Professional Practice
Public Practice: Design
Public Practice Landscape Architecture: Design
Public practice landscape design strategy combines all aspects of design excellence with fiscal value, legal compliance, and socio-economic factors. The primary goal is to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the general public is fully incorporated in the plans. Principles of public practice design processes include:
- Directing the design vision for multifunctional spaces, site elements, and activities that encourage social interaction and promote safety and well-being
- Adhering to design policies and guidelines
- Designing to the level of maintenance capabilities
- Assuring the quality of material selections
- Preserving and repairing existing assets
- Ensuring physical accessibility
- Promoting the efficient use of tax dollars.
The public practice landscape architect role in design is unique and consists of the following components that influence the practice:
- Participation in the site and scope selection processes
- Application of historical knowledge of the infrastructure, maintenance, and uses and needs of the site.
- Incorporation of former preliminary studies and master plans for informed design
- Achievement of design continuity between projects that are within the same program or of similar typology
- Utilization of themes, materials and concepts from adjacent public projects
Image: courtesy of Amie Wojtech, ASLA
- Duality of roles as both the client and the designer or design manager
- As the client, the public practice landscape architect represents multiple entities such as taxpayers and stakeholder groups, and ensures public policy initiatives are incorporated in designs.
- As the design manager, the public practice landscape architect selects and directs the landscape architect consultant firms and reviews and approves all design submittals.
- Advocates for landscape architectural design components on interdisciplinary design projects.
- Produces seasonal displays in public spaces
- Creates standards and details to aid the construction management and maintenance teams, which may be adopted into codes and regulations.
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