By Brett Allen
April is “World Landscape Architecture” month— time to celebrate and appreciate all that landscape architects do to improve their communities and quality of life.
Landscape Architects identify themselves as “stewards of the land,” who analyze, plan, manage, and nurture the built and natural environment. Planning and designing everything from Airports to Zoos—campuses, green walls, streetscapes, highways, hospitals, schools, commercial and industrial sites, trails, plazas, parks, homes, playgrounds, and more, with a significant impact on communities and their quality of life.
The first person to write of making a landscape was Joseph Addison in 1712. The term “landscape architecture” was invented by Gilbert Laing Meason in 1828, and John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843) was instrumental in the adoption of the term “landscape architecture” by the modern profession. He took up the term from Meason and gave it publicity in his Encyclopedias and in his 1840 book on the Landscape Gardening and Landscape Architecture of the Late Humphry Repton.
The practice of landscape architecture spread from the Old to the New World in the second half of the 1800s. The term “landscape architect” was used as a professional title by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., in the United States in 1863 and by Andrew Jackson Downing, another early-American landscape designer.
“Landscape architect” was firmly established after Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and Beatrix Jones (later Farrand) with others, founded the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 1899. (Frederic Law Olmsted, Sr. who co-designed with his senior partner Calvert Vaux, Central Park in New York City, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, and Cadwalader Park in Trenton, New Jersey, is known as the “Father of American Landscape Architecture.” )
Today, ASLA represents nearly 16,000 members with a mission to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship. ASLA has 48 chapters, representing all 50 states, and U.S. territories. Members live in 62 countries around the world.
ASLA-SD was founded in 1976 and the first president was Steve Halsey of Halsey Design Group and currently has 252 members and affiliate members.
According to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and National Endowment for the Arts, landscape architecture services contributed $2.7 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015. Total industry output was $5.3 billion and “real’ industry output, which is adjusted for inflation, was $6.68 billion. Some 26,000 landscape architects earned $2.4 billion. The economic value generated by landscape architects increased by 0.4 billion from 2012, or by 17%.
Some 24,700 employees work in the landscape architecture field in the U.S., according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2016; this is a growth of about 10% from 2014, the previous count. Approximately 18,660 landscape architects are licensed in the U.S., 3,750 in California. Licensure is required in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Landscape architecture has been identified as an above-average growth profession by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and was listed in U.S. News & World Report’s list of Best Jobs to Have in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
According to the 2019 Book of Lists, published by The San Diego Business Journal, there are 23 landscape architecture firms In San Diego. The oldest firm is Wimmer Yamada Caughey, established in 1954 by Harriett Wimmer and Joseph Yamada, and still in practice. The largest is OJB Landscape Architecture with a staff of 33 in their Solana Beach office, founded in 2003 by James Burnett. The second largest firm is KTUA Landscape Architecture and Planning with 30 employees, founded in 1970 by Frank Kawasaki and Michael Theilacker. The third largest is Schmidt Design Group with 28 on staff, founded by Glen Schmidt in 1983.
Residential design is the largest market sector. Most of that work consists of single-family homes, but also includes multi-family and retirement communities.
Brett Allen is the President of ASLA-SD and an associate of VDLA Landscape Architects in Solana Beach.
