Landscape Architecture

Landscape Architecture requirements

1. Go to a completed landscape project that a landscape architect has designed. Before you visit the site, obtain a plan of the design from the landscape architect if one is available.
2. After completing requirement 1, discuss the following with your merit badge counselor:

   a. Tell whether the design had separate spaces, a clear path system, and sun and shade variety.

   b. Discuss how the designated seating, eating, or parking area suited the overall design.

   c. Explain how the design reflected consideration for the comfort, shelter, and security of the users.

   d. Discuss how the choice of trees, shrubs, and ground covers used in the project contributed to its appeal and function.

3. Identify five shrubs, five trees, and one ground cover, being sure that you select examples of different shapes, sizes, and textures. With the help of your counselor or a local nursery, choose plants that will grow in your area. Bring pictures of the different planting materials or, if possible, examples of their branches, leaves, or flowers to a troop meeting. Be prepared to tell how you might use each in the design of a landscape.
4. Look at and study a place of worship or school grounds to find the place where most people arrive by bus or car. Show you can do the following:

   a. Using a measuring tape, measure and draw the entry and its nearby area using a scale of 1/8 inch equal to 1 foot on an 11-by-17 inch piece of paper. Be sure to include the driveway and the wall and door where people enter the school or place of worship.

   b. Indicate any sidewalks, structures, trees, and plants within the study area. Make a copy of this plan to save the original, then do 4b and 4c using the copies.

   c. On one copy, use directional arrows to indicate where the water drains across the site, where ditches occur, and where water stands for a longer period of time.

5. Decide how you can make the place safer and more comfortable for those using it. Redesign the area on another copy of the plan. You may want to include new walks, covered waiting areas, benches, space-defining plantings of trees and shrubs, and drainage structures.
6. Find out about three career opportunities in landscape architecture. Pick one and find out the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why this profession might interest you.

The official source for the information shown in this article or section is: Boy Scout Requirements, 2015 Edition (BSA Supply SKU #620714)

A FREE workbook for Landscape Architecture is available here! with the maps, charts, links, diagrams, and checklists you need! Or click here to print just the Landscape Architecture requirements.

meritbadge.org has PDF and DOC versions of Boy Scout merit badge workbooks, Webelos workbooks, and Cub Scout workbooks.

• Per the BSA: "You should read the merit badge pamphlet on the subject." Pamphlets (books) are at local Scout Shops and online at ScoutStuff.org.
• "Get a signed Merit Badge application from your Scoutmaster." An online, printable Word doc file version is available.

• Boy Scout Merit Badges: American Business - Architecture - Aviation - Chemistry - Crime Prevention - Dentistry - Engineering - Entrepreneurship - Inventing - Journalism - Landscape Architecture - Law - Medicine - Personal Management - Pulp and Paper - Salesmanship - Surveying - Textile - Veterinary Medicine
• Webelos Activity Badges: Engineer - Scientist
• Cub Scout Belt Loops & Pins: Mathematics - Science

• An Introduction to Merit Badges – how to get started, who chooses the counselor, etc.
• Merit Badge Worksheets & Requirements – with the revision dates, diagrams, charts, checklists, logs, and links you need.
• Merit Badge Application – offers online resources to let you print "Blue Cards," etc.
• Merit Badge FAQ – answers dozens of questions like: Who can be a counselor? Can requirements be added or removed?
• Merit Badges Requiring Prior Approval – Certain requirements need prior approval. Most do not. Here is the list.
• Also see: List of how many boys have earned each Merit Badge – Merit Badge policies – Merit badges required for the Eagle Scout rank – Merit Badge Days
• Additionally: List of Merit Badges by Field of Study – Merit Badge Pamphlets & Libraries
• Merit Badge Counselors must complete Youth Protection Training, file an Adult Application (and Merit Badge Counselor Information Form); and be approved by the local council. (See the Guide for Merit Badge Counselors for additional details.)