Landscape architecture in Alaska: Design, collaboration, and foresight.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS - Interview

Landscape architecture isn't gardening. This seems to be a common misconception, in that many non-professionals connect landscaping with planting trees or flowers or installing a fire pit.

John Rowe, ASLA, is the senior landscape architect for Design Alaska. He explains, "Trees, shrubs, and grass happen to be a unique way in which landscape architects work with what we have, but there's so much more to it than the soft-scape."

Tamas Deak, ASLA, LEED AP BD+C, principal, landscape architect, and intern architect for KPB Architects, says, "One of the misconceptions about the profession is, just because it has 'landscape' in it doesn't mean that you are gardening, and just because it has 'architecture' in it doesn't necessarily mean that you are building, although you do both." Steve Callaghan PLA, ASLA, landscape architect for LCG Lantech, Inc., describes landscape architecture as "part civil engineering and part architecture." Peter Briggs, PLA, ASLA, FCSLA, principal landscape architect for Corvus Design, says, "Under state law, landscape architects' areas of practice include irrigation, planting, plans, play apparatus, outdoor structures, and grading and shaping of land, which we share with other disciplines like civil engineering. But [as] for being a licensed landscape architect versus a landscape designer, we are tasked with protecting public health, safety, and welfare in what we do." The Anchorage Museum's Director of Design Jonny Hayes, also a landscape architect, says, "One of the things that is least understood [about landscape architects] is the breadth of knowledge that we do have, and then all the different ways we can apply it."

Breadth of Knowledge

Callaghan says landscape architects must consider water issues, maintenance, security screening, land-use regulations, Title 21 requirements, and more. In particular, Title 21 requirements are a significant part of planning in Anchorage. "They have very specific criteria on commercial projects," he says, which include requirements for parking lots, snow storage, access, and landscaping on the property.

Callaghan says the nature of the business has an impact on landscape architecture. A building may be located in a commercial zone, but the land-use regulations affect the landscape architecture significantly. "If you're putting in a warehouse, you have different landscaping requirements than if you were doing an office, or a retail location, or putting in paid parking, or another...