"The Future of Landscape Architecture" Panel

The panel discussion at the Landscape Architects' Expo in Long Beach, Calif. featured three prominent Southern California landscape architects (from left): Stephanie Landregan, Mia Lehrer and Lynn Capouya.

On Feb. 8, 2013, the Landscape Architects' Expo in Long Beach, Calif. presented a well-attended panel discussion on "The Future of Landscape Architecture." The three panelists, all landscape architects, were:

Lynn Capouya, who founded Lynn Capouya, Inc. – Landscape Architects of Irvine, Calif. in 1979.

Stephanie Landregan, PLA, FASLA LEED AP, president-elect of the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB), and director for the landscape architecture and horticulture/gardening programs at UCLA Extension.

Mia Lehrer, MLA, FASLA of Mia Lehrer + Associates, Los Angeles.

The panel agreed on the importance of "metrics" for what landscape architects do, such as the Landscape Architecture Foundation's Landscape Performance Series, an "online, interactive set of resources to show value and provide tools for designers, agencies and advocates to evaluate performance and make the case for sustainable landscape solutions" .

The panel observed that while people easily grasp "building performance," i.e., designing buildings for energy efficiency, few outside the landscape architecture profession fully appreciate "landscape performance," the landscape designs that make a site sustainable. The SITES initiative, of course, is also an important component to designing sustainable landscapes.

Mia Lehrer spoke about landscape architecture not as "a job," but a way of life. She applauded the job being done by the schools in teaching the next generation of landscape architects, but advised students to find their place, their own voice in which to contribute to the profession. She said landscape architects need to understand the "forces" at work in the boardrooms, and learn to "sell" what their training has to offer. She also stressed the importance of more landscape architects working in the private sector.

Stephanie Landregan said landscape architecture is becoming more technical; that this is the profession with the training for environmental design, yet she notes, there are no LAs on the California State Parks Commision. "We need a balanced agenda," she observed. "LAs need to be on these boards to apply our services." Stephanie did note landscape architects were consulted on the California water bill, AB 1881. AB 1881requires cities and counties to adopt and enforce the revised version of the State Department of Water Resources' Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance.

Lynn Capouya pointed to the importance of LAs signing off on visual assessment documents, so that when it comes time to do the landscaping on a project, there is money for the landscaping. Her firm, LCI, performed duties of "visual quality manager and consulting landscape architect" for the nearly $1 billion 405 Freeway widening project in Los Angeles. LCI developed the overall planting concept emphasizing the use of trees, as the primary design element, in conjunction with shrubs and ground covers.

Lynn advised students to become more proficient in their computer design skills.

During the comments and questions period, Barbara Deutsch, ASLA, executive director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation, thanked the panel for speaking to the importance of the metrics of the Landscape Performance Series, and reiterated the necessity for landscape architects to be quantify their landscape designs with scientific data: environmental, economic and social.