gabions get hip

The humble gabion is having its day. Gabions are wire or steel cages filled with rip-rap or other stone. Long an engineering standard as cheap, reliable retaining walls, as of late they've been commonly used to stabilize highway embankments and other industrial landscapes. Suddenly hip, they are popping up in contemporary residential landscapes, and in the hands of designers they are quite lovely. 

entry walls

gabion terraces

Hill House

Check out my Walls Pinterest board for more ideas.
                                                                    

modern beach

The Stinson Beach House by Blasen Landscape Architecture is a lovely example of a contemporary landscape that balances clean, simple lines with softness and warmth. I love the rich materiality of the built features juxtaposed with the soft texture and movement of the grasses. Although this project takes place in the California landscape, this style would transfer quite nicely to coastal Nova Scotia.

the mid-winter reflections of a landscape architect...

Lately I've been thinking about how this blog reflects my state of mind, my pursuits and my current areas of interest. I've considered how it's evolved over time, sometimes with a focus on design in general, sometimes with a more urban agriculture focus and recently, perhaps, with more of a focus on landscape architecture.  

I've always had a voracious appetite for learning and new things and I'm sure that is being reflected here. Sometimes I feel like I need to reign it all in and focus on one thing at a time, but that's really just not me. I'm a generalist and I think that's a really nice quality for a landscape architect. I once heard someone say that engineers need to know a lot about a few specific things and landscape architects need to know a bit about everything, which is probably why we are such great project managers.

I have finally come to accept that my range of interests - art, gardening, dance, herbal medicine, agriculture, fashion, food, travel and on and on -  inform my process and designs and contribute to my wholeness as a designer. It's about time I embraced that!

ps. This photo makes me so very happy. I'm dreaming of a peaceful home studio with such beautiful light...

integrated landscapes

This Australian residence by CplusC architectural workshop illustrates a seamless transition between interior and exterior space. I really appreciate how the pergola is incorporated into the structure of the house; the steal beam runs between interior and exterior structures. So often landscape is an afterthought to the architecture, is a divergent style or not at all considered and in all of these cases looks the part. It's nice to envision a world where design professionals - architects, landscape architects - work together throughout a project to create a cohesive design.

{via desire to inspire}