Hello, my name is Kent McCoy and
I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and show you around my
little corner of the world. I've been practicing
this marvelous craft of landscape architecture your about to get a good look at
for over 30 years. I began my adventure with a five year BS degree in landscape
architecture from Louisiana State University's School of Environmental Design at
Baton Rouge (where I was also born and raised.). After a stint in combat
engineering school, courtesy of the US Army, I had the opportunity to help
design and plan one the world's foremost open space systems known as the Emerald
Necklace in Cleveland Ohio. The
"Necklace" is some 20,000ac (8093ha) of parkland
connected by a continuous 125mi(201km) garland of parkway that winds its
way throughout the Cleveland region. I also did extensive work in private
practice in Cleveland that involved large commercial, industrial and residential
projects
like the SeaLand Terminal scheme, Cyrus Eaton's Waite Hill Estate and many more
similar endeavors.
A opportunity
to go to Australia and join the fledgling National Capital Development
Corporation arose while I was working in Cleveland.
As their first principal landscape architect I played a major role in planning
the nation's new capital at Canberra .
My
responsibilities included the landscape planning
for all five of the new cities
that were
simultaneously under construction during those years.
Tuggeranong, the largest
of the cluster of Canberra's new
satellite cities was the
focus of a book I later wrote which chronicled the ten year Australian experience.
It was published in five
languages, enjoyed 3 editions, and is currently in 134
university libraries
worldwide and required
reading in over 30 institutions
of higher learning around the globe.
Ten years later I returned to the
states and began a job as Director of Design for Sinclair Inc based in Miami and
Palm Beach Fla.. Dave Sinclair
was a powerhouse in
south Florida large project landscaping at that point which gave me tremendous
opportunities to produce top of the line landscape .
This included the
Radisson-Mart project that had a landscape/irrigation budget in excess of 1.5 million dollars.
Sinclair was a design construct setup which
meant I acquired a wealth of
experience about
how to sell complex projects--how to create and budget for them and finally how
to actually go out and get the
design built..
Design construct, in the
construction industry, is
a very different scenario from operating in the relatively serene and protected
office environment
of a design only organization.
I discovered, that towards the
end of my relationship with Sinclair, that I had become well versed in both
dimensions of the landscape industry , eg. that of having the
capacity to put large
scale projects together from a design perspective as well as having
the where with all to
prepare the specifications and contract documents so necessary
to get the job
built. Day to day
supervision of a large, complex,
landscape project with massive planting, huge
irrigation systems, intricate lighting, fountains and paving detail is
another demanding aspect
one
has to master to be successful when in the design construct landscape mode.
I left Sinclair Inc after a seven year stint and have been on my own ever since. I've designed and (sometimes)
constructed
projects that have included
several Lord & Taylor Dept stores, three hundred single family homes for a Wellington Fla. developer (Crossroads
Inc), subdivision layout ,
assorted park designs, a
entry scheme for a barrier
island (St. George)
and many more projects far too numerous to mention.
One of the more interesting recent
projects I've completed is an involvement with a small Galveston Island nursery that
found itself inundated
with hundreds of new customers following hurricane
Ike's thirty one billion dollar,
deadly swath of destruction thru the Galveston, Bolivar Peninsular region in
September of 2008.
The
small design construct company found itself at a complete
loss re how to begin to cope with a 8-900% increase in business. My brief
involved the
creation of
whole new systems
for the company that would greatly accelerate its capacity to
meet this
phenomenal increase in demand. My belief is the
study has significant long term
value for small ,struggling landscape ventures that have a long history of
having great problems coping with sudden
or even massive increases in demand for services resulting from one calamity or
another.
.
Please explore and enjoy My Space
so to speak and feel free to email or call me with any comments, questions and
suggestions you may have.
I also have video conferencing
available if you have a webcam. My skypes name is kentmccoy, would love to chat
with you if your so inclined. I begin
this tour of designland with an
introduction explaining exactly
what a landscape architect is and does--hope it helps
Regards and best wishes
Kent McCoy
What is a Landscape Architect? What do they do exactly?
Cro-Magnon
unknowingly was a
landscape architect
all those
millenniums ago as they scoured terrain for south facing cave openings and manipulated vegetation
to
break the frigid, northern European winter winds. Mesopotamians, Assyrians and Egyptians were organizing complex
gardens for ornament, shade, erosion control
and protection from marauding
heathens as early as 5-6000 B.C. For a thousand years the Romans graced their marvelous
cities throughout the empire with stunning
landscape designs in their forums, public
baths, and parklands. Lavish, private country villas
of roman patricians are legendary and this same
elite had town house's
with elaborate
internal courtyards
of fountains, extensive plantings,
sculpture and ornately carved urns from all
corners of the empire.
From around the 12 century on, landscape design became increasingly
sophisticated with a growing lexicon to match. .Awesome displays of formalism emerged in the
form of France’s Versailles and Champ Eslyees', Italy’s breathtaking
Villa D Este'
near Tivoli
and Madrid's Aranjuez Cultural Landscape
Design
School, etc. This passion for the symmetrical was stunningly contrasted later on with a "country landscape school" movement best typified by
England
’s
Lancelot “Capability” Brown’s repertoire. This included Hyde Park in London and many country estates characterized by
indigenous planting, ha ha's,
brilliant manipulation of
false perspectives and
scaled ceramic cattle, all designed for the stunning illusions they achieved as
part of the "natural" look.".
A
traditional Ha-Ha for
that clean fenceless look.--Classic
formalism at it's finest--the Champs de Elysees anchored by the Place de la
Concorde on your right and
and the Arch de Triomphe on your far left with a bit of the Les Tuileries
gardens peeking out to your far right. A timeless masterpiece of urban design.
▼▼
The landscape design knowledge base by the end of the 19th
century was very extensive and to this day is the primary reason why landscape
history is such a
significant part of the
better schools of landscape
architecture’s curriculums around the world. It has only been in the last 150
years or so that the more modern
perception of the profession has emerged.
An
American landscape specialist by the name of
Frederick Law Olmsted
coined the
term landscape architect not long after he accepted the commission in 1860
to
design and build the 850 acre jewel of Manhattan, known as Central Park, in New York City. Olmsted
went on to design the World's Columbian
Exposition in 1893,
Stanford University Campus, Boston’s and Cleveland’s fabled Emerald Necklace's, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., Niagara
Falls National Park, Yellowstone
National Park and many other icons of
American landscape
development.
Contemporary
landscape architecture, as we see, is the ever
evolving, ancient art and science of analysis, planning, design,
preservation and rehabilitation of the land.
The scope of the profession has
become very diversified in the last 100 years
or so and, as such, frequently
involves collaboration with its sister professions of
civil
engineering,
architecture, urban and regional planning, horticulture and the conservation
and
preservation avocations.
Activities of 21st century landscape architects
still reflect both the timeless challenges of man and the newly evolving
technologies. A few of the more current pursuits
of landscape architects include
planning, design and construction supervision of :
· ▪ open space systems and parks from tiny urban pockets of urban space to national level parks of many thousands of acres.
· ▪ working closely with developers, architects and engineers in the creation of medium/high rise projects, marine terminals and so on.
· ▪ corridor analysis and landscape design of interstate highways, state and county roads and local streetscapes in towns, villages and cities.
· ▪ reclamation areas, including strip mining restoration, public waste disposal rehabs, polluted industrial sites that require extensive rehabilitation
▪ close collaboration with civil engineers in new infrastructure planning and design including sewerage treatment plants, water reservoirs, airports,etc.
· ▪ urban planning including historic restoration projects, slum rebuilding, shopping center/ malls, etc.
· ▪ institutional uses, including
colleges, secondary and primary school sites, hospitals, research complex's and so on
Landscape Architecture today is taught in approximately
45 accredited universities,
mostly in the
for 5
years
and offer extensive training in the arts, design, computerized
drafting, basic engineering
practices, surveying, architectural design and many other skills needed
for
modern day pursuit of professional goals. One has to be licensed to
practice this profession in the United States and many other countries
as well.
Try thinking of Manhattan without Central Park ,the golden west without
Yellowstone and Ashville without the Biltmore and you'll probably realize what
a crucial role
landscape architects have played in American
cultural evolution. Thanks for this enchanting, marvelous legacy Mr. Olmsted,
we will cherish it always.
plan central park--new york--frederick law
olmsted landscape architect
▼▼
Yosemite National Park--Frederick Law Olmsted
landscape architect
▼▼
George Vanderbilt's Biltmore
Estate--Asheville N.C.---Frederick Law Olmsted landscape architect
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kent mccoy landscape architect---ph--850 247-9073----email-- kentmccoy40@gmail.com