A Facefull of Facebook

Status update: Facebook is Awesome

Facebook is not becoming a great tool for marketing, networking and socialising and it is certainly not becoming a tool for making money, Facebook is not becoming any of these things, because Facebook “IS” all these things. I know it, you know it and pretty much anybody who isn’t oblivious to what’s going on in modern day society knows it.  Will it last much longer, I’m guessing at least five more years, possibly more, but with a world full of creative, ambitious and hard working people it’s inevitable that something new, different and exciting will take it’s place. What? I have no idea, when? Like I said I reckon about five years more before people jump onto the next big idea. But for now we’ve got Facebook and it’s cool, fast and affordable, did I say affordable I meant to say practically “FREE”. Get yourself an internet connection and just like magic your connected to the world’s largest social network in the history of the world. It’s filled with a diverse range of people with an equally diverse range of interests.

So you have three choices:

1: Ignore this truly awesome wave of potential

2: Use it at your leisure

3: Grab your surf board, put on your wet suit and ride the crest of one of the most incredible waves we will ever witness in our lifetime, enjoy it, love it and reap the rewards.

Like all waves no matter how spectacular, they all come to an end to allow for other waves to come behind it, that’s the nature of the beast. So don’t worry about the wave crashing, just enjoy the fact that it’s here and is ready for you, in fact it’s inviting you, screaming at you, calling for you and wondering what the hell is taking you so long. So be a Facebook snob or be a Facebook genius, it’s up to you.

So why am I typing this blog, oh yeah I’m going to tell you how to do it and give you a link to an incredible guy who will blow your mind with his ingenious ideas of how to capitalise on Facebook.

Like everything I teach to friends or family I break it down into steps, so why should this be any different, so here’s your “Seven Steps for Facebook Success”.

Step 1

Choose for views

 Pick something that motivates you, something you’re interested in, for example I’m a Landscape Architect so surprise, surprise I set up a Facebook fan page called “Landscape Architects” and you can click onto the page from the badge at the side of this page. I set it up to promote awareness of the industry, to keep me enthused about the profession and encourage me to stay up to date with all the latest activity in the world of landscape architecture. I have big plans for this page and well I won’t go on but watch this space!

Step 2

“My Mom says I’m great”

Invite every one of your friends and family to join the page, initially your page will be full of people who want to support you and not people there because they want to support the actual topic of the page. Ultimately you want people who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer but at the beginning it is great to start off with whatever people you can get.

What this does is it breaks the ice, it shows that your page is generating numbers and that whoever joins won’t be alone on your page, which is a little embarrassing as I started a page which completely flopped, it was called KITY and was aimed at helping people to find resources for learning languages on the internet. It was a disaster and I got 3 fans, one of those fans was me. This is why it is essential to get whoever you can get at the beginning; it’s just for moral support and to show potential fans that you’ve got something other people are interested in.

Step 3

Sow your seeds

It’s all well and good wanting to reap a great harvest but the crop won’t sow itself, you’ve got to stay active, that means a minimum of one new post every day, always keeping it relevant to the page. Creating a new post every day is all about getting into the habit of doing it. You simply have to set aside a time each day whereby you sit down at the computer and dedicate 15 or 20 minutes to posting something that’s interesting. Post it, leave it and allow it to get a response or two, initially a lot of your posts won’t get any responses, don’t be disheartened by this, it’s just part of the process, it will work out, you have to be persistent with this. The more you do it, the more you will learn what kind of posts get the best responses, for me the best responses come from posting up my own pictures and tagging people in photos, also I get a lot of action when I leave the fans with some thought or suggestion to dwell on in the status updates.

Step 4

Create a Source

This is really easy and involves you helping out people who are trying to do the same thing as you, all you have to do is go onto the search tab on Facebook and type in the keyword that relates to what your page is trying to promote, in my case that would be “Landscape or Landscape Architecture” and so on.... this will give you a whole list of similar groups and fan pages that are on face book, what you do now is you join and “like” every one of them. Why? Because it allows you to be involved with all their posts and status updates, meaning you have a constant pool of relevant knowledge that your page can benefit from, allowing you to pick and choose only the updates and links that excite you, making your page completely unique because unlike all the other pages all the information is filtered through you.

Step 5

Be Cheeky

Look in life you don’t get anywhere unless you’re prepared to stick your neck out from time to time, and you know with a little practice you can be very clever about it and almost verging on the world of being savvy. A term used to describe, sharp, cool and slick business people.

A great way to promote your page without paying any money is to copy and paste your link onto other similar pages. Be clever about this, don’t just start posting your link everywhere, you will get blocked and people will report you and you may even get your page cancelled by Facebook.  To do it right, look for the right angle, read through other pages, see if they posted anything that compliments or is of contrast to something you have posted, leave a nice comment about their content and then place in your own link, kind of like saying, “well if you like that, you’ll love this”. This way it is not just a cheeky way of promoting your page for free to like minded individuals, you have added value to their page by giving them a relative comment or question, meaning that it is more likely that they will actually take the time to look at it.

When your page starts growing in numbers and starts generating content based on the fans input you can have a little more confidence with this tactic and instead of simply posting on the page find the pages that reveal who the administrator is, contact them directly and request that you will post their link on your page in exchange for them doing the same with their page. This is a much more effective and efficient manner to conduct this tactic as it means that 100% of their fans will be notified about your page as opposed to when you posted on their page yourself, where only fans that go directly on the page will see your post. This will only be a fraction of the total number of fans that the page actually has.

Step 6

Chit about chat

This is simple, obvious and very essential, if somebody posts on your page, REPLY, acknowledge that you appreciate the comment, generate conversation, let it develop into something bigger. You have a duty to your fans, you must respond to them, individually at the initial stages of the pages development and then reply in a more general context as comments build up. Ultimately you want fans to have great discussions on your page with you only thanking them for their comments and not actually being involved in the conversation at all.

Step 7

The Double Slap

So you’ve invited all of your friends and since then a whole host of people have also joined, however there are still a large number of your friends that are likely to not join at all. This is when you slap them in the face, not literally of course, every now and again, share a post you have put on your fan page on your personal profile, this opens your page up to all those people that refused to join the page and allows them to change their mind, I know you want people to join your page that are genuinely interested in your topic but you should never close yourself off from a potential fan, when anybody “likes” your page, Facebook does an incredibly nice thing for you and notifies all of their friends, opening you up to potentially hundreds more fans.

So there you have it, seven steps that you can put into action today, there’s literally nothing stopping you, all you have to do is do it. Just like the NIKE sports slogan “Just Do It”, stop thinking about it, it’s a great idea and packed full of potential, so once again, all together now, you at the back, yeah that’s right YOU, are you ready, let’s say it “just do it” a little louder please..........

“JUST DO IT” thank you NIKE for that wonderful slogan J

Now has promised at the start of the post, I’m going to give you a link to a fantastic guy that knows and understands Facebook like the back of his hand. Check out http://www.crowdconversion.com/facebook-marketing-video/ you won’t be disappointed, this man is a genius with a lot to offer you, in fact you’ll notice some of the ideas I mentioned are actually based on things he says, he’ll offer you a great deal by way of communication and promoting your Facebook page and if you’re great at it and pay attention to him, who knows you may even make some money out of it.

Best of luck creating your Facebook fan page and like everything in life you get out of it what you put into it.

Check my page out my fan page “Landscape Architects”, access it by clicking on the badge at the top of this page.

I hope you have as much fun creating and having a Facebook fan page as much as I do, as far as my page goes it has been running since March 2010 and is now approaching 700 fans with my sights firmly set on the 1000 mark, it recieves almost 4,000 views daily and at it's peak it averaged 50 new fans every week for five consecutive weeks running. 2011 is going to be a big year for us and I can't wait, life is great so is facebook and so are you! 

Take care,

Scott.

“Boker Tov”, it’s not a lot but it’s what I’ve got!

A guy walks into a bar, in a foreign country with a foreign language, there’s a rabbi there and a horse having a drink......... He goes straight up to the horse and says “why the long face”, the horse replies I don’t know he’s been like that all day.

There are times when you got to have sense of humour to get you through life, a laugh can turn your day right around, look at it this way you can’t laugh and be depressed at the same time. There are times when laughing seems impossible, there are times when everything you’ve got means nothing at all and there are times when all you can do is use what ever little you’ve got to make a change, to make a difference and hold the possibility of laughter in your mind one more time. 

Currently I’m in an Landscape Architects office of Hebrew speakers with limited English, some however, it has to be said have excellent English, in many cases better then mine. This is a comfort but it’s not a solution. I’ve got to use what I got, what I got is “boker tov” a simple phrase which means good morning. I’m so proud of that little phrase I say it with excellence, every day in the office I use it as much as I can.  Yes everybody gets a “boker tov” from Scott Renwick. The boss, his wife, my colleugues, the cleaner, everyone. I say it with conviction, I smile and say it, cheer and say it, sometimes I say it low, sometimes slow, sometimes loud sometimes soft, it doesn’t matter how , I say it in so many different ways each one excellent, each one beautiful and each one more powerful then the last. 

I can’t say a lot, I haven’t got a lot, but what I got I use a lot, I make an impression, I get a smile and I let them know I’m trying, that I’m there and that I’m persistant. Nobody in the world can say “boker tov” better then me, I’m the worlds greatest! 

I‘m building my entire life on this little phrase “boker tov”, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this means “Good Morning”. It really says everything about me, I’m awake, I’m ready and I’m full lof energy.

“Boker Tov” it’s not a lot, but it’s what I’ve got!

Scott

The Great Power Shortage of 9:36am

Another morning in the Landscape Architecture office and as usual I arrive 10 minutes early and set myself up so I’m ready to hit the ground running at 9:00am. This is how I like it, it always get’s my day off to the best start and I think it’s a good habit to adopt. You can’t guarantee success but you can do a million little things to sure your ready for it when it comes.  This is just one of those little things. 

The day presses on and everybody is setting up, making the morning coffee, opening files, discussing projects, the general commotion that goes on in any office first thing in the morning. Me I’m just sitting at my desk, tapping away, throwing the odd “hello” and “how are you” to people as they go by me. I think it’s important to have communication at the very basic level. It creates a nice atmosphere and builds up greater communication between you and your colleagues.

Everything seems fine until everybody in the office realises that the P: Drive isn’t working, this is essential to every bodies work, this is where all the files for every single project is saved, these are the files we all share and all work on. If this doesn’t work, nobody can actually do anything and the office is down. To top it all off the internet is also down, another detrimental blow to the function of a successful office.  However I was the only person in the office who could actually work on their computer, you see I’ve got into the habit of backing up all my work at the end of each day on my USB key, believe me I felt an little smug working on my computer that day, but not for long as you’ll soon find out!

These things happen, they are all part of life, sometimes you just hit a speed bump on the road, it’s a shame, but it happens and we have ways of dealing with it. It wasn’t until 9:36am that something happened that made me realise where the world actually is and how venerable we all actually are. You see at 9:36am “The Power Went Off”. There were no lights, no computers, no office phone line and no work being done. The office was as good as dead; it was shut down, disabled, terminated, kaput.

Chaos followed as people ran around trying to get it fixed, people were lost; all of a sudden we all had two hands we didn’t know what to do with. While all this was going on, I was thinking “interesting” and “how easy would it be to do this to the whole world?” I honestly think if we went 1 month without electricity the population of the world would be slashed by half. We’d go crazy, we’d realise how dependent we’ve become on modern day conveniences and be in complete despair without them.  

This is when I also realised that there was one person in the office still working, the one guy who works without a computer, a man with led in his pencil so to speak, he does everything by hand, all the drawings, planning and sketches. I thought to myself “this whole office is resting on him”, our success our survival is all based on the guy who totally ignores all technological advances in design, in Landscape Architecture and in the modern world. The guy who is considered a dying breed is the one guy who will save us from complete failure a man we can all learn a lot from.

You see we all pursue to better ourselves, however many people confuse convenience with improvement and it’s not until 9:36am that you realise just how much you improved as a person, as a professional and as a teacher. It’s moments like this that make you realise how powerless you are, it’s moments like this when you realise what you should really spend your time developing, it’s moments like this that teach us to make the right choice.

So turn of the computer, get out your pencil and draw because you never know when it’s going to be 9:36!

Scott.

How do You Get a Job as a Landscape Acrchitect? Take Four Steps.

So you have done everything they told you, you've applied every piece of information you got from your lecturers/tutors, your career guidance consular and even professional landscape architects who are looking for workers. You've done everything to the letter; you've followed steps 1 to 10 and even thrown in a few more for good measure and somehow you are still unemployed, living with your mother and contemplating a temporary job in retail or telemarketing just to keep the funds coming in. Let’s face it, it's been months in some cases years, you’re not getting any wiser, you’re not improving your skills and landscape architects for some reason are still not beating down your front door with job offers.

You created the best CV in the world, it's relevant, concise, and informative and looks very professional, not only that but you've created a brochure that is so amazing you think "Hey I'd give me a job".  Yet interview after interview you hear the same thing, "We're really looking for somebody with experience", or "keep in touch with the office" or my favourite one "we'll keep your CV on file", where ever that is!

So why, why is it you have done everything you've been told, you've done everything right and you still can't get a job in your chosen profession.

The first thing I'm going to tell you is to forget the "WHY" it's pointless, forget the whole "why" in your life, we all have lots of "why's" in our life, "Why is life unfair, why doesn't he/she like me, why am I always broke, why can I never get a break, why is it raining, why, why, why, why wh........." you get the idea. Just forget about the "why", it's really not important, get the "why" and kick it out of your life. Replace it with the "What Can I Do".

Now I've had my little rant, this is what you can and should be doing; I'm going to explain to you four little steps that will make all the difference in the world to you and your prospects of getting a job as a landscape architect or anything else for that matter.

Before I start, please don't continue reading unless you have a great CV and equally great brochure, if you don't you're just not at the races my friend. These things are fundamental in your search for a job, however they won't get you ahead of the competition, so get them done and then put them to one side.

If your still reading I guess you have them, great, now listen, many people will read what I'm about to write but only the best will apply what I’m going to say.

STEP 1

Firstly e-mail your CV, I know completely obvious isn't it, but hang on it doesn't stop there, within an hour of e-mailing your CV ring up the office and make sure they received your CV. You probably think this is a bit stupid, when in fact it's a stroke of genius! What this does is it makes your CV completely different to every other CV as you've now attached a personality onto your CV, not only this but you made your first introduction and if done right you have just proven you have an excellent phone manner, are polite and a great communicator also you are building up a report with the secretary or receptionist, always get the name of the person who answered the phone and never underestimate the importance of this person, it is very likely that this person will see your CV before anybody else and therefore has the ability to put it to the top of the pile or better still place it right under the landscape architects nose, so get that name and remember it, it may be the most important name you ever remember and use it every time you have contact with that office use that name like you’re talking to an old friend. Trust me, do it, get results!

STEP 2

Where do you turn when all the job ads have dried up and nothing is on offer, don't worry about it, this doesn't mean anything, your prospective employer is just playing hard to get, they want you to prove how much you want it. They won't tell you this but we know this is what they are thinking (Please don't quote me on that). No seriously, when there are no jobs on offer this is a great opportunity in disguise, an opportunity to show you are eager, honest and committed. Here's what you do, get a list of every registered landscape architect in your country and write a professional and polite E-mail clearly stating that you are aware that they may not be looking to hire at the moment, however you would relish the opportunity to meet up with them and show them your work so that you could ask them a few questions about the industry and their office. This takes the pressure off all parties concerned, this creates a casual meeting between you and one or two others that becomes a fantastic networking opportunity. To sweeten the deal you could meet up over coffee in a local coffee shop and always bring a copy of your work on a CD with your personalised cover to leave with them as a parting gift.

This step will allow you to gain inside information on the industry, make you more comfortable talking to professionals and build up your network of professional landscape architects, which will allow you to do some name dropping when talking to other landscape architects, all of a sudden people will start seeing you as a professional and not some inexperienced graduate desperate for a job. Trust me, do it, get the results!

Step 3

Everywhere and everybody is an opportunity, an opportunity for you to get a job as a landscape architect. You are always looking for a job; you never stop until you get it. Work it into every conversation, well when the opportunity arises, preferably when you are talking to someone new. You really never have any idea who you are talking to or who they know. Don't be pushy with this, make it happen by asking about what they work at or what they are  involved in, this makes it much more likely that they will then ask you the same or a similar question, when they do, tell them, and explain you are currently searching for a job, do this with enough people and before you know it, you'll be talking to someone who's Dad is one of the biggest contractors in the country and has a friend who is a well recognised landscape architect. See what I mean, get the picture; everyone you meet everywhere you go is an opportunity. Trust me, do it, get the results! This is my personal favourite step, because it’s full of little surprises, just wait and see.

Step 4

Make the most out of every interview you get, and trust me if you do everything I said above you will get interviews. So it goes without saying you should research the companies you are interviewing with, know what they do, know their work and try and do a bit of investigating, you can really do all of this on the web but it would be even better if you went in person to see their work for real and really get to know it. But again this is all very obvious information, nothing we don't already know. 

My tip here is something you will never hear in college in a million years, well not yet anyway, but probably in the future. This tip is visualising the interview. That's right, dream about it, fantasize about it, live that interview over and over in your head until it's perfect, do this right up to the day of the interview, spend five minutes just thinking about how great that interview will be, how relaxed and confident you are going to feel, how you will answer all their questions impressively, without hesitation and with confidence. Realise how good you are going to feel when you get that job. Trust me, do it, get the results! Oh I should mention there is one very important rule to follow when visualising, NEVER, absolutely NEVER visualise the actions or thoughts of another person, it is both incredibly naive and manipulative to think for a second you know how another “specific” person should act, and it will backfire on you and ultimately push people away from you. You’ve been warned!

Now the key to begin to visualise what you want is to write it down, put down every detail, including everything leading up to your moment and how you are going to feel after it, write what clothes you’ll be wearing, how you feel, what you had for breakfast etc, don’t leave out a single detail. Whenever you lose sight of your target, re-read what you wrote, read it every day at least once a day. This will help affirm your visualisation and make it more clear in your mind, ultimately shifting your everyday thoughts and gearing your mind to help you create the actions that will move you in the direction of your goal.

Well for those of you who are still sceptical, I’m a graduate one year short of a post grad. I moved to a country where I can’t even speak the language with relatively no contacts in the field of landscape architect over here and absolutely no experience in a landscape architects office but guess what I have a great job as a landscape architect and I took all my own advice. Think about it! You must absolutely believe that if a guy in my position can do it, you better believe you can do it too.

There is a great quote "What the mind can conceive and believe the mind can acheive".-Napolean Hill

                                              

Best of luck getting that dream job.

And remember searching for a job is a full time job in itself and you don’t stand a chance unless you are driven by a deep desire to get it.

“Desire the one attribute that prevails skills, talent and experience” - Author unknown

Oh one more thing, with all this advice I can’t of course guarantee that you will get a job as a landscape architect, ultimately that is up to you, I can however say that it will dramatically increase your chances of getting interviews to the extent that your success becomes more like a numbers game, meaning that if you have enough interviews and you keep on giving your best, well then by the “Law of Averages” you will eventually obtain a job.

In fact the single greatest piece of advice I can give you is not in my four steps, but it is to be “Persistent”, without a doubt if there is any one quality that will get you results, it is persistence. We all have it, so use it.

Hope this helps,

Scott

72 second Urban Re-Action

The 72 Hour Urban Action project was an absolute breath of fresh air, that was full of buzz and excitement, I was truly grateful for the opportunity to take part in such a fantastic competition.  An event that created a bombardment of ideas that acted as catalysts for future endeavors on the landscape of the city of Bat Yam in Israel and possibly the world!

I was part of the organisation team, it was my job to compile and sort out the preliminary information that is essential to perform a quality design for an urban public space. I got to work with a group of fantastic people who really made me feel welcome and gave me great insight into how a competition like this is put together. They gave me an invaluable experience that has inspired me to perform similar endeavors in the future. 

The participants in the competition fell into three categories for me:

• 
  
   The people who tried to decorate their site
• 
  
   The people who created elements and fitted them into their site
• 
  
   The people who made an attempt at trying to create a spacial composition

From a landscape architects point of view, the people who fell into the third category should of won the competition. For me spacial composition is what quality public design is all about. Creating a space that defines the objects rather then creating objects that define a space.

The first group of people for me maybe missed the entire point of the competition however they were there and they made up the numbers and from what I seen they certainly gained some excellent experience and hopefully they enjoyed the event and can take something from it.

The winners of the competition I believe fell into the second category, they designed an element and lodged it into position. The object certainly defined the space. As for the piece, it was very well constructed and looks like it will last many years. As for the space they were designing there was much space left unchanged, left over space that had no use but to harbour whatever happens to fall into its cusp. Personally I’m not a fan but I can also see why it deserved to win and I think I’ll leave it at that.

There is really only so much criticism I can give such a wonderful competition, it brought over 100 people from 22 different countries all together and inspired people to use public space, getting them outside, encouraging them to be active and interested in their local environment. For me this is what really makes the project a huge success and I hope 72 Hour Urban Action is a recurring event that gets bigger and more successful each year.

I was certainly disappointed I was not accepted as one of the participants however this opened the door for me to work on the project on a much larger scale and in hindsight I wouldn’t change that for the world. I didn’t get a medal or a prize but I felt like a winner just been involved. I gained professional experience, happy memories and a lot of inspiration from some great ideas and some fantastic people.

So there you have it, my “72 second Urban Re-Action”.

Students and experience, the great paradox!

Without doubt the number one reason for Landscape architects not hiring you is due to your lack of experience in an office, working on projects, meeting deadlines and having a real understanding of pressure. It seems fair, I know if I was running an office I would certainly favour applicants who had the experience that I want to use in the office rather than employ a person and hope that they fit in and work well. (Or so I want you to believe)

It's common sense that this element of criteria moves you up on the pecking order; it's just how is it possible to land a job as a student when everybody wants somebody with professional experience. Sometimes it feels like they want graduates with five years of experience under their belt. The fact is it is possible for every year, even in a recession fresh out of college students are gaining employment in their chosen field of expertise. So what's their secret, how do they get people to take a chance on them?

Honestly I have no idea, it may be because the LA got out of bed on the right side on the day of the interview, it may be something you said that gave him an insight into what you can offer, it may be because you just happen to be a gifted individual who just happens to fit the bill perfectly, it may be because you know somebody and they happened to be a great connection for you that did you lots of favours in getting your first job. It may be for a whole host of reasons however ironically you really can't depend on any of those reasons, there are just too many factors to consider when making such assumptions.

For me the only thing that can guarantee that you get the much needed experience or that first job is you, I know not the answer you wanted to hear, I'm sure you wanted to hear that I have some little trick or magic pill you can take and just like magic you'll get a job. No I'm afraid the only thing you can absolutely depend on is "you". So the question now is what is it that “you” can do is.

The answer lies in your attitude, you're a student, a little fish entering a pool of sharks, not the best scenario but it's a fair analogy. Everything is against you, why would anybody want to hire you and just who do you think you are wasting their time. This is sad but a common attitude expressed by students looking to enter the professional world of landscape architecture.

So let me help you by answering those questions:

Nothing is against you, you have every reason to be confident, you have worked hard, you've got the results and now you’re ready to enter an environment which will enable you to take it to the professional level. So get excited about it. It's not like you’re the first man to walk on the moon, literally hundreds of thousands of people have already succeeded at doing what you are about to do, so it is a fact, it can be done and there is absolutely no reason why you can't do it.

People want to hire you because you've met all the challenges and succeeded, you know how to get results otherwise you wouldn't be here today competing with others for a job as an LA. People want to hire you because you are a very capable individual who wants to succeed and continues to challenge yourself.

You are not wasting their time, as you have skills to offer them, skills that will help their business make a profit, and you are bringing something positive and constructive to the table. Further more you are their link to the present day education system, you are fresh and will have alternative viewpoints that they don't already have in the office. You are not just in a position to get a job; you are in a position to negotiate wages, conditions and involvement. (Maybe a little bit too ambitious).

People just like you do this every day, they are no more special then you and passed the same level of challenges you passed. It is a fact it can be done, it is a fact you can do it. Getting that first job is about attitude and not experience. Who do you want on your team, someone who is passionate, driven and eager to work or someone who has been getting average results for the past five-ten years. Let's be honest if somebody with lots of experience was that good would they be looking for a new job to draw up construction details for someone else along with a few sketch-up models. I'd rather have the first guy working for me and that's who you are!

Good luck getting that first job, it will be challenging, you will feel like giving up and you will fail repeatedly before you succeed, all you have to remember is this:

• It can be done
• It has been done
• And it will be done!

"If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence."
Richard DeVos"

Co-Founder of Amway

Moving mountains with a pencil

Ever since man has looked at his environment he has wondered how to manipulate the environment to better suit his needs, we've litrally come from picking up rocks with our hands to tunneling holes through mountains. We lift it, shove it, place it, pick it, press it, turn it, pull it and dig it. From the mole hill right up to the granite based mountains. Nothing gets in our way, if it's inconvenient we change it, maybe not the most holistic approach to deisgn but you have to admit the logistics and engineering involved are really incredible.

The project I am about to show you is not as extreme as moving a mountain but impressive none the less, it involves manipulating an a old unused coliary (were coal is mined). With the ultimate objective of realising a retirment village. The most influential aspects of the brief were to implement a SUDS (sustainable urban drainage system) and to manipulate the mounds on site so that all material was used.

In order to undertake this project and any major project for that matter a study and analysis had to take place in order to calculate the amount of material that we were dealing with, the quality of the land and of course the topography. Without going into too much detail for the purpose of this blog I am simply posting a picture of the model a group of us made to help us understand the space and evalute what had to be done.

Above you can see a profile of the model, an image was taken and then photoshoped to help commuinicate levels and drainage, the entire analysis was documented in an A3 folder, which was presented with the final project submission.

My solution for the retirement village involved meeting five objectives:

• To create a natural space by interlinking the design with the surrouning forest of Dean
• To create recreation for the clientel of the retirment village by creating suitable uses throughout the scheme
• To create a sense of place by implementing a landscape that is unique to the site and has a central basis for the community
• To create a sense of safety by forming dwellings that overlook large open areas
• To incorporate a SUDS system that would create features throughout the scheme that would aesthetically compliment the landscape as well as being functional

Below I have put a page showing the overall scheme, including levels and the drainage system. All the residents have been given dwellings over looking the amentiy spaces and also over looking a community centre that acts as a place for meeting and carrying out activities. The SUDS system takes on both a naturalistic design as well as a formal design in other areas which is evident from the plan below.

The final project was realised in model form, allowing people to understand the space in a tangible 3D form. I think it's funny that with all the computor aided design packages and all the talent and skill that people offer as a result of computors, for me nothing conveys a concept better than an actual model of the design.

If a picture says a thousand words, then a model must say at least a million.

It was named Lightmoor Retirement Village, it accomodated 40 residents, a community centre and parking for 50 cars.

The Ecological Park Explained

The Blackglen Ecological Park was designed to meet five objectives.

• To work with the existing gym and leisure facility on site by creating uses in the park that would accomodate the gyms clientel
• To marry bio and social diversity by creating a haven for wildlife whilst encouraging people to use the space on a continuous basis
• To work with the topography of the site by incorporating a terraced scheme
• To generate cultural and educational learning by incorporating a learning centre
• To create a multi functional space by creating layers of movement and congregation throughout the scheme

The project took place over a six month period, it involved many site visits, working with the local authorities to gain specific information and researching other ecological parks, including doing a case study on Trafford Ecological Park, with the topic being "Trafford Ecological Park claims the status of being an ecological park, to what extent is this true?" This report really helped me understand the term ecological park and allowed me to produce a detailed and comprehensive project.

Below is a picture of selected work from the project which was exhibited to peers, lecturers and professional landscape architects and urban planners.

For further insight into me and the detailing of the ecological park check out the older posts below, which will allow you to click on individual sheets of the project including planting and construction.

"No Experience Required" My story

I was 18 and I had a five year plan in place to become one of Irelands leading Landscape and Garden design contractors as well as making a name for myself as a designer, my dream was inspired by an Irish garden desinger called Dairmuid Gavin. He was and still is a celebrity designer who takes on the big projects as well as the small. Love him or hate him the man has done a lot for the way the general public view garden design. We have come from a time in the last twenty years were it was not uncommon for people to leave their old broken down dishwashers and other kitchen appliences in their garden to a time were people are heavily investing in their garden, for a some people making the garden more inportant then the house they are living in. Now that for me is a major achievment.

So there I was with my five year plan, year 1 involved getting my cert. in horticulture, then year 2-4 involved me getting my degree in horticulture, all the time working in the industry learning about quantities and materials and implementing garden schemes. Mid way through year four I would begin working for a reputable landscape gardener and spend my money investing in tools, a van and creating a name for myself, bringing me to the end of year five upon which I would go out on my own and set up my own business.

I thought to myself what a perfect plan, little did I know this plan would be majorly disrupted by the opportunity to do a year of work experience in Australia for my horticultural studies. I had to do it, so my five year plan, became my 6 year plan. Upon coming back from Oz, I had to wait 8 months to go back to college and join up with the new semester, well from here to there another opportunity came up, this was a TV show with the one and only Dairmuid Gavin, my hero, the man I wanted to be. It was a TV reality show, with the winner recieving a contract to work with him in his new Dublin based office. Thousands applied and I came runner-up, was I sad, not at all, not one little bit!

Below a picture of Dairmuid Gavin, me and the two other finalists.

Within the first week of the competition I realised what I wanted to do with my life, my 5/6 year plan didn't matter anymore, something happened in the first week of the competition, something inside me clicked, I realised I didn't want to be like Dairmuid Gavin anymore, I wanted to be "Scott Renwick landscape architect", I wanted to rise to the top of my game in a world I knew very little about, and before I knew it I was back finishing my degree in horticulture and ready to begin my education in Landscape Design eventually finishing with the honours degree I have today. My original 5 year plan got altered and I now found myself in the middle of an 11 year plan, which included 8 years involved in thrid level education and a further three to get my landscape architects licence.

Well I'm now in year eight of that plan and ready to begin my career as a landscape architect in Israel with the view of obtaining my licence within the next three years. After this who knows where my plans will lead me, I have no idea, but you can bet it's going to be somewhere great!

Blackglen Ecological Park

For my end of year dissertation project I put together an ecological parkland as I felt this would show off my knowledge in horticulture and design at the same time. As a designer it is my vision to see the man made landscape of the world as a fusion of social diversity and bio diversity. A lot of people I know feel differently about this, for them it is one or the other and any attempt to mix the two is too much of a compromise and will fail to be of a great benefit to either wild life or the civilised population.

For me this is my dream, it is what I believe to be the best way to design and I think in the near future it will be viewed as the only way to design if we want to live on a sustainable planet with a consistently growing population.

The site I chose was in Ireland, Dublin at the foot of the Dublin mountains, which gave me a fantastic opportunity to terrace the site and create a naturalistic water course that could be worked into the planting scheme and promote bio diversity as well as adding visual interest to people using the park.

Below I've put some sections and visualisations showing a selected part of the site in detail.

As well as sections and visualisations a portion of the site was blown up to really capture the scheme and unique layout of the site which also included underground wildlife tunnels that channelled under the existing road to allow for a safe alternative for animal life passing through the site.

The design incorporated a learning and cultural centre that was developed to the concept stage of design, it was designed to maximise natural light, encompass a green roof and encourage visitors from all over the country to be attracted to the site and come and visit. A basic floor plan and materials specification was put together to help realise the scheme.

Visualisations for the entire site were inspired by views from key points within the scheme, highlighting the aspects of the site that capture the concept and atmosphere at its best.

As well as creating a scheme that heavily promoted bio-diversity and that gave all the scrub land specific uses, I also included a land art project to act as the sites land mark. Something people would associate with the park, something to give this ecological park a unique identity. The land art consisted of a series of cars, all beaten and rusted, placed along the scheme of the sight partially buried into the land and totally engrossed in vegetation. Each car had in the shadows a silhouette cut out of a deer (one of the local animals already existing on the sight) the idea behind it was that with all mans rampant creation and dominance of Mother nature that one day nature will get it's revenge and take back what man has taken from her. In this case the deer symbolises Mother nature and the art leads us to believe that the gentle, innocent deer is responsible for mans inevitable demise. 

Below is a photo montage of the proposed land art sequence.

Below is an image of the construction details that accompany the tree top walk way in the ecological park, at intervals throughout the support beams is a climbing plant that is being put there to grow up the bridge and mask the structure so that it ties in more successfully with teh the theme of the ecological park.