ENTERING a multidisciplinary career field which incorporated architectural design, botany, horticulture, geology, earth science, and environmental psychology was Mark Martin’s dream 30 years ago.

Today, Martin, a landscape architect and lecturer at the Caribbean School of Architecture, University of Technology (UTech), says he can boast that he has found and is enjoying such a career choice.

Although not a well-known field in Jamaica, landscape architecture is popular in the United States and elsewhere. The acceptance of this career choice, Martin said, is slowly growing locally, as Jamaicans take the design of their green, built environment more seriously.

After completing his secondary education at St George’s College in Kingston, Martin, 56, left Jamaica for the USA where he pursued his first degree in economics and finance after which he started pursuing his architectural studies.

“In 1987, I started refurbishing homes in South Florida and I found myself being quite creative in the landscaping,” he said. “It gave me the greatest joy versus removing drywalls or fixing floor tiles.”

He later pursued his second degree, a master’s in landscape architecture, and since then has blossomed in the field.

“After practising for 12 years, I was invited to teach at the Graduate School of Design at Florida International University in Miami. I taught landscape construction, South Florida ecology, landscape ecology, and theory of design,” the lecturer, who currently trains young architecture students to become landscape architects at UTech, said.

Given his desire to return to Jamaica, he contacted UTech with the idea of offering students the option of a course in landscape architecture.

“I wanted to assist in better preparing young architects to understand the natural environment and the role that landscape architects play in the design world. Two years later, [I was called] to prepare the inaugural course,” Martin told Career & Education.

For the past year he has been teaching the course to students on the verge of graduating, and this week shares with Career & Education some information about what it takes to be a landscape architect.

What is the value of the work that you do?

A landscape architect’s work is invaluable. If landscape architects were called in first by developers, I truly feel you would have projects that would be more holistic and financially rewarding. Think about it — you wouldn’t have developers or homeowners cutting down every tree and pressing marl on every square inch. With an experienced landscape architect, they would select an architect who understands the environment and the partnership would complement the project. The developer would get an environmentally superior completed project by working with nature instead of against it.

What do you enjoy most about the work that you do?

I am one of the luckiest professionals in the world. I love that I get to work with nature every day. I get to teach my busy clients things about nature, about creating environments, to enjoy the sound of water and of birds, to smell the natural fragrance of flowers. I get to make the world more beautiful. What’s not to enjoy?

What qualifications are required?

Some countries require a bachelor’s degree and years of apprenticeship, while others require a master’s degree. Jamaica is way behind most developed countries because they forbid landscape architects from using the title ‘architect’. In Miami, you cannot get a permit to begin a major project without a review and seal from a landscape architect. It’s a shame because Australia, Canada, England, and the US don’t seem to have an issue with landscape architects using that title.

What are the challenges that you face on the job?

Like any other professional, the challenges can be numerous; it just depends on your outlook. Creating a design and managing a project involves both sides of the brain so if I don’t turn off one at the right time, I can’t do either well. Other challenges are when a client feels they know more than you and they miss out on so much.

Landscape architects know horticulture or project management. In Jamaica, all my large-scale projects involve building a nursery to grow mature plants. There are only a handful of professional nurseries in Jamaica and at times, it can be difficult to locate the plants you need at the size specified. I also provide professional maintenance and write manuals for clients to ensure that my designs are not destroyed by gardeners who may be unfamiliar with a professional design.

Also, in Jamaica, many wealthy prospective clients cannot imagine paying landscape architects professional fees. I hope my work in Jamaica and my lectures will change that way of thinking.

What advice do you have for others who wish to become landscaping architects?

Be prepared to work day and night. It is not a nine-to-five job. And never forget what the Senegal-born environmentalist Baba Dioum said in his 1968 speech in

New Delhi to the general assembly of the International Union for Conservation of Nature: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.”