Integrated Designs Enhance Public Landscapes
Regardless of the scale, public projects represent complex systems. Projects
that typify public landscapes include parks, plazas, playgrounds, streetscapes
and rights of way, and an assortment of institutional and municipal uses. These
built environments respond to myriad criteria—they must overcome tight
budgets and schedules, satisfy agency standards and stormwater requirements,
reduce short- and long-term resource consumption, minimize life-cycle costs,
and maximize durability. They must also offer safety, comfort, beauty, and recreation
to their inhabitants. The successful realization of these objectives is inextricably
linked to the respective design team. Designs that exhibit environmentally responsive
and socially responsible solutions rest at the intersection of discipline specialties—infrastructure,
building(s), landscape, and art. This collaborative confluence is referred to
as integrated design. By blending the technical and creative expertise of a project
team, integrated design nurtures ideas that exceed narrow standard solutions.
Stormwater management is a primary concern within an integrated team structure.
While always solving for proper system function, safety, durability, and maintainability,
the primary considerations of integrated stormwater design also include aesthetics,
resource conservation, design unification and clarity, and the potential for
social programmatic use(s). These additional concerns broaden the reach of
every integrated stormwater feature; they create opportunities to insert valuable
ecological and humanistic function(s) into any project. The overall objective
is to develop a complex, rich, and unified landscape that offers clients and
stakeholders a range of diverse experiences exceeding those allowed through
solely prescriptive and/or myopic approaches to stormwater management.
As defined for the purposes of this discussion, the term integrated design
not only refers to interdisciplinarity and collaborative discourse, but also
references the numerous physical and programmatic layers designed into a project.
Integrating multiple functions into a stormwater feature adds value—fiscal,
environmental, and social. The following text outlines three associated areas
of integrated design.
Program Integration
Integrating various uses into a single site is achieved through the development
of strategic site partnerships. Site partnering maximizes use(s) while minimizing
input(s). These partnerships represent a variety of programmatic and administrative
arrangements developed from a mixture of private and/or public sector entities.
One example of this partnering strategy is a shared-use agreement. This mutually
beneficial relationship allows the partners to jointly choreograph facility
programming (i.e., sports fields or parking lots) to serve shared functionality
(i.e., institutional/commercial functions during the day and private use
in the evenings or weekends). The dual usage afforded through these agreements
proactively alleviates water-quality issues by quieting development demands
for similar facilities and reducing overall areas of impervious surfacing
and associated runoff.
Resource Integration
The physical and programmatic consolidation of uses
also represents a dramatic reduction in overall consumption and waste. The
following list highlights
many of the potential benefits that an integrated stormwater approach may
have on the development of healthy and sustainable sites.
- Reduced capital
expenditures:
- Decreased demand for land acquisition and associated development
- Reduced
onsite land consumption through consolidated utility:
* Eliminates large retention/detention
facilities whose footprints are usually characterized by oversized,
fenced
ponds consuming large areas of land—a
quickly dwindling and valuable urban commodity.
* Conversely, integrated stormwater features (i.e., rain gardens) can satisfy various functions—they
treat stormwater, provide required vegetative buffering, enhance aesthetics,
create wildlife habitat,
and augment interpretative
and/or curriculum activities.
- Reduced land disturbance:
- Increased conservation of open space due to the
intensified recreational programming of
preexisting and predeveloped land(s),
resulting in
* Habitat and watershed preservation within existing naturalized
areas
* Passive recreational opportunities within existing naturalized areas
- Decreased
infrastructure demands (onsite and citywide) due to the effective stormwater
function of undisturbed, naturalized areas
- Reduced petrochemical consumption
and release:
- Decreased gasoline use and emissions; including:
*
Construction operations
(diesel fuel)
*
Maintenance operations (small-stroke engines)
-
Decreased demand for fertilizers,
pesticides, and herbicides
-
Decreased demand for bituminous paving
- Reduced water inputs:
-
Increased ability of plantings to survive drought
events
*
Use of native and adapted plants
*
Use of compost-amended soils to enhance
moisture retention,
promote root development, and provide slow-release, organic
nutrients
- Decreased need for automated irrigation
*
Irrigate through establishment period
only
*
Hydrozoning
- Reduced water throughputs:
-
Increased stormwater retention and infiltration
-
Decreased surface runoff
and a reduction of concentrated flow(s)
 |
Cottage Grove Park, Seattle, WA. Rain gardens integrated into the
right of way sustainably manage runoff from adjacent parkland and
street.
(Photo courtesy of Cascade Design Collaborative Inc.)
|
|
 |
Puget Boulevard Commons, Seattle, WA. This integrated rain
garden feature serves a variety of simultaneous functions,
including water quality, site beautification, wildlife habitat,
outdoor classroom (passive and active laboratory), and landscape
buffering.
(Photo courtesy of Cascade Design Collaborative Inc.)
|
|
 |
Fern Hill Elementary School, Tacoma, WA. Visible collection
and conveyance systems can be used to enrich social, recreational,
and educational experiences.
(Illustration courtesy of Cascade Design Collaborative Inc.)
|
|
Functional Integration
Integrating sustainable site features highlights natural processes invites “hands-in-the-dirt” learning
and provides expanded academic and social opportunities. Employing multiple
low-impact development (LID) strategies adds yet another dimension to the look,
feel, and function of a site’s overall stormwater management system.
A few of the LID features that are gaining increased traction in the design
and development communities are:
- Rain gardens: bioinfiltration and bioretention functions
-
Natural drainage systems (NDS)
-
Tilled compost turf method (TCT)
-
Rainwater catchment systems: cisterns and rain barrels
These specialized stormwater features provide community members with outstanding
opportunities for interaction, in-depth discussion, and active learning related
to environmental processes. Associated social and cognitive features/functions
may include, but are not limited to, the creation and/or use of:
- Outdoor learning environments
-
Interpretive elements
-
Real-time observation
-
Hands-on experimentation
-
Wildlife habitats
-
Functional, self-sustaining landscapes
-
Region-specific processes
-
Microclimates (sun/shade, topography, hydrology, and plant communities)
Through the use of these specialized programmatic features, additional areas
of detailed inquiry may be undertaken by professionals, academicians, students
and/or laypersons:
- Water table fluctuation/hydraulic head
-
Total suspended solids (TSS)
-
Turbidity
-
Rate of infiltration
-
Associative plant and animal communities (topographic and hydrologic regimes)
The visible integration of infrastructure, building, and landscape highlight
natural and constructed stormwater collection and conveyance systems. Successfully
integrated stormwater designs foster a healthier appreciation of a locale’s
unique environmental processes. This is achieved through a physical design
that allows various hydrologic functions to remain clearly visible and openly
observed. These visible systems invite exploration and conversation and, therefore,
facilitate a better understanding among the resident public. The following
queries can be used to quickly assess the applicability of proposed integrated
stormwater features:
- Does the design utilize/emphasize unique local environmental patterns and/or
processes: site, watershed(s) or region?
-
Does the design offer ongoing programmatic benefit(s): social, psychological,
cognitive and/or physical?
-
Does the design utilize site conditions for learning opportunities—either
implied or explicit: interactive features, interpretive elements, or curriculum
incorporation?
-
Can users visually and/or physically access the features during inclement weather
events (when they are the most interesting)?
-
Does the design respond to different states of precipitation and/or the hydrologic
cycle?
-
Have the project owners (and staff) been directly involved with the development
of any/all integrated stormwater features to increase their initial understanding
and appreciation for each feature’s composition, function and care?
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In total, integrated design solutions offer holistic alternatives that advance
stormwater management beyond the realm of standardized regulatory requirements.
This process produces economical, innovative, and engaging stormwater solutions
because the process nurtures a culture of interdisplinarity, embraces localized
environmental processes, and celebrates the deep connections between our social
and physical environs.
Andrew Fox is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Georgia’s School of Environmental Design. Andrew is a registered landscape architect and a Principal of Fox2 Design LLC in Athens, GA. He formerly served as a project landscape architect with Cascade Design Collaborative Inc. in Seattle, WA.
June 23, 2008
Integrated Designs Enhance Public Landscapes
Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, Kirkland, WA. Integrated design features, such as this rainwater sculpture, blur traditional discipline boundaries and result in unique, engaging, and functional stormwater amenities.
(Photo courtesy of Cascade Design Collaborative Inc.)
Regardless of the scale, public projects represent complex systems. Projects
that typify public landscapes include parks, plazas, playgrounds, streetscapes
and rights of way, and an assortment of institutional and municipal uses. These
built environments respond to myriad criteria—they must overcome tight
budgets and schedules, satisfy agency standards and stormwater requirements,
reduce short- and long-term resource consumption, minimize life-cycle costs,
and maximize durability. They must also offer safety, comfort, beauty, and recreation
to their inhabitants. The successful realization of these objectives is inextricably
linked to the respective design team. Designs that exhibit environmentally responsive
and socially responsible solutions rest at the intersection of discipline specialties—infrastructure,
building(s), landscape, and art. This collaborative confluence is referred to
as integrated design. By blending the technical and creative expertise of a project
team, integrated design nurtures ideas that exceed narrow standard solutions.
Stormwater management is a primary concern within an integrated team structure.
While always solving for proper system function, safety, durability, and maintainability,
the primary considerations of integrated stormwater design also include aesthetics,
resource conservation, design unification and clarity, and the potential for
social programmatic use(s). These additional concerns broaden the reach of
every integrated stormwater feature; they create opportunities to insert valuable
ecological and humanistic function(s) into any project. The overall objective
is to develop a complex, rich, and unified landscape that offers clients and
stakeholders a range of diverse experiences exceeding those allowed through
solely prescriptive and/or myopic approaches to stormwater management.
As defined for the purposes of this discussion, the term integrated design
not only refers to interdisciplinarity and collaborative discourse, but also
references the numerous physical and programmatic layers designed into a project.
Integrating multiple functions into a stormwater feature adds value—fiscal,
environmental, and social. The following text outlines three associated areas
of integrated design.
Program Integration
Integrating various uses into a single site is achieved through the development
of strategic site partnerships. Site partnering maximizes use(s) while minimizing
input(s). These partnerships represent a variety of programmatic and administrative
arrangements developed from a mixture of private and/or public sector entities.
One example of this partnering strategy is a shared-use agreement. This mutually
beneficial relationship allows the partners to jointly choreograph facility
programming (i.e., sports fields or parking lots) to serve shared functionality
(i.e., institutional/commercial functions during the day and private use
in the evenings or weekends). The dual usage afforded through these agreements
proactively alleviates water-quality issues by quieting development demands
for similar facilities and reducing overall areas of impervious surfacing
and associated runoff.
Resource Integration
The physical and programmatic consolidation of uses
also represents a dramatic reduction in overall consumption and waste. The
following list highlights
many of the potential benefits that an integrated stormwater approach may
have on the development of healthy and sustainable sites.
- Reduced capital
expenditures:
- Decreased demand for land acquisition and associated development
- Reduced
onsite land consumption through consolidated utility:
* Eliminates large retention/detention
facilities whose footprints are usually characterized by oversized,
fenced
ponds consuming large areas of land—a
quickly dwindling and valuable urban commodity.
* Conversely, integrated stormwater features (i.e., rain gardens) can satisfy various functions—they
treat stormwater, provide required vegetative buffering, enhance aesthetics,
create wildlife habitat,
and augment interpretative
and/or curriculum activities.
- Reduced land disturbance:
- Increased conservation of open space due to the
intensified recreational programming of
preexisting and predeveloped land(s),
resulting in
* Habitat and watershed preservation within existing naturalized
areas
* Passive recreational opportunities within existing naturalized areas
- Decreased
infrastructure demands (onsite and citywide) due to the effective stormwater
function of undisturbed, naturalized areas
- Reduced petrochemical consumption
and release:
- Decreased gasoline use and emissions; including:
*
Construction operations
(diesel fuel)
*
Maintenance operations (small-stroke engines)
-
Decreased demand for fertilizers,
pesticides, and herbicides
-
Decreased demand for bituminous paving
- Reduced water inputs:
-
Increased ability of plantings to survive drought
events
*
Use of native and adapted plants
*
Use of compost-amended soils to enhance
moisture retention,
promote root development, and provide slow-release, organic
nutrients
- Decreased need for automated irrigation
*
Irrigate through establishment period
only
*
Hydrozoning
- Reduced water throughputs:
-
Increased stormwater retention and infiltration
-
Decreased surface runoff
and a reduction of concentrated flow(s)
|
Cottage Grove Park, Seattle, WA. Rain gardens integrated into the
right of way sustainably manage runoff from adjacent parkland and
street.
(Photo courtesy of Cascade Design Collaborative Inc.)
|
|
|
Puget Boulevard Commons, Seattle, WA. This integrated rain
garden feature serves a variety of simultaneous functions,
including water quality, site beautification, wildlife habitat,
outdoor classroom (passive and active laboratory), and landscape
buffering.
(Photo courtesy of Cascade Design Collaborative Inc.)
|
|
|
Fern Hill Elementary School, Tacoma, WA. Visible collection
and conveyance systems can be used to enrich social, recreational,
and educational experiences.
(Illustration courtesy of Cascade Design Collaborative Inc.)
|
|
Functional Integration
Integrating sustainable site features highlights natural processes invites “hands-in-the-dirt” learning
and provides expanded academic and social opportunities. Employing multiple
low-impact development (LID) strategies adds yet another dimension to the look,
feel, and function of a site’s overall stormwater management system.
A few of the LID features that are gaining increased traction in the design
and development communities are:
- Rain gardens: bioinfiltration and bioretention functions
-
Natural drainage systems (NDS)
-
Tilled compost turf method (TCT)
-
Rainwater catchment systems: cisterns and rain barrels
These specialized stormwater features provide community members with outstanding
opportunities for interaction, in-depth discussion, and active learning related
to environmental processes. Associated social and cognitive features/functions
may include, but are not limited to, the creation and/or use of:
- Outdoor learning environments
-
Interpretive elements
-
Real-time observation
-
Hands-on experimentation
-
Wildlife habitats
-
Functional, self-sustaining landscapes
-
Region-specific processes
-
Microclimates (sun/shade, topography, hydrology, and plant communities)
Through the use of these specialized programmatic features, additional areas
of detailed inquiry may be undertaken by professionals, academicians, students
and/or laypersons:
- Water table fluctuation/hydraulic head
-
Total suspended solids (TSS)
-
Turbidity
-
Rate of infiltration
-
Associative plant and animal communities (topographic and hydrologic regimes)
The visible integration of infrastructure, building, and landscape highlight
natural and constructed stormwater collection and conveyance systems. Successfully
integrated stormwater designs foster a healthier appreciation of a locale’s
unique environmental processes. This is achieved through a physical design
that allows various hydrologic functions to remain clearly visible and openly
observed. These visible systems invite exploration and conversation and, therefore,
facilitate a better understanding among the resident public. The following
queries can be used to quickly assess the applicability of proposed integrated
stormwater features:
- Does the design utilize/emphasize unique local environmental patterns and/or
processes: site, watershed(s) or region?
-
Does the design offer ongoing programmatic benefit(s): social, psychological,
cognitive and/or physical?
-
Does the design utilize site conditions for learning opportunities—either
implied or explicit: interactive features, interpretive elements, or curriculum
incorporation?
-
Can users visually and/or physically access the features during inclement weather
events (when they are the most interesting)?
-
Does the design respond to different states of precipitation and/or the hydrologic
cycle?
-
Have the project owners (and staff) been directly involved with the development
of any/all integrated stormwater features to increase their initial understanding
and appreciation for each feature’s composition, function and care?
In total, integrated design solutions offer holistic alternatives that advance
stormwater management beyond the realm of standardized regulatory requirements.
This process produces economical, innovative, and engaging stormwater solutions
because the process nurtures a culture of interdisplinarity, embraces localized
environmental processes, and celebrates the deep connections between our social
and physical environs.
Andrew Fox is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Georgia’s School of Environmental Design. Andrew is a registered landscape architect and a Principal of Fox2 Design LLC in Athens, GA. He formerly served as a project landscape architect with Cascade Design Collaborative Inc. in Seattle, WA.