332 



LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



Competitions 



Landscape 

 Architect, 

 Client, and 

 Contractor 



Another way in which the young landscape architect may hope to 

 get work and make himself known is by entering into the competitions 

 for the design of various works of landscape architecture which are held 

 from time to time. Because they give an opportunity to the untried 

 man, they are in so far good, but as a means of choosing the best designer 

 to carry out a certain piece of work they are often quite futile.* As 

 we have seen, there are many ideas for landscape compositions which 

 cannot be represented at all adequately by drawings. Even for a jury 

 of skilled practitioners it is often very difficult to determine just what 

 idea is represented by a given drawing and whether the idea would be 

 good or bad in execution. Moreover, however much the competition 

 drawings may show of the ingenuity and inspiration of the designer, 

 they show little or nothing of his experience and ability in actual con- 

 struction, and in the final working out of the design on the ground and 

 its adjustment to the topography which is so largely responsible for the 

 final effect in many kinds of landscape work. And, while the require- 

 ments in an architectural competition may be stated with considerable 

 definiteness and understood in practically the same way by all the 

 competitors, a landscape design, that of a small park, for instance, could 

 be properly made only after detailed study of the local conditions, an 

 amount of work which few men would undertake for as small a chance 

 of reward as most competitions offer. The drawings submitted are 

 thus likely to be superficial and based on insufficient knowledge. From 

 the point of view, therefore, of the conservation of the energy of the 

 competitors and the judges, and the saving of money to those financ- 

 ing the actual work, it would usually be better to seek competent 

 assistance in the choice of a professional adviser and then allow this 

 adviser to do his work assured from the beginning of reasonable re- 

 muneration. 



The landscape architect serves his client f in the following different 

 ways. He finds out what the client desires in the way of landscape 

 utility and beauty and he advises him how he may best obtain it. He 

 works out in detail and records as far as possible in his plans and speci- 



* Cf. the articles by C. D. Lay on competitions in Landscape Architecture, v. 3, 

 4, and 5. 



tCf.p. 338. 



