Landscape+Design

David Raphael Stephanie Hurley
 * Mentors:**

Kelsey Pratt  Sarah Barlow  Liz Elmstrom  Emily Ebert  Lauren Bissonnette  Aaron Rice  Mia Smith
 * Team Members:**

The campus serves as a microcosm for the community as a whole, and the Aiken Center likewise will serve the Rubenstein School community. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson, in designing the University of Virginia referred to the campus as the “Academical Village”. Landscape design for the campus should serve and support the academic mission and functional needs of the campus. It would be useful to look at recently completed buildings in the vicinity (i.e the Davis Center and the Jeffords building) to see how the exterior landscape for those projects have been addressed and whether those solutions have been successful. //(Take some notes on these, and be ready to discuss other campus buildings' landscapes when we next meet.)// This semester, our job is to take a close look at the site and environs around the Aiken Center and to propose sustainable and appropriate landscape solutions. Some considerations:

• alternative and low maintenance landscape options employing  • creative and innovative ways to convey the mission of the School in the exterior environment  • educational uses of the outdoors...and ways to integrate outdoor art or sculpture  • areas to provide for better social interaction as well as use of the outdoor environment  • ways for the school to set a standard or to make a philosophical statement  • methods to improve the energy conservation potential of the grounds  • ideas you may have for integrating the landscape with architecture

__Assignment #1 Initial Site Analysis__ //**DUE DATE:** to be announced very soon, when we figure out a meeting time where the maximum number of group members can be present...//



Read the instructions and use this Landscape Plan as described.

And here's a newer version of the plan, for comparison:

Assignment #1 is a predecessor to our more Detailed Site Analysis (Assignment #2, instructions in same doc with Assignment 1), which we will work on in two or three teams during the next few weeks. You can start thinking about the second assignment as early as, well, right now, and bring your ideas to the next group meeting...

__Assignment #2 Detailed Site Analysis__ //DUE DATE: **March 17, Thursday** at all-class meeting 5:30 pm//


 * EXAMPLES OF BOTH HAND-DRAWN AND COMPUTERIZED SITE ANALYSES CAN BE FOUND IN THIS DOCUMENT:**

At the meeting today we were getting confused about the sides of the building so we decided to rename each area of the building as follows. This way we can all refer to the areas by one name and avoid confusion. - Aaron Wildflower seed mix: http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/index.php?p=product&id=222&parent=3

__**ASSIGNMENT FOR 4/12, TUESDAY, 2-4PM LANDSCAPE GROUP MEETING**__ **Room TBD**

Each team should come prepared with a **final landscape plan** for Aiken. This should include design elements for each of the areas surrounding Aiken (highlighted in the map above), a plant list (at least a general idea of the plant palette), and any other landscape elements you may wish to include (e.g., bike racks, paving materials, raingardens, water features, stonework, etc.).

Each team will have an opportunity to **present their ideas as shown in the plan to the whole group.**

By the end of the presentation/discussion we need to decide together whether to: (A) combine ideas from separate plans into one cohesive plan, (B) present multiple different plan alternatives in our posters (for the Davis Center final presentation on 4/28), or (C) a combination of A and B.

We will then divide up **responsibilities** for the final poster(s), including layout, text, final plan graphics, collecting/redrawing site analysis info, assembling images of the plant palette, and doing the writeup for the next RSENR newsletter deadline.


 * If you need more materials (trace, markers, etc.) you can borrow them from me in 200 Hills****.**

IN REGUARDS TO THE FINAL PLAN Hi, Just in case some of the drawings are unclear here is an explanation of what each of the sections we proposed to contain. in the **Courtyard Side** (the side facing hills) we designed a birch grove comprised of white paper and river birch, if there was a to successfully culture a yellow birch we would have liked to incorporate one of those as well. In this birch grove we proposed a stone patch (rocks with patches of grass in-between) to try and avoid paths made by students. If needed the area within this birch grove could be am un-mowed area to help achieve LEED requirements. Also in this area we thought that Adirondack chairs and picnic tables would be highly utilized by students. A potential workshop could be held to construct the Adirondack chairs if funding is low; we presume that many students would like to take part in their construction. Lastly for this section we moved the proposed trees closer together and the white oak to the end of the loading dock. This was done to allow room for our birch grove. The next section that we tackled was **Loading Dock**//.// The cedar was left the same, as in the original plan, and would hide the transformer to the right of the loading dock. The only addition we added to this area was converting the material of the loading dock to pervious pavement. In regards to the **circle side** or the “main entrance” of the **Aiken Center** we added two new planting beds for Rubenstein students to mirror the ones at Jeffords. These planters would be to the left of the loading dock and intermixed with lavender or Spirea. The Spirea is not native and could be taken out of the plan if need be. In this same plot we proposed additional bike parking so that we could avoid the potential of bikes being locked to trees. The strip between the side walk and road would be designed native flower beds in the areas that the slope permitted. Where the slope was too steep, grass was proposed. These flowerbeds would be a variety of different flowers but not a wildflower mix. The flowers would include a selected variety of black-eyed Susans, sunflowers, purple cone flowers and asters. The beds would also contain bulbs for daffodils, crocuses, iris, and tulips in a variety of colors. Mirroring this bed on the opposite side next to the solarium would be another flower bed. In this bed the sunflowers would be planted in the back or not at all depending on what the height difference from the ground to the solarium is. We did not want to block or take away from the solarium. Directly on either side of the entered we proposed a few lilac bushes as-well, hoping that this would looking aesthetically pleasing to visitors. For the **Davis Center Side** we proposed a mini apple orchard. In this section we were going to leave alone the existing fruit tree and add additional ones. We proposed Vermont Goldens, possibly from the horticulture farm, to go in this area. Grafted apple trees were also considered as to a variety of different fruits. The last section we designed was the **Aiken Steps.** The crab apple tree in this area would be left alone. The planned Service berry would be moved to the most level of these plots and was going to be surrounded by blueberry bushes. In all other areas creeping juniper would replace the cypress as a ground cover. The area up by the Aiken center entrance was addressed next. The service berries were replaced with Azalea. (We heard that some small Azaleas were rescued and available if we wanted them.) Lastly we decided to leave the existing planting beds for classes or Rubenstein students. If any of this is unclear or if you have any other questions please feel free to contact the group. Thanks! Lauren

Here are the final posters that we presented at the reawAikening event: [|poster1.png] [|poster2.png]