Robert Holden and Tom Turner discus the Landscape Institute's aims and its achievements. Landscape Institute Members for 111 years (half each), they discuss the foundation of the Institute and what it does now. They intend a second video about what the LI and the landscape profession should plan to do in the future, as it approaches its 100th Anniversary in 2029. It was founded as the Institute of Landscape Architects with Thomas Mawson as its first president. There was a focus on garden design in the 1930s. When Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe became president this focus shifted to public projects, inc ..read more

Seven artists and landscape architects outline their views of environmental art and landscape architecture: Brodie McAllister, Andrew Stonyer, Catherine Dee, Ian Thompson, Trudi Entwhistle, Scott Farlow and Edward Hutchison. The debate was organised by LANDSCAPEmatters and held on 15th June 2021 (online). The debate is also available on Youtube https://youtu.be/O4e0bDtKqck  ..read more

Brodie McAllister gives an outline of land art, environmental art and their relationship to landscape architecture. The debate was organised by LANDSCAPEmatters and held on 15th June 2021. Brodie became the Landscape Institute’s President Elect a few days before the debate ..read more

"Environmental Art" can be seen to have originated in the early 20th century, with Picasso, collage, Duchamp, readymade artworks, Cubism and Minimalism.  Or it can be seen to derive from the ancient world, including the Pyramids, Stonehenge and many projects in the history of landscape architecture and garden design. Asking "what is the difference between Environmental Art and Landscape Architecture" this video sets the scene for a debate, using art projects by Charles Jencks (for Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) and Tom Turner (for a Sea and Sand Mandala) as debating points ..read more

Landscape architecture is a very good job and a very satisfying career. The work is creative, exciting and a great way to solve environmental problems and contribute to the mitigation of climate change.  See illustrated version of this podcast on YouTube. It was made for people thinking about a career in landscape architecture AND for professionals who would like to expand the scope and work of landscape architects. As an art, landscape design can be traced back 30,000 years. You work with nature, with local communities and with the other environmental design professions, including archit ..read more

The UK Landscape Institute election, in May 2021, is a good opportunity to think about the future of the landscape profession, the art of landscape architecture and the UK Landscape Foundation.  The LI dates from 1929 and the LF from 1992. Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe was right that both are needed. As well having a major role in shaping the LI, Jellicoe established the International Federation of Landscape Architects and the UK Landscape Foundation. In my view, the LI should concentrate on the administrative aspects of landscape architecture and the LF on the imaginative and  developmental ..read more

Landscape Institute (LI) Past President Merrick Denton-Thompson OBE looks to the future in a wide-ranging  debate with Past LI Vice President Brodie McAllister. They see many ways in which landscape architects contribute to the adaptation of project designs to mitigate the impact of global warming on climate change. Landscape architects' work can be more functional, more beautiful, higher valued, more exciting - and more fun.  In cities, the discussion includes green technology and post-Covid changes to living and work patterns. In the countryside it includes forestry, agriculture an ..read more

There's an illustrated version of this podcast on Youtube https://youtu.be/qdZIVBRGIec It takes an overview of how and why cities could, and surely will, come to have vegetated rooftops with a profusion of roof gardens. The text is from an online lecture by Tom Turner to the London Branch of the UK Landscape Institute LI on 16th February 2021 ..read more

Does the landscape profession need professional societies? Yes. Institutes, societies and similar bodies have a vital role: in promoting landscape architecture, in maintaining standards - and in raising standards.   This podcast is about the past, present and future of the Landscape Institute - and about the term ‘landscape architecture’. Though it’s focus is on the UK, I’m also thinking about the wider, and international, questions of WHY landscape architects NEED professional institutes and of WHAT their main objectives should be. There is an illustrated version of this podcast on YouTu ..read more

An illustrated version of this podcast is available on Youtube. A reasonable case exists for seeing John Claudius Loudon as Landscape Architecture's Giant. He lived from 1783-1843. More research is necessary but it is evident that: (1) Loudon  was nearer to polymath status than anyone else who has devoted their life to the profession (2) Loudon had a decisive influence on the adoption of the term 'landscape architect' by the profession (3) Loudon laid the ground for a science-and-art based profession specialising in public projects (rather than private gardens) (4) Loudon's 1822 and 1829 ..read more