The Washington Landscape Architecture Seal - Time for a Change?

A conversation at a recent WASLA Executive Board meeting included some very definite opinions on the size and configuration of our Washington landscape architect seal. The problem appears to be twofold: the stamp doesn’t fit in most standard title blocks and somehow the “Peace Tree” image in the seal design evolved into a tree with distinct little hearts in the branches which some licensees found objectionable. My old stamp doesn’t have the little hearts but the newer official seal does.

Some EC members felt that the tree image reinforces a stereotype that landscape architects are only about plants, that the oversize stamp makes us look like a profession that is incapable or unwilling to have a seal that would fit within a title block as the other design professional’s seals do and that the little hearts in the tree image are probably more appropriate for middle school girls. That said, we have a history with the Peace Tree stamp that I’m fairly sure extends back to about 1966 and it is probably recognizable by many people as the landscape architect stamp for Washington.

Should the stamp be modified to fit in a “standard” title block? Let the WASLA executive committee know by voting in this poll and we will or will not make a recommendation to the state Landscape Architect Board based on your vote. Samples of the Washington, Oregon, and Alaska stamps are displayed here. Thank you.

-Curtis LaPierre, ASLA 

[Thank you to Curtis LaPierre and Laura Thompson for the examples] 

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