128 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 



WHAT IS "PROFESSIONAL" PRACTICE IN LANDSCAPE 

 ARCHITECTURE? 



:By FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED 



Reprinted from '^Landscape Architecture" 



"People in this locality don't want to 

 pay me for professional advice unless I 

 will carry out the work. How can I 

 satisfy them without acting unprofession- 

 ally?" 



"What is 'professional' and what is 

 'unprofessional' for a landscape architect 

 to do in the way of 'executing work'?" 



"Is it always unprofessional for a land- 

 scape architect to do 'contracting'?" 



These are representative of a class of 

 questions which are often asked by the 

 younger landscape architects and which 

 the most experienced cannot always 

 answer clearly and without hesitation. 



This article is an attempt to clarifj' the 

 main principles involved in all such ques- 

 tions. With a firm grasp of these prin- 

 ciples honesty and common sense will 

 show anyone the proper answer to his 

 own particular question. 



The "Official Statement" of the Ameri- 

 can Society of Landscape Architects says 

 of the landscape architect in good pro- 

 fessional standing that: "His remunera- 

 tion is an openly stated compensation re- 

 ceived directly from his client for ser- 

 vices rendered, and not a hidden or specu- 

 lative profit on materials supplied or 

 labor employed." It further says that he 

 "supervises the execution of his plans" 

 and that "He acts ... as his client's 

 agent in selecting and ordering materials 

 and in issuing instructions for the exe- 

 cution of work by contractors or others."' 



Let me add that, while nothing is 

 said about it one way or the other in 

 the "Statement," the reference in the 



above passages to "supervision" and to 

 "issuing instructions" cannot be inter- 

 preted as excluding personal performance 

 of mechanical manual labor by a land- 

 scape architect or his assistants ; whether 

 that labor is pushing a pen, or cutting 

 down a tree which blocks a view that he 

 wants to open immediately (instead of 

 waiting until he can find a man that holds 

 a card in the Amalgamated Axemen's 

 Union). 



It might be here noted, however, that 

 when a landscape architect working on a 

 per diem basis, or its equivalent, person- 

 ally does work which could probably well 

 be done by someone such as a laborer or 

 a draftsman, whose rate of pay is much 

 lower than the ordinary rate of pay of 

 the landscape architect, the time so con- 

 sumed ought to be charged at less than 

 the landscape architect's standard rate, 

 unless by such "direct action" so great a 

 saving in time is effected as to justify 

 charging at the full rate. This method 

 of charging at reduced rates often ap- 

 plies in a small office where the landscape 

 architect occasionally does routine draft- 

 ing in spare time rather than take on an 

 extra draftsman. 



It seems clear that it would not be out 

 of accord with the letter or the spirit of 

 the above passages for a landscape archi- 

 tect, at the request of a client, to assume 

 responsibility for issuing all the orders 

 necessary for the proper execution of 

 work, even though in so doing the land- 

 scape architect were to perform substan- 

 tially all the managerial and executive 



