Perhaps fifteen years ago, I sat in a restaurant in Prince George. I was sharing a meal with an architect after completing a substantial completion review and we were discussing the shape of things to come. In particular, we were discussing evolving technologies and how they would affect design development. At the time, various 3D visualization solutions were becoming available to designers. SketchUp had been introduced in August 2000, though I was as yet unaware of it. 3D Studio Max and Lightwave were the platforms of choice but expensive and less than user-friendly. As I recall the conversation, there was a great deal of skepticism about the potential of 3D visualization. What a difference a decade and a half make. SketchUp is an important design tool for many practices and high quality digital renderings are common in presentation. This is just as true in Landscape design as in Architecture. The image above was created with a combination of AutoCAD, SketchUp and Vue. I look forward to what the future has to offer.
Donald V. S. Duncan / Landscape Architect 