Uh-Oh. My Landscape Architect friend Christina just turned me on to Land+Living. The site is dedicated to modern lifestyles and design, and they do a REALLY good job. Unlike many design publications and sites, they actually include the outdoors. Many of the threads are thought-provoking, and the commenters are intelligent and interesting. I can already tell I am going to sacrifice countless hours of my life to this site.

One feature that stood out for me was the ASLA awards (I’m admit I’m very biased; I have a degree in landscape architecture). Anyway, I thought one of the most interesting projects was 12,000 Factory Workers Meet Ecology in the Parking Lot, Canton, GA by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. First of all, I’m a fan of Van Valkenburgh’s work. Second, I had no idea that Herman Miller furniture is manufactured right down the interstate from where I live. Third, not a whole lot of developers or planners in Georgia seem to care that most of our pollution comes from runoff water – I hope this may catch their attention and perhaps, in turn, they will catch a clue before they clearcut and pave the entire state.

On a personal note, looking through the award winners is a bizarre trip down memory lane for me; I had thoughts like “hmm, I remember that Canadian guy from a jury, he was really helpful” or on the flip side, “ugh, that miserable dude who shall remain nameless was really mean and made me cry during a review and it was really embarrassing.” Good stuff.