Take a look around.
All around. Your school, workplace, house, bus stop.
It’s all been designed, and I’m not just talking about buildings and indoor areas.
I’m also talking about gardens.
So, if you love natural spaces and the outdoors
then hang around ‘coz I’m going to have a chat to a landscape designer.
Let’s say you want to build a playground. You go to the landscape designer and say…
“I want a big sandpit with a fort, underground bat cave and a slide.”
So the landscape designer compiles information about the site.
Such as ground soil, vegetation, the shape of the land and how people will move around.
Then they’ll sketch up drawings, site plans, reports,
then oversee the construction process.
Today I’m catching up with Tim Davies to see what it’s like being a landscape designer.
- Tim! - Jesse!
Mate, got a couple of questions about being a landscape designer. Heard you’re my guy.
- Sure. let’s go outside and have a chat. - Beauty!
So Jesse, what is it that you’d like to know?
Well, first up: Why did you choose to become a landscape designer?
I grew up on a station north of Carnarvon and I really just fell in love with the land.
And, I decided to do a horticultural apprenticeship up at Kings Park.
And, that really cemented my love of the landscape.
And so, when you’re on a project… Can you list from start to finish, what you do?
The most important thing is to have a conversation with our clients,
and really get to know them and understand how they’re gonna use the space.
And then what we do is we sort of go through putting together an initial plan together,
and a budget, and then a final plan and a lump sum fixed cost.
Typically that process will take a couple of months from the initial discussion
through a design phase and then starting the works and completing the works.
Cool. Now an easy one: What’s the best part of the job?
The best part of the job is going back and seeing the space
where they’ve really used it really well, the BBQ’s nice and dirty,
the paving’s all scuffed up, the lawn’s been a bit trashed, the kids are really using it,
footy in the corner, and they’re really using the space and they’re enjoying the space.
So that, for me, give’s me a real buzz.
Awesome. Now on the other hand, what’s the most challenging part?
I think the most challenging part is getting it right,
in listening to the clients and then delivering them something that really works for them.
So you’ve gotta sort of negotiate your way through understanding both the husband and wife’s wishes,
understanding how the family dynamics work, and then delivering the end product.
But, that’s also the most rewarding part when you get it right and everything looks fabulous,
the clients are really happy, and they really use and enjoy the space.
We’ve come along way from just pencils and rulers, what kind of software and equipment do you use?
We use AutoCAD and SketchUp.
We can do a fly through of the projects, we can 3D the whole project up.
That’s really awesome to be able to refine the design
and just give it a tweak and get it as good as we possibly can,
and an awesome tool to communicate the vision through to the clients.
- Alright, well before I let you go, how about we do The Edge? - Awesome.
OK so, what characteristics does someone need to be a landscape designer?
OK. They need to be spatially aware. They need to be passionate about what they do.
They’ve gotta be a great listener and a great communicator.
And, they need to be able to be very good at design and drafting,
- so creativity comes into it as well. - Cool. And if you can list from school to today,
What steps do you need to take to get to where you are?
You need to do a horticultural… some kind of horticultural apprenticeship
or a horticultural training. So there’s certificates of horticulture,
and diplomas in horticulture, and also in design as well,
that can be done through TAFE.
And then a really big part of what we do as a landscape designer
is AutoCAD drawings and SketchUp drawings so you’ve gotta be really competent.
And last one: If you could give one piece of advice to someone thinking about being a landscape designer,
- what would that be? - If you’re passionate about it, go for it.
- Beauty! Awesome thanks Tim. - Yeah great Jesse.
I know you’re busy, I’ll let you get back to your pencils and your rulers.
Excellent, I’ll be pencilling away.
Well, there you have it. If you’re an artistic person with a bit of creativity,
then maybe landscape designer is the career for you.