Drawing a New Future: A Journey from Student to Landscape Professional

Before he was shaping ambitious backyard retreats, Bryce Rausch was living in a 40‑foot converted school bus and wondering what came next.

His journey from that bus to Clemson University, and then into a design‑build role at Keowee Pools, runs alongside another transformation: learning Vectorworks deeply enough that the software could grow with him, from class projects to complex pool construction.

Rausch didn’t begin in landscape architecture. He first studied business, then bought and converted a 40‑foot school bus, discovering in the process that he loved building, problem-solving, and working with his hands on tangible projects.

That experience, combined with time working for a custom home builder in Florida, pushed him toward architecture and eventually Clemson’s landscape architecture program, where the mix of plants, construction, and outdoor space “hit home” for him.

At Clemson, Rausch’s classes initially introduced him to AutoCAD, alongside a patchwork of other tools such as SketchUp and Photoshop. Motivated by his newfound passion, he quickly recognized the shortcomings of bouncing between programs and paying for multiple licenses, particularly when he could see how much time and mental energy he was spending reconstructing the same design in different environments.

That set the stage for his first encounter with Vectorworks Landmark at the ASLA Conference, where Vectorworks Product Specialist Tony Kostreski walked through a workflow that pulled together 2D drafting, 3D and site modeling, BIM‑driven quantities, and even built-in, landscape-specific tools and capabilities in a single environment.

“I thought, ‘Why would we not go and use Vectorworks rather than going through paying for SketchUp, paying for Photoshop, and all of these different applications?’” Rausch said.

He left that ASLA conference in Minneapolis convinced that learning a single comprehensive platform would better prepare him than stitching together several disconnected tools.

 Back on campus, Rausch dove into Vectorworks University tutorials, using the workflow- and industry-specific training rather than hunting through generic online content.

When it came time for Raush to build a site model for a class project, he searched for site modeling resources; when he wanted to explore retaining walls or path tools, he pulled up focused training on those topics. Those resources helped him move from experimentation to a more deliberate workflow.

One of Rausch’s defining academic projects was a large urban design studio in Asheville’s River Arts District, where he needed to reimagine roughly 75 acres tied to a historic arts and industrial landscape.

The scale was intimidating; he struggled at first to visualize topography, water movement, and the relationship between different program areas across the site. Building a site model in Vectorworks Landmark changed that.

With digital terrain, flow arrows, and section cuts, Rausch could see how water moved through the site, where he could flatten areas, and how to organize housing, entertainment, and park spaces without overloading every square foot.

Instead of constructing an enormous physical model, Rausch used Vectorworks’ 3D tools to rotate the site, cut sections wherever he needed, and iterate on the grading and layout. He experimented with site modifiers, paths, and planting tools, even when he didn’t yet understand every preference or setting, using the software as both a design lab and a teaching tool.

That early curiosity laid the groundwork for how he now approaches more technical construction work.

Rausch also became a Vectorworks advocate within his program at Clemson. He connected classmates to free educational licenses, introduced live “lunch and learn” sessions with Vectorworks experts such as Kostreski and Vectorworks Senior Product Marketing Manager Eric Gilbey, and served as an effective student ambassador.

Some professors were intrigued but wary of adding another platform into an already crowded curriculum; others saw his work as proof that an integrated BIM and modeling environment could help students move beyond linework to engage with site and structure as a whole.

After Rausch completed his degree in Landscape Architecture, he continued to deepen his preparedness with Vectorworks’ academic offerings, including the student2PRO program, which kickstarts students’ transition to the job market with 50% off a professional monthly or annual subscription for three years.

With his Vectorworks Landmark subscription at the ready, Rausch began work at Keowee Pools, a design‑build firm where he serves as an assistant project manager and drafter, moving between construction documentation, quantity takeoffs, and on‑site coordination.

On a typical day, the company’s president and designer collaborate with clients to develop a concept, then hand the chosen design to Rausch to translate it into detailed construction drawings. He builds dimensioned plans, plumbing layouts, and sections that the firm uses for permit submissions, engineering review, and coordination with foundation wall contractors.

Before Rausch arrived, Keowee Pools relied heavily on hand‑drawn plans, which led to the occasional issue with scale and made coordination more difficult.

Rausch’s initial internship and early full‑time work demonstrated to the firm that a Vectorworks‑based workflow could raise documentation standards and give engineers, builders, and inspectors greater confidence in each project.

This impact played a central role in his hiring. “They were already kind of thinking that they needed somebody like me to help with construction documentation, but I guess showing them how much the program can do helped their decision,” said Rausch. 

In construction documentation, Rausch leans on Wall styles, components, and 3D modeling to quickly generate sections and details that would’ve taken much longer with an amalgamation of different software.

“Vectorworks made the look of the details that go into the construction documents easier for me to make,” Rausch explained, describing how he can model a wall or pool profile, cut a section, and show concrete, rebar, and dimensions directly from the model rather than redrawing everything in 2D.

Where Rausch once might’ve spent an hour drafting a single section by hand, he now uses parametric objects and viewports to produce coordinated details that stay linked to the underlying design.

Rausch has also adapted Vectorworks’ irrigation and site tools to pool construction. For plumbing takeoffs, he routes lines using irrigation tools to measure run lengths and generate accurate pipe quantities for the supplier, tying documentation directly to ordering.

As projects move from paper to the field, he uses Vectorworks drawings to brief crews, answer questions about slopes or wall conditions, and propose revisions when real‑world constraints require design changes.

That level of fluency didn’t appear overnight. After graduating, Rausch chose to pursue the Vectorworks Professional Certification, using the on‑demand course and exam as a structured way to fill gaps in his knowledge. He saw the certification less as a badge and more as a guided deep dive into tools he’d touched but never fully mastered, even remembering back to his school projects: “I’d played around with the Path tool; I’d played around with the Planer Pad tool. . . Then, when the Certification came along, I started to remember the tools and saw what steps or information I was missing before,” he said.

The process also strengthened his reputation inside Keowee Pools, as well. “Doing that Certification in my head was proving to the company… that anything that they needed, I was going to be able to do without taking extra time in order to learn how to do it,” said Rausch.

Rausch also links that confidence directly to how he supports his colleagues, citing how Vectorworks has “helped me help them” understand that they can do things quicker using the program, such as automating drawings and takeoffs, freeing others to focus on site work and client relationships.

The student2PRO discount further simplified his move into practice, allowing him to bring a professional license into a small firm that was still testing whether a new platform fit its needs. However, Keowee Pools quickly came to rely on the quality of his Vectorworks‑based documentation.

Even as he supports day‑to‑day construction projects, Rausch spends a lot of time thinking about what comes next. His long‑term goal is to start his own firm and create immersive residential environments that integrate pools, landscape, and outdoor living in a single, cohesive vision.

He imagines backyards that feel like transporting experiences, where planting, water, and structure work together to make clients feel as if they’ve traveled somewhere far from home.

Vectorworks plays a central role in how he sees that future, too.

Rausch can move from concept modeling to construction‑ready drawings and estimates in one software; he believes he can pitch ambitious ideas while still giving clients and lenders a clear view of scope, cost, and buildability.

“I can have this freedom of design and freedom of structure … I think that the software has given me the opportunity to know that anything is possible. I’ll have the tools that I need in order to finish it or to make it real,” he said when speaking to using the software for pools and landscapes, but for potential entrepreneurial ventures like a brewery or other experience‑driven spaces, confident that he can model, quantify, and communicate those ideas effectively.

Still, Vectorworks is just one piece of Rausch’s story. His ambitions draw equally from that early bus conversion, woodshop experiments, and hands‑on construction management experience.

The real throughline from student to professional isn’t the software itself, but Rausch’s commitment to mastering a single, comprehensive environment early and carrying that into every role, from supporting professors and peers to helping colleagues and clients at Keowee Pools. As he eyes his own practice, that dedication gives him confidence that he can keep growing without losing the freedom that first drew him to design.

Featured image courtesy of Bryce Rausch, Keowee Pools.