Sarah Smith_A Framework for Theory Applicable to the Education of Landscape Architects (and Other Environmental Design Professionals)

When approaching a design solution one must have a strategy. With a strategy comes a framework of guidelines to follow, or a design method. These are not strict step by step instructions, but a broad listing of useful tactics. Some may argue that they are to be followed strictly, but as landscape architects we find that thorough attention to each guideline makes for better results. That is not to say we won't go back to an earlier stage of design; we may be on step 5, but need to go back to step 2 to solve a problem even further. This reminds me of something the head architect at Poverty Point said. He reviewed with us his slide show with the list of steps he was taking to develop Poverty Point, he then discussed how far along they were in the design process. He felt they were past Inventory and Analysis for the time being, but found that they have to jump back to those earlier stages often.