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Landscape design profession universities. Profession landscape designer. Who is a landscape designer? What is more profitable to work for yourself or for a company?

There is an opinion that planning a beautiful park for yourself or decorating a garden is very easy, you just have to look through magazines and look at pictures. Landscape architect Dmitry Borodavkin told the Rjob portal whether it is possible to learn landscape design from books, what qualities are important to succeed in the profession, how a landscape designer differs from an architect, and what are the advantages and dangers of working as an intern?

Dmitry Borodavkin, landscape architect

Designer or architect?

The difference between the profession of a landscape designer and a landscape architect is about the same as between an architect who designs buildings and an interior designer. An architect can, if necessary, do an interior design, it’s just not his main task, but an interior designer is unlikely to be able to design a house. Also in the field of landscape.

A landscape architect is a versatile specialist. He thinks through, first of all, the concept of the future garden: zoning, idea, style. The relative position of objects on the site should not only be beautiful, but also convenient, and also meet building regulations and safety standards. To create an interesting concept, you need not only good taste, but also a certain set of knowledge.

Secondly, the task of a landscape architect is to design engineering structures and communications, such as drainage and storm system, irrigation and lighting systems, design of retaining walls, ponds, swimming pools, gazebos, etc.

And thirdly, the landscape architect thinks over the plant content of the site.

What a landscape designer does is clear from the name - he comes up with a design:

Paving design (which paving pattern to choose and how to combine materials and their shades),

Design of flower beds or other plant compositions (rock gardens, rutarium, etc.),

Decorative filling of certain areas (gazebos, terraces, patios). Landscape designer, first of all. It complements what the architect did, but does not replace it.

Sometimes landscape companies turn to the services of specialized specialists: engineers and dendrologists (plant growing specialists).

What knowledge is important for landscape designers?

A landscape architect must be “4 in 1”: architect, engineer, dendrologist and designer. You need to be well versed in modern technologies construction and landscape materials.

If previously all the work - both sketching and drawing - was done manually, now everything happens on the computer. Therefore for successful work you need to know Autocad, Archicad, Revit, 3ds max, Sketch Up, Photoshop, etc.

3D visualization, which was a novelty just 10 years ago, is rapidly replacing any other methods of presenting sketches. This applies not only to landscape, but also to architecture, interior, and design. Now you see the “future” as close as possible to what it will be like. All errors, shortcomings and inaccuracies, as well as simply compliance with the customer’s tastes, will emerge at the visualization stage.

The drawing (engineering) part of the project is necessarily carried out using special computer programs. It is not only more accurate, but also much faster.

Where and how to learn to decorate gardens?

It is simply impossible to obtain all the necessary knowledge in a 2-3 month course on landscape design. The profession of a landscape architect can only be mastered at a university. Basic knowledge can be obtained through short courses, and then, to become a professional, you can practice for a long time.

If you already have a laid out, functioning garden in which drainage, watering, lighting work smoothly, paths are laid and basic plantings are planted, but you want to bring something new to it, then landscape design courses will be very useful to you. If you want to create gardens from scratch and make it your profession, then such knowledge will not be enough for you.

A person with good taste, experience in growing plants and certain construction skills can very well decorate some corner in his garden beautifully, that is, do the work of a designer and gardener. Only experienced landscape architects can solve the problem of planning a garden, and especially a park as a whole.

You can read hundreds of books, manuals and articles. But the biggest teacher, as in any profession, is experience. Until you pick up a shovel, you will not understand how much creating a garden is difficult task. From experience I can say that much more intelligent things can be achieved by people without education, but with practice, than by very cool theorists who have never worked on the “living” earth.

To succeed in this profession, such qualities as versatility, four-dimensional vision (a sense of the three-dimensionality of space plus an understanding of how it will change over time), strong nerves and good taste are important.

Where to gain experience if there is no project?

Most The best way gain experience - go to work. The best thing (and there is such a need in the market) is to get a job as an assistant to a landscape architect. Taking on projects on your own without experience will be too expensive for your professional self-esteem and the customer’s wallet. As I like to say: “The most expensive thing in a landscape is correcting mistakes.” Thus, after working with a good specialist for 2-3 years, you will gain the necessary experience and feel much more confident when taking on the creation of a new garden.

Everyone has his own path. You can start as an assistant architect (designer, engineer, dendrologist), then independently carry out some stages of the project, then become the chief architect of the project, and if this is not enough for you, then open your own landscape company and be its ideological inspirer.

What is more profitable to work for yourself or for a company?

Both working in a company and working for yourself is a certain risk. The specificity of the landscape business is. Many companies hire young landscapers at the beginning of the season and fire them at the end, and often during this time you are on probationary period. Thus, when you get a job in a company, you risk being unemployed at the end of the season. If you are a true professional, then serious companies will be interested in keeping you on their staff and can offer favorable employment conditions during the off-season. If a company has a lot of orders, then winter time you will be designing.

At independent work The main task is to provide yourself with orders, and here, too, there is a risk of finding yourself without work. But if you good specialist, you will have work all year round, or what you earn during the season will be enough for a long winter vacation.

So it doesn't matter Where you work, it's important How you are working.

What projects are most often ordered?

Depends on the specialization of the company. Of course, there are more private orders. Basically, these are orders for landscape design of suburban areas. Now in Russia there is an active construction of new cottage villages, so most orders are for the design of plots from scratch “in an open field”. At the same time, more and more more people they turn to our services even before the construction of a house begins, and this is very smart.

It’s still not uncommon to come across orders to correct something that has already been done.” landscape design" This is a special category of clients, taught by bitter experience. Here the complexity of the situation depends on at what point the customer was able to stop. Someone else at the design stage understands that they “drew something wrong”; someone has already managed to “pile up” something on their site (it doesn’t matter, with the help of a would-be designer or on their own). These are, as a rule, the most expensive projects, the most complex and at the same time the most grateful customers. Dear ones, because we have to not only create a landscape from scratch, but also dismantle what has already been done. Difficult because it is not easy to gain the trust of such a customer. Grateful because they rejoice more than others when they finally get the desired result.

Sometimes they order a separate element of the garden: a pond, a flower bed, etc., but the percentage of such orders is not large.

Features of working with customers

Clients are different. Of course, experience in negotiating and resolving problem situations is necessary in our work.

The most important thing is to remember that this is a client, and you must respect him and recognize his right to his own (different from yours) vision of the landscape of his site. This does not mean that you need to blindly follow his instructions, but you must listen to him and apply your knowledge and experience to his requirements. In some cases, you will have to convince the customer, and sometimes find ways to implement the most incredible ideas.

Is it difficult to work with a client? If the client immediately sees you as a professional, then it will be easier to work with him, since he will listen to your opinion. If from the very first meeting you have a misunderstanding, then be prepared for the fact that difficulties will await you throughout the entire work. Most likely, this is not your client.

How much do landscape designers earn?

Payment in our area is formed very individually. Interns can work for free; their interest is in learning and gaining experience. In the capital they can be paid 15-20 thousand, just for show.

An independent specialist, for example, in St. Petersburg already receives about 30-40 thousand rubles a month, in Moscow it is twice as much. Cool specialists can count on up to 100-150 thousand. If you are the head of a company, then everything that remains after deducting overheads and workers’ salaries goes into your pocket, and the cost of complex work on an average project is approximately 1 million rubles. If you mess up, you'll be in the red.

In general, prices for landscapers are lower than for architects who build houses. But there are fewer responsibilities and licenses in the landscape.

Landscape is a good field for business if you can pivot and be proactive. As an employee in this field you won’t earn much, unless

Landscape designer is a complex and responsible profession. A specialist in this field must be both a good theoretician and an excellent practitioner.

Qualification in this profession plays a significant role in career growth, since no manager will promote an incompetent landscape designer and give him the green light to further advance in his work.

Financial issues related to the work of a landscape designer, as in most other professions, depend on many factors. These primarily include the region where the landscape designer lives, the specifics of the institution where he works and the company’s policy regarding the level of remuneration of employees.

Functions of a landscape designer

The main task of a landscape designer is to transform an ordinary country cottage area to an extraordinary oasis. After talking with the client, finding out all the technical details, making the necessary measurements, the specialist presents to the client sketches of the future “paradise”, made by hand or on a computer. After receiving approval from the client, the designer develops a landscape project, in which everything is described in detail: from the location of the pool, flower beds, gazebos to a description of the selected shrubs and trees. The project is then brought to final implementation.

The profession of landscape designer has its own specifics - beautiful composition cannot be created if there is no artistic imagination, sense of taste and ability to draw. A designer must simultaneously be a topographer, a chemist, a biologist, and an engineer. He must have an excellent understanding of plants, know what kind of soil they need for planting, how they grow and bloom, skillfully use the terrain when creating a garden landscape, be able to excess water from the site and control the laying of communications.

Today, work for a landscape designer can be offered by numerous companies engaged in landscape design services and companies associated with the construction of cottages. Work exists for hire and individual work.

A developed imagination, creativity and communication skills play a big role in this profession, since the designer has to communicate with clients very often, and they are constantly making some changes to the project. Organizational skills are also needed.

Landscape designer wages

A beginner landscape designer working on his own earns $600-700 per project. A professional is paid on average $1000-1500. In specialized companies, narrow specialists (dendrologists, landscape designers, gardeners or technologists) can count on $800-1500 per month.

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