Using Sheep To Mow the Lawn in Paris

Check out the video below.  The New York Times reports on the City of Paris using sheep to maintain park lawns. Paris is turning back the clock. Many parks around the world previously used sheep to maintain lawns including Central Park where sheep grazed from 1860′s until the mid-1930′s. (Video Source | New York Times | Length 2:05)

Philadelphia Celebrates ASLA Day

Olmsted or Freud?

Philadelphia celebrated ASLA day with guest speaker Mayor Michael Nutter.  Braving the elements, tens of people turned out for the party in John Collins Park where the OLIN, LRSLA Studio, and Temple University presented some boards on Landscape Architecture.  Temple and Philadelphia University provided cakes with the latter taking home the Super-Cool-Cake-in-the-Shape-of-Olmsted's-Face prize.  Everyone loved it!

See some action photos of Mayor Nutter in action:

Urban Prairie

Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com

The Canadian Museum of Civilization, designed by Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal and inaugurated in 1989, is comprised of two pavilions, their architecture a startling embodiment of the country’s distinguishing geographical features. The public display wing replicates the dramatic effect of the glaciers; the contours of the curatorial wing symbolize the majestic Canadian Shield; and the open Plaza simulates the vast Great Plains. The layout and sheer size of the Plaza were planned in such a way as to visually incorporate the Museum buildings and the Parliament Buildings perched across the Ottawa River. However, the Plaza’s lack of appeal had left it empty of visitors for much of the year. To remedy the situation, we extended the Museum’s original conceptual metaphor, bringing to life what had long remained latent: the swaying grasses of the Prairies. (1)

Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com

Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com

Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com

Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com

Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com

On first glance we thought it looked similar the Native American Museum in DC...

Photo Courtesy of www.whereisdarrennow.com

(1) All text from: http://www.worldlandscapearchitect.com/?p=8632

Johns Hopkins Hospital Healing Gardens

Photo Courtesy of Huffington Post

Four years ago, the Johns Hopkins Hospital began one of the nation's largest hospital construction projects: the Sheikh Zayed Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower and The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center. The 1.6 million-square-foot facility includes 560 private patient rooms, 33 operating rooms and new adult and pediatric emergency departments.  (1)  More than 1,000 people were on hand to take part in the dedication on April 12, 2012 with speakers that included United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. (2)

The Sheikh Zayed Tower is named after the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who was the founder and first president of the United Arab Emirates. Johns Hopkins Medicine and the UAE are in a partnership in which Johns Hopkins provides operational management of three UAE hospitals. The tower houses the Johns Hopkins Heart and Vascular Institute, advanced neurological and neurosurgical services, transplant surgery, trauma care, orthopedics, general surgery and labor and delivery. (1)

The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center, located in a separate tower, is named in honor of the late mother of New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Marjorie Tiven. The center includes a 45-bed neonatal intensive care unit, a 40-bed pediatric ICU, a playroom and kitchen and laundry facilities for parents. Mayor Bloomberg, a 1964 graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, is the largest donor of the Johns Hopkins Institutions, having donated more than $800 million since 1965, according to the release. (1)

A key design feature of the building, created in collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist Spencer Finch, is a shimmering glass curtain wall that covers much of the building's exterior. Perkins+Will worked closely with Finch and the project partnership over many months to integrate the architecture with the artist's concept. The result is a multi-colored two-layered fritted glass façade that incorporates Finch's unique approach to color. Its effect moderates the Baltimore light by day and transforms the building into a glowing composition of color and light by night. (3)

Art is a fully integrated into the building and surrounding landscape so that the entire site becomes a healing museum.  Through OLIN, Ben performed design and construction observation and worked with Robert Israel to conceive and develop a paving scheme that eliminated the need to create a railing around the Cubed Rhino at the Hospital Entry. 

The gardens, including the Entry Court Gardens, the Western Courtyard Gardens, the Phipps Courtyard and the Little Prince Garden, along with the soaring lobbies, a handpicked art collection and cheerful-light filled patient rooms are designed to provide a welcome and caring environment to advance the healing process.  

 “This is an extraordinary project,” said OLIN Partner Susan Weiler. Johns Hopkins is creating a new standard of excellence for patient care and hospital design. The gardens have been designed as places of orientation, respite, rejuvenation and calm, with a visual simplicity that accentuates the aesthetic pleasures of the gardens. The newly conceived circulation pattern allowed us to keep one-third of the enormous football-field-sized site for the courtyard gardens. (4)

The gardens’ visual strength was inspired by the Finch glass patterns, designed to dissipate light.  “We extracted the modulation in the color patterns into the plants,” Weiler says.  “We used the greens, pinks, purples, yellows, blues and violets wherever we could.”
A paving palette of bluestone, brick, quartzite and granite provides visual continuity to both vehicular and garden spaces. (4)

“There’s a visual calmness, a serenity but a stimulus, from the aerial view,” she says.  “To see the gardens from above gives off an ameliorating effect on people’s well-being – you could call it all a healing garden.” (4)

 (1) http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/strategic-planning/johns-hopkins-hospital-unveils-11b-new-facility.html

(2) http://gazette.jhu.edu/2012/04/16/new-jhh-facility-ushers-in-next-era-of-health-care/

(3) http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-building-by-perkinswill-for-the-johns-hopkins-hospital-unites-architecture-urban-design-and-healing-to-redefine-the-hospital-experience-2012-04-16

(4) http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2012/04/the-healing-gardens-at-johns-hopkins/

Landscape Water Budget Tool

WaterSense, a partnership program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeks to protect the future of our nation's water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services.  The program is a sort of water focused LEED system that seeks to help consumers make smart water choices that save money and maintain high environmental standards without compromising performance. Products and services that have earned the WaterSense label have been certified to be at least 20 percent more efficient without sacrificing performance.  


As part of that program they address landscape irrigation and  they have a fairly basic but interesting application called the Water Budget Tool.   This tool compares your required water use for your improved landscape via irrigation compared to a baseline water requirement of 4" high maintained turf-grass.


Simply input your information and hit "Next Step":

This next screen is extremely easy to use but in doing so oversimplifies landscape areas into broad area such as "Trees" or "Groundcover"  the reality is that often these areas overlap.  See below:

















Input a finer level of information, click "Next Step", and voila:

As a jumping off point at a schematic level, this basic tool gets designers and irrigation specialists thinking about the balance of plants based on water use.


Give it a whirl:


www.epa.gov/watersense/water_budget/application.html

Algorithms, Landscape, and the Physics of Culture

Artwork by Michael Najjar

In his exciting and dynamic TEDTalk presentation,  Kevin Slavin delivers a brilliant argument for algorithms as a co-evolutionary force that is shaping human ecology and our planet.  He weaves aspects of art, culture, architecture, finance, and urban design into his story and builds a strong case for, what I can gather, a serious and impactful example of artificial intelligence. 

See another article on this talk here:

http://dirt.asla.org/2011/11/30/how-algorithms-shape-the-landscape/

Micro Intervention: TreeVitalize

Photo Courtesy of PHS

The TreeVitalize Philadelphia Tree Planting Program supports neighborhood volunteer tree planting by supplying trees and limited services to help prepare planting locations. Organizations and groups in Philadelphia that are willing and able to organize a neighborhood volunteer tree planting event of at least 10 trees are provided those trees free of charge.

TreeVitalize is a program launched by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in 2005 to increase tree canopy in urbanized areas.  The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) is the lead partner for TreeVitalize in southeastern Pennsylvania. PHS is a private non-profit organization that motivates people to improve the quality of life and create a sense of community through horticulture. Tree Tenders is a PHS training program offering free classes on tree biology, identification, planting, and proper care. Philadelphia Parks & Recreation staff oversees street tree planting and care within Philadelphia.

(a)biotic has found PHS to be a wonderful source for all things herbaceous and/or woody.  The link below is a wonderful resource for the amature and professional alike:

http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/phlgreen/current-trees.html

They are gearing up for the 2011 tree planting and are seeking volunteers and applications.  If approved a group can expect to be provided with:

• Between 10 and 100 trees to plant in your neighborhood, based on your group’s request, capacity, and level of experience. The number, species, and type of nursery stock (balled & burlap, container, or bare root) of trees approved will be determined by PHS and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation. Bare-root trees will be used wherever possible. 
• Cutting and removal of pavement, as needed and as funding allows. However, please note that if the property owner cancels the tree request after submitting the request form and the sidewalk has already been cut, the owner will be held responsible for the cost of replacing the pavement. (Property owners are also responsible for removing any stumps.) 
• Tree stakes and ties. 
• Priority enrollment for free PHS Tree Tenders training as well as other specialized trainings

For an application or information contact:

Mindy Maslin                                     Casey Combs                                  Liz Haegele

215-988-8844                                   215-988-8874                                  215-988-1618

mmaslin@pennhort.org                    ccombs@pennhort.org                    ehaegele@pennhort.org

Applications are due March 25, 2011

Micro Intervention: Put a Bird In It

Portlandia, a 6-part short-based comedy a la Kids in the Hall delivers a funny yet biting critique of detached consumer art in their sketch: Put a Bird on It ( http: www.putabirdonit.com ). In it, detached hipsters discuss design and approach nature from the standpoint of dysfunctional aesthetic obsession. This is reflected in both their personal relationship as well as their relationship with the actual wildlife whose image they promote. Hilarity ensues.

We look to recognize those that represent the counterpoint to the caterwaul of the often self-ordained and always self-possessed aesthete. We admire those that carry out the idea of bottom up, community based art and design that allows for the confluence of environmental enhancement, art, and civic engagement. Without fanfare and ornament organizations such as the Canal Nest Colony turn a simple goal of building and installing bird and bat houses into an effort that address all of those efforts simultaneously.


Partnered with the Gowanus Canal Conservency (GCC), the Canal Nest Colony is a The Canal Nest Colony is a "multi-disciplinary design effort to encourage human-nature interaction, plant and animal biodiversity, and highlight the diverse ecosystem potential of the of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York."

From the GCC website, we learn that "the 1.8 mile long Gowanus Canal was created in the mid-late 1800s on the site of a former saltmarsh and creek and has seen its fair share of environmental issues. For years, it has captured raw sewage waste from adjacent residential neighborhoods, industrial waste products from the businesses located along its banks, and polluted surface run off. At the same time, the canal is dotted with structures and bridges that celebrate its important industrial history and is home to egrets, cormorans, and other forms of wildlife. Currently, the area is filled with small industries, businesses, homes and artists’ studios and is slated for rezoning by the City as well as being considered for potential Superfund status."

All images courtesy of Andrew Nicholas, www.thiscityismine.com, except for Portlandia image courtesy of www.thevine.com

On Landscape Ecology

What is landscape ecology and how does it fit within an urban framework?  

“Ecology”, as Richard Forman tells us, “is generally defined as the study of interactions among organisms and their environment, and a landscape is a kilometers-wide mosaic over which particular local ecosystems and land-uses recur” (Forman, 1996).  Zev Naveh in his book, Landscape Ecology, Theory and Application, refines this definition and tells us that landscape ecology is “a young branch of modern ecology that deals with the interrelationship between man and his open and built landscape”   (Naveh, 1994).   Pete August further refines this definition when he suggests that “landscape ecology is a discipline that studies how and why living organisms are distributed in the environment in the ways that they are.

Landscape ecologists are especially interested in how the components of a landscape – forests, villages, rivers – interact” (August, 2005).  Fortunately, landscape architecture has been accepted as a partner in the interdisciplinary field of landscape ecology (Ahern, 2005).  This is fortunate because much of landscape architecture theory is cradled in ecology.  The difference between ecology and landscape architecture is, as Ahern asserts, the “imperative to act” (Ahern, 2005) of landscape architecture.  While building places and altering landscapes, landscape ecology is asked to provide guidance and inform design decisions at a variety of scales (Ahern, 2005).  As landscape architecture makes it mark in the urban design realm, landscape ecology is again asked to provide a language for holistic design.

An important idea behind modern landscape ecology that begins to provide a design language is that any “living system, from the human body to the biosphere, exhibits three broad characteristics:  structure, functioning, and change.

Landscape structure is the special pattern or arrangement of landscape elements.  Functioning is the movement and flows of animals, plants, water, wind, and materials and energy through the structure.  And change is the dynamics or alteration in spatial pattern and functioning over time” (Forman, 1996).

The general principles that Forman presents are as well important to present:

Patches:  “A spatially separate instance of a given type of habitat” (Steiner, 1999).  Urbanization and natural process create patches of vegetation.  These patches may be as large as a national forest or as small as a single tree.

Edges and Boundaries:  An edge is described as the outer portion of a patch where the environment differs significantly from the interior of the patch.  Often, edge and interior elements look and feel differently.  A boundary can be either curvilinear or straight, but it influences the flow of nutrients, water, energy, or species along or across it.  Boundaries may also be artificial:  political or administrative.

          Corridors and Connectivity:  In the face of continuing habitat loss and

isolation, many landscape ecologists stress the need for providing landscape connectivity, particularly in the forms of wildlife movement corridors and stepping stones.  Corridors in the landscape may also act as barriers or filters to species movement.  Finally, stream or river systems are corridors of exceptional significance in the landscape.  Maintaining their ecological integrity in the face of intense human use is both a challenge and an opportunity to landscape designers and land-use planners.  The core of this paper, in that it deals with integrating neighborhood design with urban stream restoration, relies heavily on this principle.

Mosaics:  The overall structure and functional integrity of a landscape can be understood and evaluated in terms of both pattern and scale.  Interconnected corridors form networks.  These networks may be interrupted by fragmentation which is often associated with the loss and isolation of habitat.  The interaction, placement, and relationship between networks, edges, and patches form land mosaics.

The patch/corridor/matrix model is complementary to the adaptation of landscape ecological theory and concepts into urban planning and design (Herpsberger, 2005).   The landscape structure/functioning/change concept is an interesting way of describing an urban site with the patch/corridor/matrix model as a possible subset of that description.  An urban morphology can be determined and reinterpreted with these concept from landscape ecology as groups of buildings, open lots, streets, vegetation, movement all form a cohesive whole (Herspberger, 2005). 

A city can be described, as Forman has presented, not only as existing within a living system (as seen from a regional scale) but as itself a living system at the local scale—with all major theory and principles of landscape ecology describing that system.   Eugene Odum in his heralded book, Ecology: A Bridge Between Science and Society describes cities “as a parasite on the natural and domesticated environments, since it makes no food, cleans no air, and cleans very little water to the point where it could be reused” (Odum).  In contrast Jane Jacobs offers the idea that it is the domesticated areas that act as a drain on the city. Cities, she claims, provide the creativity and social benefits that enhance the human race and provide for our continued existence (Jacobs).  This anthropocentric view cannot be entirely ignored and in fact it is important to note that, as humans, it is virtually impossible to adopt any other view other than a human centered reality (Seed, 1999).

Although both a somewhat negative view of the contrast between the built and open environments, these notions, if viewed as opportunities, are quite congruent.  Odum’s view, likening a city to a parasite, for the most part accepts the notion that the city is a malignant living system, but a living system nonetheless.  With the creativity and knowledge base provided by the benefits of higher density living as suggested by Jacobs, there is a clear invitation for not only a move towards creating more of these high density environments, but a mandate to do so in an ecologically sensitive manner.