Landscape Architect Ronald Gregory Interview 2




	V5: Do you think that more first hand involvement in the construction phase would be helpful? Such as design build? RG: I think design build is one particular philosophy on construction and does not necessarily work for all projects, although it does work for some. One of our beefs with design build is that we think it is all too likely that the quality of design may be sacrificed to meet the budget. Whereas if you go through the time honored traditional way of having the designer prepare the design and put it out to bid, any cost savings will be reached by the contractors competing with one another to come up with the lowest possible price. That is another approach, but in that scenario the design is not sacrificed for expedient installation or coming up with a low budget. So as far as the quality of being on-site, there is not that much difference between both processes. It just depends on how much time our clients would like us to spend on-site, whether it is design build or design bid. We feel it is helpful to have time on-site to ensure that the design is being put in per plan. Also if any changes must be made in the field, it would be with the goal of having the design turn out well as opposed to what is expedient, which is what generally occurs when the contractor makes the field decisions. V5: You also have an office in San Diego, as well as here in Palm Desert. How would you characterize the differences in working with two very different climate zones? RG: The main difference between here and San Diego is that San Diego has one of the finest climates in the world relative to plant material selection. We can plant anything there and it will do well! It makes our job easier in some ways and in other ways makes our job harder, because with a much wider palette of plant materials from which to select, we have more of an opportunity to be creative then we have here in the desert. Here we have a fairly finite group of plants that we can select from. Plants that are not only tough enough to withstand colder winters but also particularly hot summers. Most blooming plants, we have found, are subject to frost damage; they are not typically as hardy as non-blooming plants. Everyone wants color here, yet when we have a frost; it is the blooming plants that freeze first. So it is very hard to have our cake and eat it too.




	View from residence at Bighorn Country Club, Palm Desert, California.



		Redstone Residence, view from entry drive.



	Redstone Residence, view from spa.



South view from the Westin Hotel, Rancho Mirage.




		Interview with Ronald Gregory by Joan Hacker

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Mark Logan Landscapein g contractor.

V5: So at the beginning of the year you get out the Farmers Almanac?

RG: Yes, we always refer to that and our horoscopes before doing design here. (laughs)

V5: What was the most challenging project you have ever worked on?

RG: Our most challenging projects are typically residences with what I would call "difficult clients". In residential work we form a relationship with
the client, and if the client is particularly disagreeable or fickle or overly demanding, we may perhaps find it very difficult, if not impossible
to please the client. That becomes a real challenge to keep your chin up and continue to be helpful and friendly even though the client perhaps does not deserve it.

We have some projects that are unusual, where we have to do a type of landscape design where there is not irrigation and the plants need to be
irrigated by hand for the first year and then left on their own. That is generally a tough call to have it look halfway decent while it is in the growing process. But even those are less challenging than having to meet with someone where you feel you are going into combat. (laughs)

V5: They most likely have an idea in their head and expect you to make it work, then you have to come back and tell them it may not be in their best
interest to want this.

RG: Right, people assume that we are mind readers. They have a certain picture in their minds and expect us to see it. We found out years ago that the toughest client is the one who says, "You are the experts, you do whatever you want and when we come back in October, we know it will be
perfect." We have learned the hard way that that is unacceptable, that people will never see a freshly planted landscape and be happy because they
are expecting something that has been in the ground for two or three years. So we insist that the clients come back during installation just to see the
work going in, so they have an idea of what is going on.

V5: I know that you have done some projects in other countries, what was that like?

RG: We have done a few projects in Mexico and a golf course in Malaysia. They were of course interesting; the project in Malaysia was most
interesting because we never got paid. (laughs) So we learned a lot. We did a residential project in Mexicali and the interesting part was a different
set of design guidelines and the different types of plant material.

V5: Did you have to do research on the plants native to Mexico?

RG: Yes, although for the project in Mexicali, the plants are virtually identical to the palette of materials we use here, so that was a "no brainer", but they did have different cultural requirements.

V5: Such as?

RG: Well, the house was built as a compound, impenetrable from the street, so everything was designed there was what I would call insular. It was mainly views from the house looking out towards the walls of the compound. So we had to create a little world within the walls and it was actually fun. We also had a very enthusiastic client, which was helpful.

V5: What were some of the plants that you used?

RG: Same plants that we use here. A lot of flowering plants, such as hibiscus and bougainvillea, and we also had a fair amount of turf.

V5: How did you treat the wall area?

RG: We used a lot of espallias, carolina jasmine, bougainvillea and larger shrubs so that we did not have vines everywhere.

V5: Did you incorporate the use of fountains?

RG: Yes, and not unsurprisingly, we used tiered, Mexican fountains, (laughs) which the client seemed to really like. He had a real appreciation of the courtyard area. For some reason, I think the scale of the courtyard just called for a fountain and it seemed like the right way to go; it felt good.

V5: So he was happy with the finished product?

RG: He paid us. (laughs)

V5: Would you like to continue to do projects in other countries?

RG: Not really. I have found that it is not cost effective. For example, we have a project right now in El Paso, Texas, which is hardly overseas, but it
is still basically two plane flights away. We find that aside from the glamour and the interesting aspect of doing a project far away, there is a lot time and energy spent on just transportation which takes away a disproportionate amount of time from projects that are closer. I found that traveling to do work, after the initial enthusiasm of getting the project, is difficult to do in a cost-effective way. I would say it is always fun to get a project somewhere far away, but we have to be careful, especially with our golf course work. We have a lot of opportunities to do golf course projects away from this area, such as Las Vegas, Nevada. We are always doing one or two there.

V5: But that is a feasible driving distance.

RG: Yes, it is drivable, but you are still looking at four or four and half hours driving time each way. That is not cost effective. So I have always prefer to have projects close to home.

V5: Yes, you can keep a closer eye on it, and if something goes wrong, you can be there quickly.

RG: Yes, it’s more efficient.

V5: What are some of the tools you use in your studio?

RG: All of our employees have a computer set up with a program for computer assisted drafting. We have found that there is still no replacement for
drawing things by hand for certain conceptual drawings. Frankly with certain projects, it is just quicker to work by hand. So I would say about half our employees are skilled in the old fashioned, time honored hand drafting. Some of our newer employees have no experience in drafting by hand, which I find kind of odd. I guess I am an old timer, in the sense that I simply refuse to learn how to use the computer to draft, probably because I do not enjoy drafting that much anymore.

V5: Do you use any computer programs for renderings?

RG: No, we do renderings by hand.

V5: How about models?

RG: Almost never. On the extremely rare instances where a client wants a model, we will hire someone else to do it. Typically, in our type of work, models are not generally requested. Renderings and perspectives are the things that clients feel most comfortable with. Models are generally more important for three-dimensional structures where people can see what they
look like. Since most of our work is mainly landscape, the few structures that we design, such as entrance gates and waterfalls, come across quite well with perspectives.