplies.

More reliable playing surface – With hot summers and cold winters, Colorado’s climate poses additional challenges for maintaining natural grass fields. The extreme temperature fluctuations, combined with heavy usage, can lead to rapid wear and tear. Artificial turf, designed to withstand such conditions, offers increased durability and longevity. This durability translates into reduced maintenance costs and longer-lasting fields that can support the intensifying needs of the surrounding community.

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Voices of Women in Landscape Architecture, Part 13

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Left to right: Jessica Jacobs, Affiliate ASLA, Salonee Chadha, Associate ASLA, and Katie Summers, ASLA

ASLA’s Women in Landscape Architecture Professional Practice Network (WILA PPN) is sharing the next set of profiles of women in the profession (see the previous installment right here). If you’d like to be featured, the PPN’s call for submissions will remain open, with profiles being shared on an ongoing basis.

Submit a WILA profile!

These profiles will appear on the PPN’s LinkedIn group, Facebook group, and here on The Field. This post includes Jessica Jacobs, Affiliate ASLA, Salonee Chadha, Associate ASLA, and Katie Summers, ASLA.

Jessica Jacobs, Affiliate ASLA

What inspired you to pursue a career in landscape architecture?

I think it was more of a series of life chances and opportunities that I found landscape architecture and really developed a deep passion for creating places and spaces for people. During a downturn in the economy around 2010 as a young urban designer, I was able to pivot and utilize my understanding of scale and sense of place to help the landscape studio at my prior company. It wasn’t until I was immersed in this profession that I found so much joy in our craft and understood the impact of our creations.

Who are the female role models who have influenced your career?

My mother immigrated to Ohio in the 80s. After meeting my father, getting married, and having me, she continued to both work, maintain our household, and shuttle me to literally every extra-curricular activity known under the sun. She has ingrained in me a sense of dedication and grit; her and my father were able to set roots in another country and provide me with everything I could have ever asked for and more. Even to this day, I recognize that their contribution and sacrifice for me has allowed me to be successful as both a designer and a mother.

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Reimagining the West Bund

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by Lee Parks, International ASLA

Ethan Zhang introduces the Greenline Project in Melbourne / image: courtesy of Lee Parks

In 2021, the Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) School of Design launched a professional, international master’s program in landscape architecture (MLA), creating practice-oriented academic positions and emphasizing design studio teaching and talent development.

“Landscape Planning and Design in Metropolitan Areas” is the core course of the MLA program, led by Wang Ling, the head of the Landscape Architecture Department at SJTU’s School of Design. It is also one of the “Jiao Tong Global Virtual Classrooms” at SJTU, a new model of international cooperation in blending online and offline teaching and working together with partner universities to fully realize cross-regional and cross-cultural exchange. Through collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia, they launched an international joint design studio in 2023.

2023 – The Greenline

The 2023 joint international studio enabled SJTU students to work together with RMIT for an intense four-day collaboration. With four months to plan, and hosted over four days, four teams competed on one of the most significant landscape projects ever undertaken in Australia: the City of Melbourne’s Greenline Project on the north bank of the Yarra River, creating four visions for the key zones of the project. A critical cultural preparation prior to commencing the studio was led by Lee Parks, Teaching Fellow at Shanghai Jiaotong University, to prepare Chinese students to understand the importance of embedding Reconciliation and Indigenous content into their work through acknowledgement of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

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Text Prompting, Part 3: A Deep Dive into Advanced Parameters in Midjourney

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by Qing Lana Luo, PLA, ASLA, Afshin Ashari, OALA, Radu Dicher, ASLA, LFA, Phillip Fernberg, ASLA, Benjamin George, ASLA, Tony Kostreski, PLA, ASLA, Matt Perotto, ASLA, and Lauren Schmidt, PLA, ASLA

Images generated by Midjourney / images: courtesy of Afshin Ashari

In the previous article of this series, we covered how to use common parameters. In this article, we will focus on advanced parameters.

Personalization

Adding –p or –personalize at the end of a prompt creates personalized images based on the data from your image rankings and likes on the Midjourney website. Go to www.midjourney.com/rank to craft your personalized style; as more images are ranked and liked, your style evolves.

Using –p automatically adds your current personalization code in the prompt. To find older codes, the /list_personalize_codes command in Discord will show the recent codes at the top. To switch to an older code or another user’s style, add their code with the –p parameter (–p code).

Other users’ codes may be found by exploring their images in the Midjourney feed. It is also possible to combine multiple codes in a single prompt (e.g., –p code1 code2). See Figure 1 below.

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