Design Readiness for Landscape Architects : Drawing Exercises that Generate Ideas

Demands on landscape architecture students’ time are many and varied – when is there a chance to just sketch, and is it worth dedicating your time to the pursuit of drawing? This book shows how in short bursts you can build up your design skills using quick, relaxed sketches, which form the basis for full projects and studio work.

This book will provide you with your own image library – sources of inspiration, guidance, and short-cuts to future designs. A variety of paths leading to design discovery, based upon experimental sketching methods, are discussed, demonstrated, and then put into action with valuable exercises. These exercises focus your sketching, giving hints and tips on what to look for, how to capture the essence of the object or location, and how to become a natural in the art of speedy visual communication. Real-life examples of the author’s built-works as a landscape architect show how professionals use these techniques in their own design creations.

Design Readiness for Landscape Architects presents enjoyable and thought-stirring essays and drawing-based exercises to help students grow more facile and agile in their service as architects of the land, whether using tablets, paints, or pens and pencils.

Les H. Smith is a licensed landscape architect and served as a faculty member in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Ball State University for thirty-five years (1982 - 2017). His educational background includes fine arts, performance arts, natural and social sciences, and landscape architecture. He maintains an active professional practice with a specialty in equestrian facility planning and design. Les has been recognized for his energetic and enthusiastic teaching methods. As the instructor of design-build courses, Les guides students through the design, engineering, and construction of community service projects. As a designer and teacher, he employs a distinctive design process, utilizing experimental drawing techniques to discover innovative design results.