Link to slides
Link to HBB Landscape Architecture
Juliet Vong is the president of HBB Landscape Architecture, and has been a Landscape Architect since she left college - why? Because she loves the variety of projects she works on, and she gets to be creative, see things built that she designs and works on, and she gets to be outside.
When Juliet was in high school she liked art, and math (or more specifically the logic of math) and then knew she liked thinking about what wasn't known like understanding the stars. She got excited about the idea of astronomy however when she took a high school class in the subject, which was at night, outside and cold (did I mention she lived in Alaska) she realized it wasn't quite the subject she thought it was going to be. So her next thought was to combine the logic and art and perhaps consider Philosophy at college, but then she couldn't imagine what she'd do with that once she left college. Then she came across Landscape Architecture!
She applied to a lot of universities all over the US. Her dad gave her advice that she should pick a place to go that she could imagine living after college. He also challenged her with finding 'opposite' universities to consider - so when she picked a small one rural one, he'd recommend a big city one. Eventually University of Washington was the top choice.
She loved the course as it combined lots of different elements. Originally she thought she was going to be more focused on plants but one of her professors mentioned she had a natural leaning towards urban types of environments - over time she realized that was the direction she wanted to move in. While in college she wanted to do an internship and asked her professors for advice. They suggested rather than an internship to do a Practicum - this is like an internship but is unpaid but you get college credit for it. Juliet approached a number of companies asking for a practicum opportunity as because the company didn't have to pay for her it made it easier for them to say yes, and she then also had a bit more control over discussing what she wanted to work on. Juliet did her practicum with HHB, which would eventually become her employer after college.
Juliet went from practicum 'intern' to become President of the company! She remembers telling her boss in a career conversation that her short-term goals were to become skilled in landscape architecture, but long-term she wanted to run her own business one day. After a couple of years the owners said they thought she could become an owner-partner at the firm one day. And she did!
HBB does a lot of community based design projects. She engages a lot with the public to understand their needs and to get input on ideas and to help them understand the plans. She works a lot with artists (e.g., sculptures), architects and engineers. She showed some photos from the Mercer Corridor East project and explained how the design went from sketches to action - that involved taking a one lane road and making it two, and adding a park seating area and some elements of interest.
Another project that she found fun to work on was to design a Technical Trail for 4x4 vehicles. She and her team were on site for a few days and had to hack their way through a forest area determining how to create a trail that would be suitable for the vehicles that would be challenging, safe, and make use of the landscape. She had to consult with expert 4x4 trail drivers to help understand the sport and what would make a great course.
The final project she mentioned was coming up with a landscape solution for a public space around a 'smelly' transfer station (location where people bring the garbage and trash that doesn't fit in regular trash cans). The community wanted a park and through discussions with the public they designed a park space that had elements of parkour principals (structures that can be climbed on so you can get around the park without touching the ground!).
Juliet loves her job because she's never bored as there are always new types of projects coming her way. She always finds time in her day to have fun.
Link to HBB Landscape Architecture
Juliet Vong is the president of HBB Landscape Architecture, and has been a Landscape Architect since she left college - why? Because she loves the variety of projects she works on, and she gets to be creative, see things built that she designs and works on, and she gets to be outside.
When Juliet was in high school she liked art, and math (or more specifically the logic of math) and then knew she liked thinking about what wasn't known like understanding the stars. She got excited about the idea of astronomy however when she took a high school class in the subject, which was at night, outside and cold (did I mention she lived in Alaska) she realized it wasn't quite the subject she thought it was going to be. So her next thought was to combine the logic and art and perhaps consider Philosophy at college, but then she couldn't imagine what she'd do with that once she left college. Then she came across Landscape Architecture!
She applied to a lot of universities all over the US. Her dad gave her advice that she should pick a place to go that she could imagine living after college. He also challenged her with finding 'opposite' universities to consider - so when she picked a small one rural one, he'd recommend a big city one. Eventually University of Washington was the top choice.
She loved the course as it combined lots of different elements. Originally she thought she was going to be more focused on plants but one of her professors mentioned she had a natural leaning towards urban types of environments - over time she realized that was the direction she wanted to move in. While in college she wanted to do an internship and asked her professors for advice. They suggested rather than an internship to do a Practicum - this is like an internship but is unpaid but you get college credit for it. Juliet approached a number of companies asking for a practicum opportunity as because the company didn't have to pay for her it made it easier for them to say yes, and she then also had a bit more control over discussing what she wanted to work on. Juliet did her practicum with HHB, which would eventually become her employer after college.
Juliet went from practicum 'intern' to become President of the company! She remembers telling her boss in a career conversation that her short-term goals were to become skilled in landscape architecture, but long-term she wanted to run her own business one day. After a couple of years the owners said they thought she could become an owner-partner at the firm one day. And she did!
HBB does a lot of community based design projects. She engages a lot with the public to understand their needs and to get input on ideas and to help them understand the plans. She works a lot with artists (e.g., sculptures), architects and engineers. She showed some photos from the Mercer Corridor East project and explained how the design went from sketches to action - that involved taking a one lane road and making it two, and adding a park seating area and some elements of interest.
Another project that she found fun to work on was to design a Technical Trail for 4x4 vehicles. She and her team were on site for a few days and had to hack their way through a forest area determining how to create a trail that would be suitable for the vehicles that would be challenging, safe, and make use of the landscape. She had to consult with expert 4x4 trail drivers to help understand the sport and what would make a great course.
The final project she mentioned was coming up with a landscape solution for a public space around a 'smelly' transfer station (location where people bring the garbage and trash that doesn't fit in regular trash cans). The community wanted a park and through discussions with the public they designed a park space that had elements of parkour principals (structures that can be climbed on so you can get around the park without touching the ground!).
Juliet loves her job because she's never bored as there are always new types of projects coming her way. She always finds time in her day to have fun.