Core drilling (also known as coring) is a method that landscape architects and engineers can use to learn more about the underlying geological substrate on a site. This quick video shows how core drilling is done in the field. Read…
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Watch How Core Drilling Works
Tagged with: animation, cool, Core Drilling, coring, geological substrate, geology, Site Inventory, site reconnaissance, video
Posted in Site Inventory, Video
Posted in Site Inventory, Video
Understanding Geology To The Core: Three Site Inventory Investigation Methods
Site inventory sometimes involves investigating conditions that you just cannot see on the surface. For example, you just can’t see the underlying geology on your client’s site with the naked eye. Therefore, we need to use some different methods to…
Tagged with: Core, Core Drilling, Geologic Substrate, geology, Probing, Site Inventory, Site Inventory Method, Trenching
Posted in Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Little Known Reasons for Ground Subsidence in California
Can a street really eat a road and swallow a car? It happened in Richmond, California in 2010. And, it could happen again. Watch the video. Sometimes, the ground we stand on is not as solid as we think. As…
Tagged with: Groundwater, Hydrocarbon Extraction, Karst, Long Beach, Mine Map, Mines, San Joaquin Valley, Sinkhole, Site Inventory, Subsidence
Posted in Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Inventory a Site’s Climate Better Than Al Gore
Former Vice-President Al Gore may be an climate expert, but nobody is better an inventorying a site’s climate details like a landscape architect. Climate and microclimate are natural existing conditions that need to be identified during the site inventory phase…
Tagged with: Climate, Climate inventory, macroclimate, microclimate, Site Inventory, topoclimate, wall-o-water
Posted in Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Here’s a Quick Way to Find Your California Climate Zone
Sunset Magazine has the best and most useful climate classification system for gardeners and landscape architects. For years, landscape architects have used the Sunset Western Garden Book climate maps to help decode California’s complicated patchwork of climate zones and find…
Tagged with: Climate, Inventory, Plant Zones, Site Inventory, Sunset Climate Zone Maps
Posted in Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Everything I Used to Know About California’s Climate (And Wish I Could Remember)
Climate is an important and timely topic, but it has probably been a while since you took a climate class. This article is a brief refresher course on California’s climate that will help shake out the cobwebs in your brain…
Tagged with: Biomes, California Climate, Climate, Climate Zones, Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Start a Site Inventory You Can Be Proud Of
Site Inventory Process Sites are active networks that are intertwined in complex relationships between the site and its off-site environmental context. All landscape architect candidates must be knowledgeable of the procedures used to identify existing site conditions. These conditions can…
Posted in Site Inventory
Warning: NIMBY’s Can Ruin Your Project
Understanding the cultural landscape that the project exists in also involves understanding the basic demographic information about the surrounding area and comprehending the attitudes of the population.
Tagged with: Cultural Conditions, Cultural Inventory, NIMBY, Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Five Existing Natural Conditions To Identify in a Site Inventory
Landscape architects regularly inventory existing natural site conditions as part of a site inventory. There are several different natural existing conditions that landscape architects should be familiar with for the California Supplemental Exam (CSE) for landscape architects. According to the…
Tagged with: Climate, Existing Conditions, Existing Natural Conditions, Site Inventory, Soil, Subsurface Hydrology, Surface Hydrology, Topography, Vegetation
Posted in Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory
Where to Find Expansive Soils in California
Do you know where expansive soils are found in California? Check out the map below. It shows areas where you are more likely to encounter expansive soils.
Tagged with: Existing Conditions, Expansive Soils, Map, Natural Existing Conditions
Posted in Site Inventory
Posted in Site Inventory