landscape architecture

We've cried about structural engineers and spec'd overpriced retaining walls so it came time to be practical. A big thanks needs to go out to John Bodiford, Sr. Horticulturist of the SC Botanical Gardens for bursting the biggest Jeff and I had. Let's not beat around the bush, no pun intended, we were going to kill trees dead where they stand with the initial proposal for regrading the site. Two 18-24'' water oaks were on the chopping block, but I think we have saved the forest and tree huggers everywhere should celebrate. With the help of 500' of hot green string and a trunk full of 1x1 stakes, we have successfully taken over the site, created an interesting maze for onlooking children and found a way to preserve flat picnic areas, tree roots and amphitheater seating for the stage. After several hours and a few sore hammered thumbs on the site yesterday afternoon, Adam and I identified three terraced steps that can be reasonable created drawing from the hard lines of the stage and a few secondary entrances we are creating to the site. Following our discussion of threshold conditions, the landscaping will converse with both creek, picnickers, children at play and a performance volume of space yet to be defined. Rock faced gabion baskets abruptly meet the river to give a hard edge to the harsh line of modern nurturing and the feeder creek history. The threshold line becomes a conversation between what was and what is. The line bridging nature and community, demonstrating the unique opportunities both have to learn from each other. Linear axis pull the eye across the site and beg distraction to the greater, more subtle activity that moves through the grade, creek and shadows.

I think our newest design is the meeting of practicality and material possibility. Railroad ties will preserve an eco-footprint, lend to natural hues yet hold the soil for our purposes. With some strategic rebar anchoring, I believe we can retard soil movement and provide bench seating, observation levels, picnic platforms and even an audience for the stage. See a photo I found with some case studies of railroad terrace interventions. Our walls will no higher than 3', but the orientations is the same with a similar effect.

terraces, erosion control and you

After researching today, I think our best solution for erosion control in our terraced ampitheater will need to be completely covered with some type of coir blanket or geotextile. I really want to minimize the visibility of any installation in the contours to keep the design look natural so to avoid the manufactured appearance.

Enkamat

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.maccaferri.co.uk/images/images/image/IMAGES00345.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.maccaferri.co.uk/PAGES00273.html&h=180&w=180&sz=22&hl=en&start=17&tbnid=ZfLrYKEq4qjMEM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=101&prev=/images%3Fq%3Derosion%2Bcoir%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

Monday I'm going to contact the Botanical Gardens for advice with vegitation options and erosion specific solutions to the climate and soil composition of our site.

Our group needs to move quickly to securing materials and pricing the work as our ground break is approaching quickly.

Cooper Lib out..

Surveys, Review Boards and Retaining Walls

This week has flown by with better progress than I had hoped. The group has begun to divide and concor and I think everyone has found interested in their responsibilities. The presentation could not have gone better on Tuesday night considering the state of disfunction we were just prior to walking into City Hall. I think we, as a group, now recognize the development that we need to have in order to move forward. Earlier, it was not always clear as to the next step in our process considering our inexperience with real worl design build applications.

Yesterday a faction of the Clemson crew surveyed the site in the dark. I don't even think Professor Sarasua thought we'd be idiots enough to try and survey our site on a cold Thursday...but we were, and we did. Our contour map will answer our questions about grading and fill needed for our landscape plan.

Today we talked about several differnt options for retaining walls since we can't use the recycled bottles or can bails. Initially I thought recycled aggregate would work, but a large concrete wall is not the aesthetic look we are designing for in this park. Jeff has found product data and researched gabion(loose rock walls contained in wire mesh) to use similar to the recycled bottle bails. From the structural diagrams and case studies on the interent, it looks like the cost and installation will be perfect for our application. I'm a little worried about the availability of some of these rocks in our area. As we researched, I remembered a vegitative wall in Madrid, Spain from my study abroad. Patrick Blanc, a french artist, designs vertical gardens on buildings all over europe and on a much simpler scale, I think the open cell design of these gabions will be perfect for some type of landscape intervention. My initial thought from some research was a berry of some sort to attract wildlife, but Jeff and I are both concerned with kids eating the berries...which would not be good. Either using some type of vine, planted in soil, built into the gabions, or fabricating pots that adhere to the mesh themselves, we could use the wall as a canvas to create shapes, messages or other designs...possibly with imput from students in the community.

http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/mainen.php
http://www.gabions.net/downloads/Documents/MGS_Color_020305.pdf

I found this website that discusses all kinds of gardeing possibilities in retaining walls and with more research, I think some of the plants mentioned might serve us some good. Ultimately, I believe we might need to talk someone at the Botanical Gardens with suggestions of local plants that will accomodate our needs. Most sites seem to suggest the most important factor in design is the local climate.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/nwest/msg071510479505.html

Rural Studio succeeds

Although we toured and reviewed many Rural Studio projects in our travels, due to the time of year and length of our trip, I felt we were unable to accurately grasp how well many of the projects have been successful on the scale of the community. Easily, I believe the housing modules, being inhabited, regardless of community opinion were successful simply because the students constructed a livable space, below budget, sustainable, that are used. Overall however, I was most impressed with the work to the alternative school we visited. On the morning we arrived, the school was 'in session' and several students were using the space clearly as it was intended. The retrofit interior spaces were creative, inventive and highly flexible for a variety of activities. School children can be a very demanding user group with ever evolving needs and wants. I found the interior storage, work spaces, display areas to be designed and construction in a well understood datum of materials with a hierarchy comprehended by even the most challenging of pupils that occupied the space. The construction methods were clearly student driven, but I respected the use of manageable materials that the student labor understood and mastered. The project left me desiring more permanence in the construction as I noticed connections and envelope sealing issues that will require maintenance, but at the scale of the project, the work was inhabitable, useful and most importantly: occupied. Although the project required a very regimented program, the students still managed to design significant programming space. I was impressed by the creative dual purpose to the storage that disguised and performed as building insulation. Our own projects in SC need to serve multiple functions and the Clemson group I am working with has identified multiple needs for the site. These demands will manifest themselves in multi functional designs and structures patterned off the ideas displayed by the students of the rural studio. I am in hopes our canopy/covering structure can begin to open, unfold and serve the needs of the future community occupants, but accomplish those design needs of functionality, support and cover simultaneously. In our upcoming design sessions, importance will be on pushing purpose of materials and design moves incorporating the idea of responsible design before aesthetic design to achieve sustainable practices on the level of theory before practice begins.

Studio Steward

i. Initially, I am excited by the interaction and cooperation with the community as a whole, both during project construction and the future relationship that forms between the new site and its occupants. I see a tremendous opportunity anytime the general public of a particular area can be reached through art and design. With our dynamic group, I am confident both sites and community groups can rediscover their prospective sites, not physically, but through reclamation, memorial and historical revival, environmental education in energy conservation and preservation.

ii. I am in hopes we receive helpful feedback from focus groups or town hall meetings. I see these interactions serving a dual purpose: to gather information and introduce ourselves. I am in hopes through construction and design meetings, our group will interact on a personal level with the community user groups to offer solutions on a personal level. Our work with both the city of Pendleton and city of Clemson should strengthen that relationship and open the door for future opportunities to take studio to the field.

iii. Working in large groups always proves challenging and knowing our group dynamic, I see the greatest challenge will be identifying those strengths each brings and using those efficiently to a cooperative process. I am confident in the abilities of our groups, but I would ere on the side of caution when push comes to shove and we must unite for one design and one project direction.