The Gary Comer Youth Research Center seeks to provide a safe place for youth to learn about urban agriculture. The garden, that is over eight-thousand square feet and yields over 1,000 pounds of food annually, is located on the roof above the cafeteria and gymnasium of the building, enclosed by surrounding windows. It provides 18''-24'' of soil depth, light wells, ventilation systems, and lumber and plastic recycled pathways, and there is a full-time garden manager who maintains the integrity of the garden. 

The Gary Comer Research Center gives students access to indoor and outdoor environments which can help students have hands-on learning experiences. They learn how to integrate the specific design objectives of the garden to help them learn other subjects like horticulture, geometry, technology, and much more. 

• The garden has engaged the interests of both the old and young demographics which provides strong diversity within the research center.

• Planting for both aesthetic and educational purposes allow for students to be engaged with the garden year-round.

• Implementing an irrigation system to the garden helped maintain the extreme climates in the area.

For more information:

https://www.garycomeryouthcenter.org/about 

Gary Comer Youth Center | Landscape Performance Series  

The Willow School offers a wide variety of learning opportunities for youth including vegetation restoration and wastewater and stormwater management. The 34-acre site includes vegetable gardens, flower beds, wooded and non-wooded playgrounds, infiltration fields, and stormwater ponds. The site also includes a fiberglass settling tank for wastewater, plantings with no chemicals involved, and LEED-certified buildings. All of these provide more effective and beneficial ecosystems that not only makes the environment visually pleasing but also environmentally safe for all living organisms. 

This project successfully incorporates sustainable water, wastewater, and vegetation restoration plans to revive the depleting land. Because of this, students and active community members learn how to live in sync with the thriving ecosystems around them while also reaping the benefits it produces. 

• • • The students are involved in a variety of different learning opportunities including gardening, recycling, and composting.

    • Implementing sustainable practices early on can help the project save money and time.

    • LEED certification is important in the process of making the project environmentally sufficient and successful.

    • Understanding zoning regulations and redefining the scope of those regulations with county and city officials can benefit the outcome for both the community and the environment.

For more information:

https://willowschool.org/campus/ 

https://www.biohabitats.com/wp-content/uploads/WillowSchool.pdf 

The Willow School | Landscape Performance Series 

Before the initial design process, the Kroon Hall was a 3.5 acre greyfield. An aging, decommissioned power plant, parking lot and patched road site occupied the site. The elements of design included a rainwater harvesting system that is now built over a node that provides stormwater elements. These elements connect the landscape and school buildings with open green space and native plants to incorporate studying activities. 

The project was a collaborative effort with many working parts that saves and holds a lot more stormwater. It is now a lively open space built for numerous activities. 

• • • Mats of trailing plant roots

This can be a better solution for helping clean water runoff than soil does.

• • • “First Flush” device

Some type of device is needed to help remove trash, sediment and other excess runoff on the site.

• • • Rainwater harvest systems for greywater reuse

The demand for greywater reuse is very high, resulting in the construction of foundation pumps.

For more information:

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies: Kroon Hall

OLIN: Science Hill

LEED Platinum (2010)

2009 IIDA/Metropolis Smart Environments Award

AIA New England 2009 Honor Award for Design Excellence

AIA Connecticut 2009 Built Design Award

This project is on Arizona’s campus which used to be an old parking lot that was transformed into a desert feel landscape. The area had many different climate issues which made it difficult for designers. Water in the desert was a big issue so drought tolerant and stormwater reuse designs needed to be implemented. This in itself was made to be a microclimate to help lower energy building costs. 

The project turned out to be a success creating an illustrative micro climate. It also helped create a place for learning for different school departments. 

• Early coordination between the landscape architects and the architect designing the new buildings: The lack of communication between the architect and landscape architects made it hard for the landscapers to plant shrubs as the soils did not have enough depth in them as they should have.

• Some of the terraced planting beds did not receive runoff water: As this area has so much drought some plants did not receive any water resulting in having to add irrigation systems to help get the water the plants needed.

• Stabilized granite walls were not detailed correctly resulting in failure: Some of the granite walls and rocks began to erode quickly causing malfunctions. This all led back to how the details were constructed in the plans.

For more information:

University of Arizona Institute for Resilience: ENR2

Colwell Shelor: University of Arizona Environmental and Natural Resources 2

GLHN: ENR2

Richärd|Kennedy Architects: University of Arizona Environmental + Natural Resources 2

Urban Land Institute Developing Urban Resilience: ENR2

USGBC: LEED Platinum

The Chicago Athenaeum: International Architecture Awards, 2021.