Documentation requirements include those components necessary to explore and define design analysis, intent, logic, physical proposals and, ultimately, the specific components included within construction and bid documents. That includes both “design documentation” and “construction documentation,” as well as all of the activities that occur in the transition from one realm to the other. Purpose of the Book: As a reference book, the publication focuses on the key documentation needs of the landscape architectural design and construction documentation process. Today’s practice demands that practitioners understand and apply relationships between the landscape architectural design process, documentation practices and associated graphic requirements. Landscape construction and documentation courses are often faced with apprehension by students and only loosely connected to processes taught in design studios. So far, six universities have used the material as a teaching tool and peer reviewed the document.
The publication is innovative in its strategic inception and role in both academic and professional venues. The book is intended to be used as a teaching and industry resource, in an effort to elevate and standardize best practices, and consequently enhance the influence of our profession. Landscape Architecture Documentation Standards: Principles, Guidelines, and Best Practices is award-worthy because it fills this void as a comprehensive resource and provides explicit depiction of the entire design and documentation process. However, there are a very limited number of resources that focus strictly on documentation practices for landscape architecture. Across the industry, a wide ranging literature base highlights the breadth of the profession, including publications that address design process, landscape architectural graphics, construction technologies, and specialized topics such as grading and planting design. Documentation refers to those drawings, images, models and narrative elements produced and organized sequentially to convey design intent and construction requirements. This publication is intended to focus on the all-encompassing role of documentation in landscape architectural design and construction processes. Strong theoretical ideas can result in exceptional built outcomes only if these ideas can be effectively translated into well-executed construction documents. The profession must be committed to continually improving the processes by which it designs, documents and constructs landscapes. This publication provides an important tool in improving the quality of built work, thereby elevating the stature of our profession. It has been field-tested in landscape architecture offices on a variety of national and international projects for over a decade, used as part of course materials at universities, and focuses not just on technical aspects of documentation but also on how documentation relates to the design process. This book is the first comprehensive publication of its kind in the profession. This publication explicitly strengthens the relationships between design, documentation and built outcomes, and bridges the training gap between academia and the profession. In order to respond to these challenges, theory and practice must be well integrated, suggesting a critical need for effective translational relationships between theory and implementation.
Landscape architecture is well positioned to address the most fundamental challenges faced by communities, cities and nations.