Matthew R. Matthiesen, Landscape Architect

"Landscape architecture encompasses the analysis, planning, design, management, and stewardship of the natural and built environments. Types of projects include: residential; parks and recreation; monuments; urban design; streetscapes and public spaces; transportation corridors and facilities; gardens and arboreta; security design; hospitality and resorts; institutional; academic campuses; therapeutic gardens; historic preservation and restoration; reclamation; conservation; corporate and commercial; landscape art and earth sculpture; interior landscapes; and more. Landscape architects have advanced education and professional training and are licensed in 47 states."
- American Society of Landscape Architects

The upper Midwest, Northwest Iowa, Spencer. There were once visions of practicing in a large Landscape Architecture firm, located in a metropolitan area with a large economy and an appetite for unlimited uses of Landscape Architecture. Well, as good luck would have it, circumstances landed my career in Spencer, Iowa. Spencer?...Where’s that? If you get out a map of the United States it’s wedged right between Los Angeles and New York City.

My point is that my career is right where I wanted it to be. Today, as is the case with most professional careers, technology has taken the Earth, reduced its literal size, and placed it in a box beside my drafting table. With unlimited resources, ease of communication and the opportunity to collaborate with other design professionals, a small Landscape Architecture office is without boundaries.

Parks and recreation, site design and master planning have always been my primary interest, but rural America will always call for residential garden design and I embrace that. Iowa has always been our permanent home. My wife and I have made the decision to stay here, raise a family and enjoy everything it has to offer.