LAR 1144: Intro to Landscape Architecture

1
LAR 1144 Intro to Landscape Architecture

• Jason Hranek
• Fall 2008

2
Dulles Airport
3
Place an image of yourself here
Dear Class, My hometown of Ashburn, VA is a
large interconnected system of highways, major
roadways and housing developments. All elements
work together towards one goal House those
working in Washington D.C. and get them to work.
Houses, pavement and concrete dominate
greenery. Trees and grass are kept like animals
in a zoo, carefully contained and trimmed for the
amusement of residents of the area. The area is
the embodiment of Progress, Modernism and
Expansion. Every open field, forest or empty lot
has some sort of construction in it or plans for
future construction. Most of it is slotted for
houses or support infrastructure for houses.
Dollars signs and potential property value seem
to be the currency of the area. Developers are
always looking for a way to turn an open field
into tidy profits with new homes or shopping
centers. Even the residents join in by building
the largest house they can on the land they buy.
The most interesting thing about the area is that
most of it wasnt there ten years ago.
Everything is new and for the most part clean.
The most useful lenses Meining gives us to
describe my hometown would be Landscape as
Wealth, Landscape as a System, Landscape as
ideology and Landscape as Artifact. Landscape
as wealth is probably the most pertinent as the
whole area is built around property value, which
drives further development. Landscape as
ideology would be next as the area is the poster
child for Progress and Expansion (Loudoun County
is the 4th fastest growing county in the Nation).
Landscape as a system would be next as the area
is one big system to support the growing
population of the area. Landscape as Artifact is
also fairly pertinent as all green space and
nature is being shoved aside to make room for
more houses or highways. Meinings article didnt
really help me see landscape in a new way so much
as it helped me describe the way I saw it
already. I now have a label for the way I look
at the world.

• TO
• LAR 1144 Class
• Fall 2007
• Module 1
• Virginia Tech
• Blacksburg VA 24061

Sincerely, Jason Hranek
4
front image(s) here
5

Dear Mr. Olmsted, As requested, I have
completed my survey of the Greensward plan in the
distant future. I have come across some rather
interesting results. The park has undergone a few
significant changes from our original plans.
Horses are no longer the primary means of
transportation in New York City and thusly there
are no longer many riding trails in the park.
There are still a few horse-drawn carriages, but
they are mainly used as a tourist attraction or
for couples to court one another. There are three
major roads running through the park to connect
the city on either side. These are not the roads
we are accustomed to, but paved contrivances with
a hard black surface called asphalt. This is the
same substance that the walking trails, which
cover most of the park in a spider web-like
network, are composed of. These roads and
pathways are usually choked with horseless
carriages called automobiles and people enjoying
the park. Some thought should be put towards
leaving the area around these pathways open and
readily expandable. The upper reservoir has been
replaced by a great lawn. The culture is more
inclined towards open green spaces than large
bodies of water. The meadows and flat green
spaces are the most often used part of the park.
New Yorkers and tourist alike travel to the park
to enjoy the natural green beauty and wide open
spaces. The people have embraced a very
naturalistic culture. They prefer a more natural
path winding around the trees and over stone
bridges that appear as though Nature herself had
constructed them. We should inform Mr. Vaux that
his bridges are still quite popular with many
artists rendering them and photographing them,
however he should build some that do not appear
to have been touched by the hand of man. We
should also request that he create some pathways
through forested areas for nature walks. The
world has also become a more dangerous place and
an additional feeling of security is necessary to
the usefulness of the park, especially at night.
We should plan for lighting along all pathways,
such that there is no hint of darkness. Electric
light proves to be the most useful, so running
power along each pathway and at all entrances to
the park would help give the park a sense of
peace at night.

• TO
• Mr. Frederick Olmsted
• Central Park c. 1858
• Module 2
• New York NY 12345

Respectfully, Jason Hranek
6
(START) Identify Need ? Analyze Alternatives
? Feasibility Study ? Collect Data ? Proposal
? Site Selection ? Final Proposal ? Site
Analysis ? Develop Detailed Specifications
? Implementation (FINISH)
7
Place image here
Dear Class, I recently had opportunity to
use my design process to better the apartment
community for which I work. As a large pet
friendly community, they were critically lacking
an amenity that dogs love a dog park. Having
two dogs myself and coming from Northern
Virginia, where dog parks are ubiquitous, I
became aware of a need and an opportunity to add
value to the community. I immediately set to
work on my design process. The first step was
done Identifying a Need. So was step 2
Analyzing Alternatives. No other amenity means
quite as much to dogs and their owners as a place
for them to play off leash with other dogs. So it
was on to step 3 the Feasibility Study. I
approached the manager of the community around
Budget time and asked her opinion on adding a dog
park, which she approved of. Step 4, Collecting
and Preparing Data was next. I visited other dog
parks and got a general idea of size and features
that make them popular. With that information I
moved on to step 5 Proposal. I brought all the
data to my manager and her boss, my regional
manager. They liked the idea and budgeted for
the expense. That done it was on to Site
Selection, Step 6. Since we wanted to keep costs
down, I decided to replace the old playground and
expand the fenced in area. Next came step 7
Site analysis. I measured the height of the
current fencing and determined in which direction
we should expand it. For step 8 Develop
Detailed Specifications, I referred back to my
data I collected in step 4. Based on my previous
studies I determined the proper height to be 48
and a good area to be 30 yards long x 10 yards
wide. Finally, step 9 Implementation took
place. We built the dog park and it continues to
be a popular amenity among current residents and
a good leasing tool with prospective residents. I
would describe my design process as a linear one
more like LaGros. I went about designing my dog
park following a more scientific process without
much iteration. I believe I could use this
process on other projects with slight
modification.

• TO
• LAR 1144 Class
• Fall 2007
• Module 4
• Virginia Tech
• Blacksburg VA 24061

Sincerely, Jason Hranek
8
Where Is The Green Space?
front image(s) here
9
Dear Neighbor, Over the past few months it has
come to our attention that the Town of Blacksburg
is critically lacking a vital tool of
DemocracyOpen, free to use public space. The
Equitable Greenspace Movement, of which I am a
representative, would like to take action to
correct this oversight by the town council.
However, we will need the support and voice of
our Neighbors. Blacksburg needs an open,
accessible green space with walking trails and
fields for public gatherings. We should not have
to shut down College Avenue to have an open air,
outdoor concert. We should not have to drive on
Route 460 to enjoy a wooded trail. We should not
have to wander onto the Virginia Tech Campus and
be looked upon as outsiders to enjoy an open
field. While Pandapas Pond and the
Huckleberry Trail are free to use and open to the
public, they are inadequate to serve the needs of
a growing Blacksburg population. Pandapas Pond
would be perfect, were it accessible by public
transportation or by foot. The Huckleberry Trail
may be accessible and wooded in areas, it is more
useful for those without a car to access the New
River Valley Mall. Therefore, with your
help, we would like to develop a public park
right here in Blacksburg. Such a park would be
wooded with walking trails and biking trails,
should have a dog park for our four-legged
brethren and be right on the Blacksburg Transit
bus line. A large open-air stage for concerts
and community gatherings should be provided with
ample lawn space for a large crowd. This is
where our neighbors in Blacksburg would come in.
We need help raising money for and proposing such
a park to the town council. The more voices we
add, the more likely we are to be heard. We will
begin to petition the town council members and
raise funds for the new park immediately.
Please attend our rally in the parking lot of
town hall on Monday December 15th, 2008 at 430pm
to raise awareness and begin the petitioning
process. With your help, Blacksburg could set
the standard for others to follow.

• TO
• Resident
• Fall 2007
• Module 7
• Blacksburg, Va

Sincerely, Jason Hranek
10

• To
• Virginia Tech Student
• Virginia Tech Campus
• Blacksburg, Va 24060

• Dear Prospective student,
• This course was interesting for me as a
  Residential Property Management major because it
  helped me think artistically not just spatially
  about landscape. This is useful for my career
  for many reasons, not the least of which being
  that curb appeal affects the value of the
  properties on which I will be working.
• This course taught me that landscape is art and
  that Landscape Architects are artists, not merely
  gardeners with an extra skill. It takes a lot of
  work and planning to pull off a good, usable and
  aesthetically pleasing landscape design. I have
  learned that more goes into rather than just put
  this planter here and this bench next to it.
• As a Residential Property Management major Ive
  learned a lot about making a property seem like a
  home to a prospective resident, but nothing
  really about how the elements outside of the
  apartment play into that. One of the basic
  formulas of my major is that curb appeal value
  added to the property. This course takes it a
  step further and shows you how to actually make
  the curb appeal appealing.
• Aside from how it pertained to my career, the
  history and the readings were quite valuable.
  From studies on how the layout of seating affects
  its use to the first major Landscape Architecture
  project Central Park, the reading contained
  ideas that seemed obvious after you heard them,
  but I had never thought of. It never occurred to
  me that in a public space, the number of benches,
  how wide they are and their location to each
  other makes all the difference in whether or not
  it will be popular.
• The most interesting fact I learned was about the
  impact of having chairs that could be moved. It
  turns out that locking up chairs at night or
  permanently affixing them to the ground makes a
  space much less attractive to people.
• Although my favorite module was about the history
  of Central Park. I never thought so much
  planning went into it and how much uproar there
  was over its placement. Between moving small
  farmers and low income homes off the site to
  draining a swamp to make a park, it was an
  interesting story and one that continues today.