An Efficient Workflow Set in Stone WORDS & PHOTOS: AARON RAINES , RESIDENTIAL MANAGER AT LIVE GREEN LANDSCAPES ASSOCIATES, LLC
Masonry Design | 25
Growing up, I always knew I wanted a career
that would get me outside and thinking creatively.
So, when I found landscape architecture in high
school, I knew I had found a way to piece my
passions together to create a fulfilling career.
While attending Penn State, I developed a
passion for the natural environment and began
exploring how a landscape designer can pull
the existing, natural surroundings into his or her
designs. I learned how to explore and understand
the context of the areas where I was working
and designing in order to accomplish the design
intent, while using elements from the surrounding
native ecosystem, such as locally sourced stone
products, to highlight those features.
Years later, I am the residential landscape
manager at Live Green Landscape Associates,
LLC, a full-service design-build landscape
contractor firm. Recently, we have taken on
several natural stone projects, and with the help
of Vectorworks Landmark software, we have
been able to fit the pieces together to create truly
beautiful work.
FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION
Initially, when we meet with a client for a natural
stone project, we conduct a site visit and look at
the existing conditions to assess the conditions of
the house and existing stone or masonry feature.
That way, the final design is seamlessly
integrated and cohesive with the rest of the
environment in the area, ensuring it doesn’t look
out of place.
If there is no context available, or if no other
natural stone is onsite, we typically advise our
clients to go with something native to their local
area. For example, if we are working in Northern
Maryland, we will suggest selecting a type of
stone from a local quarry.
Then, in terms of the design itself, we look at how
to tie in the architectural features from the house
so at the completion of the project the stone looks
as if it were there all along; it shouldn’t look like
an afterthought or a retrofit. With these
considerations in mind, we then create a
presentation board comprised of images, example
photos of our past work on similar projects, and
drawings of the proposed design. After we have
presented it to the client and they have approved
the plan, we move onto the final phase:
construction.
THE TOOLS IN OUR TOOLBOX
When we are working on the design side of a
project, we use a laser level to capture several