The arts and sciences meld in the environmentally-conscious field of landscape architecture
...an interview with Kris Kvarfordt, landscape architect project manager.

“There’s magic in every site, it’s our job to respond to that, to connect people with nature,” says Kris Kvarfordt when asked to explain the field of landscape architecture. “I want to be someone who can basically create art for the masses.”

Mr. Kvarfordt started out as an engineering major, shifted to art, and combined the best of both disciplines when he earned a bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree with Honors from Utah State University in 2002. He is currently working on his master of landscape architecture degree, also from Utah State.

He has received numerous academic honors, including being named a Presidential Fellowship Recipient for the 2003-2004 school year. Involvement in the student chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects led to a national 2005 ASLA Student Award of Honor in Analysis and Planning for his work on the Bear River Greenway Master Plan. He additionally received 2005 professional achievements awards from the Utah ASLA chapter for his planning work on the closure of the Logan City Landfill and its surrounding landscape as well as for his role in creating the Utah State landscape architecture and environmental planning recruitment video.

Currently a project manager for the landscape architecture firm of Robert L. Marshall, Architect, PC, as well as an adjunct instructor for the Utah State landscape architecture program, Mr. Kvarfordt also owns and operates a side business, daVinci Design Group, Inc., which specializes in project illustration and other graphic design elements of the field. He created the business based on his experiences as a project landscape architect for Design Workshop Inc., where he worked following completion of his undergrad studies.

You & Your Career

Tell us about your career in the field of landscape architecture. How did you get your foot in the door, and how is your career unfolding?

My background is I went into school with the intention of being a civil engineer, so I have the math skills, but then I also have a very strong interest and slight talent for art. During my undergrad college years, I got into engineering, looked around and decided it wasn’t me. I declared as art major for a year, and then I found landscape architecture, which seems a perfect blend of the two. I was very active both scholastically and in some of the service organization, so I met lots of people in the region.

My first out of school was at Design Workshop Inc.; they actively pursue what they like to call the “best and brightest,” so I got my foot in that door by working my can off at school to make sure I stood out academically and socially. They came to find me, and I was selected at the university level based on teacher recommendations. That’s a huge foot in the door. I found a lot of what you do is think or swim, design as you go, but a lot of what I was doing was not landscape architecture. We did a lot of illustration services; I’d draw pictures of projects before they were built, representations of what projects will look like, a lot of planning. But it allowed me to work without my license.

I started back into the masters program, and began teaching at Utah State, which I continue to do.

I picked up on my experience at Design Workshop to start daVinci Design Group Inc. in the spring on 2004; I still do jobs once a month, mostly artistic renderings of projects.

In the spring of 2005, I started working as a project manager for Robert L. Marshall, Architect, PC in Salt Lake City. It pays to have your ear to the ground, I knew people who I graduated with who work here, interviewed, and I got the job. I work an extended schedule here three days a week and I teach two days a week.

What area of the field do you specialize in? How is your specialty different from other areas of the field?

I specialize in design, the whole package from conception of an idea where you do the sketching to presentation to the client, working with them on several ideas. My goal is to be technically savvy enough to understand all of the intricacies of actually getting some of the very detailed and the very artistic landscapes being built; it’s a whole different level of complexity to draw a shape on paper than to translate it to the contractor to inception of the plan.

Up to this point, I’ve worked mainly with visual simulation and visual analysis; that’s what I did primarily with Design Workshop, assessing how a project is going to impact an area based on scenery and scenic values.

It’s a fairly broad field: many people are planners, urban designers, environmental designer, or work on restoration projects. I do have an interest in some of those things, like the restoration or the adaptive reuse of a brown-field site, something we could have done better the first time but now we get to figure out how to make it better, but I’ve not yet had the chance to work on that type of project.

How has your involvement in organizations such as American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) contributed to your career development?

Initially being involved in the student organization was highly beneficial, I was always eager to come to Salt Lake, to rub shoulders with the professional organization, by the time I was a senior, I knew on a first-name basis roughly half of the working professionals in Salt Lake.

Now that I’m a professional, I was a little frustrated with the national conference this year; the education sessions are too short to really be developmental. As my career unfolds, and I get more involved in providing services, then I’ll see more benefits to having ASLA behind my name.

You have received various academic and professional accolades, including recent student honors in the Analysis & Planning category of the national 2005 ASLA organization. How is such recognition important to you on both a personal and professional level?

The award was for the master plan we created for the Cash Valley project, the Bear River Greenway Master Plan. Logan is in the Cash Valley and it is where I live, where Utah State is located, so it is very meaningful to me in that regard. That’s one reason a lot of effort was put into it. Having worked a little more than a year, I was a graduate student, so I understood a little more about the level of quality of the presentation; we had several graphic components we could send in. The presentation relates directly to how do you communicate the project to your client or whoever you are doing the project for.

Professionally, I’m in the process of figuring out what it means; personally, it feels good. I can tell you exactly what it takes to get an award, a lot of it is thinking like a graphic designer, knowing what you need to produce, and lots of it is eye candy. Awards are important, we get more work and break into different markets here and awards add credibility to your services for your clients.

What projects rank among your favorites? Why do they stand out?

Professionally my favorite project I worked on was the American West Heritage Center, in Cash Valley. I worked at the master planning schematic design level, very creative, very much thinking what this could become, what are the possibilities?

Scholastically, the Bear River master plan is my favorite; we have a faculty promoting it, so hopefully the jurisdiction pays attention. That’s a big frustration as a student, you work on these projects, and they just sit in someone’s office for 20 years. The project looked at the entire valley, and the major resource for human recreation and the wildlife, the Bear River, and examined the development pressure that exists and looking out 20 years to take a proactive stance in making open space part of the planning process. The traditional methodology is to plan for the city infrastructure for land use, then whatever is leftover is open space; then redevelopment has to happen to create trails for use for wildlife and recreation like bike trails. Planning affects the quality of life, the land values. That’s a nice benefit, that you will benefit the community as well as wildlife, which in turn makes people more eager to use the system. I was looking at the resource we have, before it gets overrun with people.

Who (or what) are the biggest inspirations for your career?

I like the people who incorporate an artistic flair into their work, including Peter Walker, as well as some of the professors in our department who have an understating of how things work; Craig Johnson has an understanding. Also, several artists; Leonardo daVinci is my hero, and I admire Picasso’s work, the ideas that he promoted and came up with in the creative process.

Describe a typical week of work for you. What exactly do you do? What are your key responsibilities?

When you are managing a project, working with a team, there’s a certain level of firefighting, where you are dealing with phone calls, and you have to drop everything to deal with the unplanned element of dealing with questions, I do a fair deal of AutoCAD work, sitting at computer. I also use several graphics applications, most of the Adobe suite. On the design end of it, for people who are coordinating work with project mangers, there’s a fair amount of sketching, communication on who may do the AutoCAD; I do a lot of organization of projects overall, documenting everything, keeping files on projects.

What are the most challenging aspects of your job? Most rewarding?

I try to look at everything as an opportunity, and even the mundane tasks or those that would stress most people out, I ask myself “what can I gain from this?” The most challenging things can be that you don’t remember everything you learn in school, sometimes you have to grab a book, ask a few people.

Being confident you are going to pull it off is the most rewarding part of the job; in the course of a project it’s very rewarding to come up with an idea and illustrate it; it’s very challenging to produce the drawings and deal with all of the challenges that can arise with the construction project, but it’s very rewarding to see it built, to see people using it.

What do you consider your greatest success? Biggest setback?

Passing the licensing exam is probably my biggest success so far, because it opens so many more doors to be able to actually be the person who coordinates projects and the production of the work.

On the setback side, the realization that a lot of things have to come together to make a project great. It has to be the right project, the right design, the right client, the right budget. And sometimes, everything might not be lined up. You might not have a client who wants to think creatively about how to handle storm water or do things that are better for the environment. In school, you get fed a lot of theory, so you come out of school thinking one thing and you find out there are small battles within that. Sometimes you can accomplish creative handling of things like storm water where you handle it subtly with the client and accomplish the goal.

What are the tools of the trade that you use the most? Favorite gadget?

If you can’t draw, you can’t design. You need a pencil and paper, and nowadays you have to be able to translate the concept to the computer. Survey equipment is fun to use. And of course, my cell phone is a favorite gadget.

How are professional collaborations important in the field of landscape architecture?

You have to do collaborate, its all part of covering the bases to make sure the projects get done. It’s a necessity. It’s easy to get stuck inside where you use the same person for the same job over and over, when maybe with a little effort you can find people that might be better for the job; just because a person is in the area of the project, it might not be the best situation for the project.

What are some of your professional goals for the future?

One goal is to win a national award of excellence in the design category from the ASLA. I want to be someone who can basically create art for the masses, well-integrated with a grasp of the fine details, the big idea that drills down to the type of bench you use, with hidden stuff integrated too, like wildlife habitat, dealing with storm water in a way that isn’t a straight engineer approach.

There’s magic in every site, it’s our job to respond to that, to connect people with nature. If I could live up to the ideals of the profession, that’s a challenge, you have a lot of people to convince or lead, from multi-disciplinary teams to clients.

Do you feel that is important for someone to be passionate about landscape architecture in order to be successful in the field?

My default answer would be yes. But, I’ve noticed that to some people it’s just a job. Being a person that provides for my family, I know that sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I don’t judge anyone, I thinks it’s great that they have a job that they sort of like that can make money doing. But to be good or great landscape architect, to be able to deal with the craft and the complexity of the job, you have to love it. There’s a certain commitment that has to happen just to get through school.

Education Information & Advice

How did you initially decide to study landscape architecture?

The art science background combined with the realization that landscape architects are the Leonardo’s of the modern world. You can apply all of your math and science skills, and be as creative and artistic as you can get away with. The field is a perfect combination of those things, more so than architecture, where there is not a lot of science in putting together a project. In landscape architecture, you are using botany, geology, lots of cool sciences.

How did you choose Utah State University? Tell us about your student experiences there.

It was semi-close to home, but not at home, and I wanted to get away from my hometown. My brother went there as well, and though I started on a different track, as luck would have it, Utah State has a well-established landscape architecture program. My education there was as good as it would have been anywhere, and I have had a really positive experience. If I had any criticisms, it wasn’t hard enough.

Your Master of Landscape Architecture degree is underway. What led to your decision to pursue post-graduate work?

It’s always been a goal of mine since I was a little kid. My mom is very educated; she’s got a masters and work done toward her PhD, so I’ve had a lifelong goal to get a doctorate in something. There was an opportunity at Utah State to have my tuition paid and a fully-funded thesis, with interesting projects to work on and chance to impact the Cash Valley community. I’m very passionate about making a life there, raising my kids there. A lot of people would criticize getting a masters degree from the same school you got your BA from, but a free master’s degree came to me and I didn’t have to move my family to do it, so you can’t beat that!

In retrospect, what do you know now that you wish you knew before you pursued your education?

I wish I would have had more construction experience, but that can be a double-edged sword. It can be a limitation, but it can open up deeper thought on things, trying to figure how things really work; whereas in school, most of what you learn is theory.

As an adjunct instructor at Utah State University, what tips do you have for prospective landscape architecture students to assess their aptitude?

They need to ask themselves questions: Do they like to draw? Do they like to figure things out? Are they a problem solver? Do they have some skill in math? Do they have an interest in some of the sciences? Some of the best people in the field are the ones who can do the grading and drainage and draw a pretty picture, too.

What factors should prospective students consider when choosing a school?

Do you like it, as a place? Will you be comfortable? Are you willing to spend time there? At same time, students should look inside and evaluate themselves, and ask are you willing to put the time in that necessary? There’s a certain level of personal responsibility that every person needs to take.

Based on what you hear in the industry, what do you think are the most respected and prestigious landscape architecture schools, departments or programs?

Harvard is prestigious; I’ve also heard from people that you get out of it what you put into it, like any school. Harvard isn’t a free ride, but there is a network there, so if you have Harvard behind your name, it means something. Cornell is always a pretty highly thought of design school; UC Berkeley, University of Illinois has a pretty good program; and really, Utah State is fabulous, it has ties to Harvard, with several professors having attended there.

Does graduating from a prestigious school make a difference in landing a good job?

It depends on how you define a good job; graduating from Harvard, you’ve at least got an interview.

What can students applying to landscape architecture schools do to increase their chances of being accepted?

Create a portfolio, and at the graduate level especially, have a good understanding on how to put together a portfolio. It should be flexible enough to send to several schools, and of high quality. I bit the bullet and bought a lot of design software as an undergrad student ($1,000 worth), and I advocate spending the money, it paid for itself three times over. I was never afraid of paying $80 for poster printing for a project or going to a printer for nice proof set.

To get to the junior and senior level of the program, my suggestion is to save all of your projects from your freshman and sophomore years, and to talk to the graphic design department or a professor to help produce your portfolio. It can be hard if you’ve never been taught about those fundamental graphic design things like resolution, print quality. The time spent learning those programs and laying things out is worth it; my portfolio makes me confident.

What other advice can you give to prospective students thinking about an education in landscape architecture?

The best advice I got is to take as many classes as necessary to figure out what you want to do; start with an intro to landscape architecture class and see if you are interested the field.

Career Information & Advice

On a basic level, what skills are required to be a landscape architect?

Basic drawing skills; you don’t have to be an artist, but you do have to be willing to jot things down. You need to have some basic math skills, though rarely if ever do I do any calculus, I do use basic algebra. Being organized on a sheet of paper, then being able transfer those ideas to the computers is important. You’ve got to be able to sit down at the computer and use it.

Are there landscape architecture trends in play that could help students plan for the future?

The biggest trends are in sustainable land, green design, adaptive design, using recycled material, and using storm water on site, instead of just a storm concrete basin, what they call a bio-swale.

What are some of the top challenges facing the field over the next decade?

One interesting dynamic in play now, is that you’ve got the principals who know the profession and have their client base, but don’t know the computer. There is a big gap there in project scheduling, production… and an opportunity for those who do know how to use the computer.

Another is adaptive re-uses. The landscape architecture profession has to come to terms with the word sustainability; it’s a word that’s being thrown around a lot. The profession has to come to terms with how to market sustainability; positioned correctly, sustainability could benefit any corporation in terms of relationships with the environment.

What are some common myths about your profession?

That we drive trucks with weed eaters and lawnmowers; in actuality, it’s rarely that we plant stuff.

What specialized computer programs do landscape architecture professionals typically use? How important is it for graduating students to be well-versed with these programs?

AutoCAD is the standard for drafting; sometimes we use Vector Works; Microsoft office or some kind of processing and worksheet; I always advocate the graphics like Adobe, InDesign, or some kind of page layout program for presentations.

How has the Internet impacted your profession?

It makes the file transfer so much simpler; we post stuff to ftp sites all the time. It broadens the reach of teams and broadens the market you can work in – from Virginia to Hawaii.

What areas are developing as hot landscape architecture specialties?

Landscape architects typically want to live up to the ideal, to communicate with all the disciplines, figure out the site engineering, draw it better. We’re the generalists, that’s the calling card; we relate and communicate with everyone on the projects.

How available are internships and other hands-on experiences?

The internships are always good, do an internship as you go to school if you can. I did one in planning for the city, and I learned a lot. In an internship, you learn so much more than you usually would at the class level. Also, students should go to the state chapter meetings and if you can, attend the national meeting, it will never be cheaper when you are a student, and you get to know people, learn how to work a room, the whole ‘seven habits of highly effective people’ style.

How is the job market now in the industry? How do you think it will be in five year?

The field is crazy right now. I don’t know where the graduates are going and how everyone can have so much work. You hear a lot about the housing bubble thing, but I don’t see any slow down in building, it’s pretty much off the chart, and I don’t think its going to slow. Those issues of sustainability are prevalent in all industries; manufacturers are being required to check input/output, more than every before. If we can tie those things together, we’ll be more in demand

What is the average salary for your field? What are people at the top of the profession paid?

I know the average starting for someone with a BA was $34,500 in 2002; in some places, with a graduate degree, starting salaries are between $50,000 and $65,000. The high depends, the highest you’re looking at as a project manager type would be from $60 to maybe $80,000 at the high end, but at the partnership level, $100,000 is possible in the right firm.

How does landscape architecture contribute to society?

We’re starting to realize how badly we’ve messed the earth up, and the field of landscape architecture is perfectly positioned to fix that. I’m a strong advocate of it’s not just about people or just about nature, it’s about tying the two together. With the whole obesity issue, getting people out to do things is important, and talking about the earth from site engineering point to develop and build projects that encourage people to exercise gives the field new visibility.

Editor’s Note: f you would like to follow up with Mr. Kvarfordt about his education and career in the field of landscape architecture, click here. For more information about his design business, visit da Vinci Design Group.

Interviewed by Cathy Sivak, EnviroEducation.com Contributing Writer

The arts and sciences meld in the environmentally-conscious field of landscape architecture ...an interview with Kris Kvarfordt, landscape architect project manager.

You & Your Career

Education Information & Advice

Career Information & Advice

The arts and sciences meld in the environmentally-conscious field of landscape architecture
...an interview with Kris Kvarfordt, landscape architect project manager.