Landscape Design Basics with SketchUp Pro

Since 2003, Gaia College has been offering holistic horticulture education to students all over the world. Our courses integrate essential knowledge of ecology, permaculture and organic gardening to build a solid ecological foundation for your career and/or personal life.

Course Overview

Overview

Image of yard and garden created using Sketchup Pro This course is an introduction to landscape design with Sketchup Pro.

In this unique course geared towards landscape applications we introduce a whole new integrated 3-dimensional design and modeling process.

Whether your preferred medium is pen and paper or a conventional 2-dimensional CAD program, the ability to work in 3 dimensions and view your work from all angles will undoubtedly enrich your creative design process. And the fluidity of non-static, 3-dimensional models will empower you to communicate your ideas to landscape decision makers who do not have the designer's ability to mentally project a 2-dimensional drawing into images of a real live landscape.

Here are some of the exciting, cutting edge techniques you will learn in this course:

Conventional presentation documents including a full set of 2-dimensional landscape plans
Computer-based presentations, slide shows and animations
Integration with imported design components, including base maps and construction elements
3-dimensional landscape modeling
Terrain modeling
Integration with Excel spreadsheets and Word documents
Integration with Google maps

Who should consider this course?

Landscape designers and architects
Permaculturists
Farmers
Land planners
Educators
Anybody tired of drafting by hand!

This course is only offered online. It is a prerequisite or co-requisite for our online Ecological Landscape Design course.

Outline

Please read the course outline here: Landscape Design Basics with Sketchup Pro Course Outline.

Time Expectations

Students can expect to dedicate 8-10 hours per week to successfully complete this course.

IMPORTANT: You must have a desktop or laptop computer that meets the hardware and software requirements of the Sketchup Studio program. It will not be possible to complete the assignments on a tablet, phone or similar hand held devices. Please review the technology tab above to learn more.

As well, our courses are offered in the continuing education realm and are designed so students can complete them according to their own schedule. The work is divided up into 14 weekly topics and students are expected to complete their assigned work and quizzes by the given deadlines.

Our courses do not use online meetings, so we are not using Google Meet, Zoom or other online meeting applications.

If you have any questions about studying online with Gaia College please see our FAQs page

Fees

Fees: $795.00

Fees include:

Comprehensive on-line educational materials
Unlimited access to our on-line course resources, community center, including libraries, discussion forums and much more.

Students will receive instructions on how to purchase a SketchUp Studio Student 1-Year License ($55 USD) during the first week of class.

Payment Options

By Mail: Cheque drawn on a Canadian bank; Money order in Canadian funds

On-line: Visa, Mastercard

Policies

Please be sure you are familiar with our policies.

Prerequisites

It is strongly recommended that students complete the Organic Master Gardener / Organic Horticulture Specialist and Ecological Plant Knowledge 1 - Natives courses prior to taking this course.

Additionally, students must:

be proficient in English (written)
be comfortable with current computer and internet technology
have an email account capable of receiving a large number of messages for the duration of the course
have access to high-speed internet
have access to a computer capable of running the current version of SketchUp Pro. It is not possible to complete the assignments on a tablet, phone or similar hand held devices. Please review the system requirements

This is not an introductory computer skills course, but an introduction to a very sophisticated computer assisted design program. In particular, facility in working with files on your computer is required. SketchUp Pro is used by professionals world-wide.

Technology

Students must use SketchUp Studio. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that they have the required computer hardware, with a supported operating system, to run SketchUp Pro 2020. The system requirements for SketchUp Pro can be found here.

Students will receive instructions on how to purchase a SketchUp Studio Student 1-Year License during the first week of class.

For students using an Apple computer we recommend using a three button mouse.

Credits

This program is eligible for Continuing Education Credits (CECs) with the following:

Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA)
Pre-approved:
24 credits

National Association of Landcare Professionals (NALP) – American
Pre-approved:
24 credits

B.C. Society of Landscape Architects
As per Society guidelines - eligibility of this program has been confirmed

Master Gardeners of Ontario Inc. (MGOI)
Pre-approved:
24 credits

Canadian Society for Organic Urban Land Care (SOUL)
Pre-approved: 6 Credits

Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA)
Pre-approved: 4 Credits

Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC)
Pre-approved: 56 Core LUs

Gaia College: Core course for Diploma in Organic Land Care
CLD designation offered through CNLA. Successful completion of the course may be used toward the achievement of the requirements for the Education component of the recertification process.