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ASLA Releases the First Impact Assessment of Its Business Operations

12/17/202412/18/2024The Dirt ContributorLeave a comment

ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture / Halkin Mason Photography, courtesy of ASLA

The organization is focusing on energy, transportation, and food to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions

By Katie Riddle, Steven Spicer, and Jared Green

ASLA released its first assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by its business operations. This report sets the baseline for ASLA as it strives toward its goal of achieving zero emissions by 2040.

The assessment details the amounts and sources of greenhouse gas emissions generated in 2023 by ASLA operations. This total includes electricity use, magazine printing and shipping, business travel, employee commuting, waste produced, and more. These emissions add up to 320.5 metric tonnes.

To put that in perspective, the average U.S. home produces approximately one metric tonne of emissions monthly via its electricity use in regions where coal or gas generates power.

“We are demonstrating our climate leadership by being transparent about our impacts. We want to show our members and partners where we are in our journey to zero emissions by 2040. Cutting emissions makes great economic and environmental sense. Let’s learn from each other and move faster together,” said ASLA President Kona Gray, FASLA, PLA.

2023 Operations Baseline

This 2023 assessment was developed in partnership with Honeycomb Strategies, a sustainability consulting company. The company and ASLA team cooperated to collect extensive and complete data:

business travel and commuting data,
energy used and waste generated from the ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture, the organization’s LEED Platinum- and Well Gold-certified headquarters,
and printing, shipping, and online use data for Landscape Architecture Magazine (LAM).

Of the total 320.5 metric tonnes, ASLA headquarters emitted 124.5 tonnes, or 39 percent, and LAM emitted 196 tonnes, or 61 percent.

The assessment for LAM covered the creation and online use of the magazine. By requesting extensive emissions data, ASLA introduced new carbon estimation and measurement practices to its partners. These kinds of requests encourage greater transparency and efficiency in the printing supply chain.

The calculations for the Center’s emissions included such factors as electricity use, employee commuting, and business travel.

The Center used 170,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity or 13.4 kWh per square foot – substantially below the 16.9 kWh average annual electricity consumption per square foot for administrative office space, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

ASLA employees commuted to the office 3,882 times, covering 105,000 miles.
- 69 percent of trips by car
- 27 percent by public transit (train, subway, bus)
- 4 percent by foot or bike
ASLA employees traveled 228,000 miles on business trips
- 96 percent of trips by plane
ASLA produced an estimated 7,280 pounds of waste
- 71 percent of waste went to the landfill and 29 percent was recycled

Reduction Actions

As the 2023 data was collected, ASLA implemented new strategies to reduce emissions in 2024 and beyond. To reduce its emissions this year, ASLA implemented these strategies:

Purchased renewable energy credits for 100 percent of the ASLA Center’s energy use.
Promoted benefits and incentives for low-carbon commuting.
Issued new policies to lessen the effect of business travel.
Updated procurement policies to encourage locally sourced and 75 percent vegetarian meals for staff and member events hosted by ASLA at the Center.

“These policies help us decarbonize our operations and serve as an example for other organizations,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA. “This assessment caused us to look into all aspects of our operations to see where we can lower our footprint and save money in the process. We share our impacts so other organizations can see what to track to cut their emissions.”

To empower other organizations and companies to make these changes, ASLA published Towards Zero Emission Business Operations. The guide is designed to help landscape architecture firms of all sizes navigate the transition to zero-emission offices more easily.

It outlines more than 110 strategies landscape architecture firms can implement to reduce their business and project greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 to 65 percent by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2040.

Next steps

In the first quarter of 2025, ASLA will release its 2024 business operations impact assessment with a list of actions to be taken in 2025 to further reduce emissions.

The Opportunities of Decarbonization

06/21/202307/01/2023Jared GreenLeave a comment

ASLA Climate Action Case Study. Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, Reed Hilderbrand and Design Workshop, Inc. / Brandon Huttenlocher/Design Workshop

Architecture 2030 states that the built environment generates 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. Building operations, which includes lighting, heating, and cooling, are responsible for 27 percent of those emissions. Building materials and the construction process – which is often called embodied carbon – are responsible for another 13 percent every year.

When looking at landscapes, the share of embodied carbon as a percentage of total emissions changes. For landscape architects, approximately 75 percent of project emissions come from materials.

But one major benefit of landscapes is they can store carbon through trees, plants, and soils while also reducing climate impacts and improving ecological and human health. Landscapes are a key part of the broader effort to reduce emissions and drawdown more carbon.

“We know the built environment is more than just buildings. We need to start thinking about whole projects or whole sites instead of whole buildings when we discuss climate solutions,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, at Sustainability Week US, organized by Economist Impact in Washington, D.C.

In a discussion moderated by Carter-Conneen, government, non-profit, and corporate built environment leaders discussed the collective actions driving down emissions from both buildings and landscapes.

Electrification of the millions of buildings in the U.S. and worldwide is seen as an important next step to reduce operational emissions.

Peter Templeton, CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council, noted that an increasing number of new buildings are now “electricity ready,” meaning they weren’t built with oil or gas-powered furnaces or boilers.

These buildings simply need to be connected to a “green grid” powered by renewable sources, like wind and solar, instead of fossil fuels, like coal, oil, or natural gas. Utilities need to accelerate the shift to renewable energy so the power used in all-electric buildings is clean.

More financing is needed to make the transition to electric buildings and renewable energy happen, said Joe Rozza, chief sustainability officer at Ryan Companies.

To receive private financing from the markets, companies need to show a return on investment with their electrification and energy efficiency improvements. This calculus is complicated by evolving building performance standards in different U.S. state and city jurisdictions.

For companies developing or managing millions of square feet of real estate, one common strategy amid the regulatory flux has been to make incremental improvements to decarbonize each year while also reducing climate and water risks.

But Gina Bocra, chief sustainability officer, New York City Department of Buildings, argued the time of incremental change will soon be over. New government mandates will significantly speed up the decarbonization process.

New York City government is now implementing a “robust new building energy code” — Local Law 97 — a “landmark building performance standard that mandates carbon reductions in our 50,000 largest buildings.” In addition, the city’s recent building electrification law will “restrict fossil fuel combustion in new buildings” starting in 2024. Bocra said these new regulations will help the city become carbon neutral by 2050.

“The city is now obligating building owners to make reductions in their climate impacts each year. 20-30 percent of building energy is wasted every day. Fixing these problems will create jobs, economic opportunities, and improve public health,” she said.

And it is not just NYC taking action: 40 other cities are creating similar regulations.

As cities and developers tackle operational emissions, it’s important not to forget about embodied carbon, Carter-Conneen said.

“We know that concrete and steel are major sources of embodied carbon in buildings. That is also true in landscape architecture projects,” he said.

“We can scale up low-carbon steel and cement and the use of timber and integrated solar panels. We can also reduce the amount of cement required in our buildings,” Bocra said, explaining a few solutions New York City is exploring.

Susan Uthayakumar, chief energy and sustainability officer at Prologis, a logistics company that manages 1.2 billion square feet of real estate worldwide, sees opportunities to reduce embodied carbon through economies of scale.

$40 billion in concrete is procured each year from giant companies like Cemex. Through advocacy and aggregating demand, companies can “accelerate the transition to low-carbon concrete.”

Templeton also urged the audience to think about “whole life carbon” — to look at it holistically as a resource. He noted that environmental product declarations (EPDs) are key to measuring the life cycle of embodied carbon in materials — from extraction to creation and reuse. The idea is to achieve a circular approach, leveraging the carbon in materials again and again.

Architects, landscape architects, developers — and the governments shaping their projects — are also now looking at how to maximize the many co-benefits of decarbonization.

Templeton noted that the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) — which is a result of a partnership between ASLA, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin — offered an early framework for decarbonization while also increasing the environmental and human health co-benefits of landscapes.

SITES Certified Project. ASLA 2022 Professional Urban Design Honor Award. Midtown Park. Houston, Texas. Design Workshop, Inc. / Brandon Huttenlocker – Design Workshop, Inc.

SITES showed developers the value in “investing in green infrastructure, public rights of way, building sites — they are all part of the solution,” he said.

Rozza also sees the landscape around buildings as critical to realizing co-benefits. “With green infrastructure and focusing on biodiversity and water, we can extend the value of the experience of the property.” There is a return on investment from creating “immersive landscape experiences for tenants.”

Since 2019, New York City has required new buildings and significantly renovated ones to add green roofs or rooftop solar. Green roofs reduce stormwater runoff. But what many don’t realize is that stormwater management has a carbon connection. “It takes a lot of energy to move and treat stormwater in waste water treatment plants.” So less water treated means less energy used and lower emissions.

And Uthayakumar said many of her company’s facilities are extending renewable energy co-benefits. Rooftop solar on their logistics centers is now powering their electric vehicles, which means cleaner air for surrounding communities. And their rooftop solar is also powering neighboring homes. “This just makes sense from a business perspective.”

“When we talk about decarbonization, we also need to talk about equity. As we know, not everyone has access to the benefits that come with green buildings and healthy landscapes that store carbon,” Carter-Conneen said.

To address this, the “Biden-Harris administration has focused on increasing investment in underserved communities through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and implementation of the Justice 40 initiative.”

“How can we make sure more communities reap the rewards of decarbonization?” he asked.

For Bocra, those federal funds have helped implement NYC’s decarbonization plans in a more equitable way.

“We have 1.1 million buildings in the city. We need to decarbonize 130 buildings every week until 2050. We have affordable housing and building owners in disadvantaged communities. We seek to lift up these building owners through training, direct assistance, and financing.”

And looking at the global scale, Templeton said “we need to bring green buildings to all. Green building councils are active in 180 countries. With significant investment, we can help developing countries leapfrog developed countries, learn new skills, and create new jobs.”

The Inflation Reduction Act Prioritizes Landscape Architecture Solutions to the Climate Crisis

08/15/202208/15/2022The Dirt Contributor3 Comments

ASLA 2021 Professional Urban Design Award of Excellence. Repairing the Rift: Ricardo Lara Linear Park. Lynwood, California, United States. SWA Group / SWA Group / Jonnu Singleton

By Roxanne Blackwell, Hon. ASLA, and Caleb Raspler

Congress has passed and President Joseph Biden is expected to sign into law the U.S.’s most comprehensive response to the climate crisis to date — The Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation makes an historic investment of $369 billion to improve energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help communities adapt to climate impacts.

Importantly, the Act recognizes and funds landscape architecture approaches to address climate change — from active transportation projects like Complete Streets and recreational trails, to nature-based water infrastructure, community tree planting, ecosystem restoration, and more. Additionally, the legislation makes significant strides in addressing environmental and climate justice and ensuring underserved communities receive resources to adapt to a changing climate.

Landscape architects are uniquely qualified to lead these projects. With their community engagement skills, they are particularly suited to partner with underserved communities. The Act provides tremendous opportunities for landscape architects to work with all communities to plan and design a more resilient and low-carbon future.

LA Riverfront Greenway Phase II, Los Angeles, California / Studio-MLA

Significant funding for programs and projects traditionally led by landscape architects include:

ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program: $3 billion to improve walkability, safety, and affordable transportation access through projects that are context-sensitive.

The program provides funding to:

Build or improve complete streets, multi-use trails, regional greenways, active transportation networks and spines or provide affordable access to essential destinations, public spaces, transportation links and hubs.
Remove high-speed and other transportation projects and facilities that are barriers to connectivity within communities.
Remove transportation projects and facilities that are a source of air pollution, noise pollution, stormwater, or other burdens in underserved communities. These projects may include noise barriers to reduce impacts resulting from a facility, along with technologies, infrastructure, and activities to reduce surface transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution. Solutions can include natural infrastructure, permeable, or porous pavement, or protective features to reduce or manage stormwater run-off; heat island mitigation projects in rights of way; safety improvements for vulnerable road users; and planning and capacity building activities in disadvantaged or underserved communities.

Low Carbon Transportation Materials Grants: $2 billion to incentivize the use of construction materials that have substantially lower levels of embodied greenhouse gas emissions in landscape architecture projects, including reimbursements.

ASLA 2021 Professional General Design Honor Award. Inspiring Journeys For All. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States. HDLA / Charlie Craighead

NATIONAL PARKS AND PUBLIC LANDS

$250 million for conservation, protection, and resilience projects on National Park Service (NPS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.

$250 million for conservation, ecosystem, and habitat restoration projects on NPS and BLM lands.

$200 million for NPS deferred maintenance projects.

$500 million to hire NPS personnel.

$250 million to the Fish and Wildlife Service for wildlife recovery and to rebuild and restore units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY FORESTRY

$200 million for vegetation management projects in the National Forest System.

$1.5 billion for competitive grants through the Urban and Community Forestry Assistance program for tree planting and related activities.

Sapwi Trails Community Park. Thousand Oaks, California | Conejo Recreation & Park District and RRM Design Group (consulting landscape architects) / Conejo Recreation & Parks District

WATER

$550 million for planning, designing, or constructing water projects with the primary purpose of providing domestic water supplies to underserved communities or households that do not have reliable access to domestic water supplies in a state or territory.

$4 billion for grants, contracts, or financial assistance to states impacted by drought, with priority given to the Colorado River Basin and other basins experiencing comparable levels of long-term drought.

$15 million to provide technical assistance for climate change planning, mitigation, adaptation, and resilience to Insular Areas – U.S. territories.

COASTAL COMMUNITIES

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): $2.6 billion for grants, technical assistance, and cooperative agreements that enable coastal communities to prepare for extreme storms and other changing climate conditions. This includes projects to support natural resources that sustain coastal and marine resource dependent communities and assessments of marine fishery and marine mammal stocks.

$50 million for competitive grants to fund climate research related to weather, ocean, coastal, and atmospheric processes and conditions and impacts to marine species and coastal habitat.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE

$3 billion in competitive grants to address clean air and climate pollution in underserved communities.

$33 million to collect data and track disproportionate burdens of pollution and climate change on environmental justice communities.

Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse Sustainable Landscape Renovation, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. Rios Clementi Hale Studios / Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES), Robert Reck

FEDERAL BUILDINGS

$250 million for the General Services Administration to convert facilities to high performing buildings.

$2.1 billion to purchase low carbon materials.

$975 million for emerging and sustainable technologies and related sustainability programs.

$20 million for hiring new personnel to conduct more efficient, accurate, and timely reviews for planning, permitting and approval processes.

OTHER PROVISIONS

Department of Agriculture: $19.4 billion to invest in climate-smart agriculture practices and land interests that promote soil carbon improvements and carbon sequestration.

Department of Energy: $115 million for the hiring and training of personnel, the development of programmatic environmental documents, the procurement of technical or scientific services for environmental reviews, the development of environmental data or information systems, stakeholder and community engagement, and the purchase of new equipment for environmental analysis to facilitate timely and efficient environmental reviews and authorizations.

Department of Housing and Urban Development: $837.5 million to improve energy or water efficiency or the climate resilience of affordable housing.

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF): The fund will help efficiently finance projects, including landscape architecture projects, to reduce emissions through active transportation, ecosystem restoration, energy and water efficiency, and climate-smart agriculture. The fund will receive $27 billion total, with $8 billion earmarked for low-income or otherwise underserved communities. Funds will flow through regional, state, local, and tribal green banks. And the GGRF will provide the institutional foundation for a National Climate Bank Act.

Roxanne Blackwell, Hon. ASLA, Esq., is director of federal government affairs, and Caleb Raspler, Esq., is manager of federal government affairs at the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

Island Life: New Communities Form off the Coast of San Francisco

06/13/201908/08/2019Jared GreenLeave a comment

Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island / CMG Landscape Architecture

Treasure and Yerba Buena islands are about a mile off the northeast coast of San Francisco. They have a strange history. They were originally part of the city of San Francisco before they were confiscated by the federal government as naval and coast guard bases during World War II. The federal government then sold the islands back to the city government, which in turn created the Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA) and sold much of the property to real estate developers Wilson Meany, Lennar Urban, and Kenwood Investments.

As San Francisco housing prices continue to skyrocket, the aim is to create 8,000 new housing units on the islands, nearly a third of which will be affordable, transforming these islands into the “next great neighborhood” just 12 minutes by ferry to downtown San Francisco. On the 425-acre Treasure Island, some 300 acres will be turned into public parkland, creating the largest new public green space in the city since Golden Gate Park. This is the kind of grand city-building rarely done in the U.S. anymore.

At the American Planning Association (APA) conference in San Francisco, one of the developers, Wilson Meany, and the planning and design team, SOM and CMG Landscape Architecture, walked us through the many facets of the $1.5 billion development, which integrates the latest thinking on both sustainability and resilience.

First, a brief history of the islands: In the 1930s, the San Francisco — Oakland Bay Bridge was constructed, linking downtown San Francisco to Yerba Buena and Treasure Island and then those islands to Oakland.

The very-flat Treasure Island was built up in 1936-37 through tons of imported rocks added over shallow shoals, all in time to become the site of the 1939 World’s Fair, which was officially named the Golden Gate International Exposition. The island later became a municipal airport, where the Pan Am clipper flew to Shanghai. Now, only those passenger terminals and hangars remain, and they are the only historic, protected buildings on the island.

At the onset of World War II, the U.S. government confiscated the island and transformed it into a naval station, an embarkation point for the Pacific theater of war. In the 1950s and 1960s, Treasure Island was the site of the U.S. Navy Naval Technical Training Center (NTTC). And according to the book Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay by Susan Styker, there was also a dark, cruel episode in the island’s history: a psychiatric ward on the base was used to study and experiment on naval sailors who were being discharged for being gay. The base facilities closed in 1997 through the base realignment and closure (BRAC) program. The federal government remediated brownfields that littered the landscape, opening up the island for residential and commercial development.

In contrast with the flat artificial nature of Treasure Island, the nearby Yerba Buena Island is nature made, very hilly, and rich in native plant and bird life. Once called Goat Island or Sea Bird island, this smaller 150-acre island has a similar history. The U.S. federal government confiscated it and managed as part of the Treasure Island naval base. The island was home to officer housing, including for residence for Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who was commander of the Pacific fleet in World War II. There is now a U.S. coast guard search and rescue base and clipper boat cove. Across both islands, there are now a few thousand people living full-time.

According to Chris Meany, a partner at Wilson Meany, the process of developing the island started in earnest in the 2000’s. After a decade-long “mind boggling” negotiation process, Mayor Gavin Newsome agreed in 2009 to pay the federal government $105 million for Treasure Island, while the federal government retains some 40 acres for U.S. Department of Labor Jobs Corps facilities and a section of Yerba Buena Island for the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2005, the first land plan was developed by the city and a team of developers at Wilson Meany, Lennar Urban, and Kenwood Investments. The plan included a development rights swap between Treasure and Yerba Buena islands in order to protect 75 percent of the richly bio-diverse Yerba Buena from development and concentrate denser housing on Treasure island.

Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Master plan / CMG Landscape Architecture

For the new communities on the co-joined islands, the city and the developers aimed for sustainable and resilient design excellence. This involves creating public transit access; orienting communities to reduce wind; building sustainable and resilient housing, parks, and promenades; and creating a massive park that can adapt to rising sea levels.

Leo Chow, a partner with SOM, said Treasure Island is a beautiful place with access problems. Right now, visitors can either drive, bike, or take the bus over the Bay Bridge — just one route. A new ferry terminal in development on Treasure Island will add an important option and take people to and from downtown San Francisco in 12 minutes. At the new ferry landing, people can also hop on a bus or access bicycle lanes. “It will be possible to circumnavigate the island by bike.”

The new commercial and residential eco-districts are oriented on a “parallelogram grid” to maximize sun exposure but reduce the impact of high winds coming off the bay.

Parallelogram grid / CMG Landscape Architecture

The commercial district will include a retail corridor in the historic airport terminals and hangars. Residential communities themselves will be compact developments, 90 percent of which will be a 10-15 walk from the primary ferry and bus terminal.

Amid the new housing, there will be smaller, shared streets that privilege pedestrians and bicyclist instead of cars, leading to pocket parks and coastal parks, promenades, and bicycle pathways.

Compact neighborhood development with shared streets / CMG Landscape Architecture

Neighborhood parks / CMG Landscape Architecture

Neighborhoods themselves will mimic San Francisco’s urban feel — the “white, gold city.” Architects will follow rigid design standards calling for white buildings. “It will be a light-colored city against rich nature.”

Kevin Conger, FASLA, a founding partner at CMG Landscape Architecture and an integral part of the design team for the islands, said the public spaces were designed with both the 15,000-20,000 full-time residents and the many thousands of expected visitors in mind.

The public spaces had to be thought of as an “attractive destinations for the whole city — a city-wide waterfront park and a regional open space destination, with sports fields, a 20-acre urban farm for local food production, and natural areas, along with facilities for kayaking, sailing, and bicycling.”

CMG thoughtfully designed all the landscape infrastructural systems to be multi-purpose, too. The green spaces ensure that the island manages 100 percent of its stormwater run-off but also create habitat for wildlife. An island waste water treatment plant funnels reclaimed water to wetlands and is used for irrigation. “The goal was to close all these cycles in a self-contained eco-district.”

The large parkland was designed to accommodate future sea level rise as well. “We purposefully set-back developments 350-feet from the shoreline, so we may protect the community now and accommodate further future adaptation.” In the area called the wilds, which is filled with adaptable wetlands in an inter-tidal zone, the park will naturally recede or retreat as waters rise. The designers anticipated sea level rise out beyond 2070, and future adaptation needs are covered in the long-term budget.

Nature area of the Treasure Island park / CMG Landscape Architecture

Overlaying the ecological elements is a public art master plan, which puts 100 percent of art in the public realm, “increasing the cultural value of the parks.” Conger believes art is an important ingredient in a walkable public realm — “it’s so critical to reward pedestrians with a high-quality walking environment.”

Local landscape architecture firms, like Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture and Hood Design Studio, are filling in pieces of the parks on Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island as well. Cochran is designing the plaza for the multi-modal ferry and bus terminal around building 1, while Walter Hood, FASLA, is creating a new park with 360 degree views at the peak of Yerba Buena Island that is also expected to become a regional destination park.

Treasure Island plaza / Andrew Cochran Landscape Architecture

Over on Yerba Buena Island, where CMG devised a comprehensive wildlife habitat management plan that creates “natural landscape patches,” connected habitat for birds and plants. Some 75 percent of the island will be reserved for parks, beaches, and 5 miles of walking and bicycling trails.

Beach on Yerba Buena Island / CMG Landscape Architecture

Views from Yerba Buena Island / CMG Landscape Architecture

Working with the San Francisco department of the environment, the team has already removed invasive species and propagated many thousands of native plants from seeds and then planted them back into the island.

Singapore’s New Garden Airport

04/08/201908/08/2019Jared Green1 Comment

Jewel Changi Airport / PWP Landscape Architecture, Safdie Architects

International airports are in fierce competition for passengers and regularly one-up each other with new wow-factor amenities, shops, and restaurants. But Singapore decided to raise its game by going another direction: a plant-filled haven, a gateway consistent with its moniker — “the city in a garden.” The result is an inventive model other airports should copy, if not in form, then certainly in spirit.

The new Jewel Changi airport features a 6-acre indoor forest, walking trails, and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. This restorative mecca filled with 2,500 trees and 100,000 shrubs not only revitalizes weary international travelers but is also open to the public.

Over the past six years, Safdie Architects has led a team that included PWP Landscape Architecture, Atelier 10, WET, Burohappold, and ICN International to create this bar-raising travel experience.

As anyone who experienced the stress of air travel can attest, the onslaught of digital signs, loud speakers announcing departures, shops blaring music, and carts flying by quickly leads to draining sensory overload. Now imagine if there was a natural place to take a break amid the cacophony. As many studies have shown, just 10 minutes of immersion in nature can reduce stress, restore cognitive ability, and improve mood.

Jewel Changi provides that nearby natural respite with a 5-story-tall forest encased in a 144,000-square-foot steel and glass donut structure. During rain storms, water pours through an oculus in the roof — creating the 130-foot-tall Rain Vortex, a mesmerizing waterfall sculpture that can accommodate up to 10,000 gallons per minute at peak flow. Stormwater is then recycled throughout the building.

Jewel Changi Airport Rain Vortex / PWP Landscape Architecture, Safdie Architects

According to Adam Greenspan, ASLA, a partner at PWP, there is a “forest valley” and a “canopy park.” Throughout, the firm used stone and wood to create winding paths that immerse visitors in nature.

The valley is organized into terraces, like you would find in a shade-covered coffee or tree plantation, and features three types of trees: Terminalia, a native to Madagascar; Agathis Borneensis, which is native to Malaysia and Indonesia; and Agathis Robusta, which is native to Australia. Terraced planters are faced with Indonesian lava stone that epiphytic and and other plants can climb.

Amid the canopy park, PWP planted a number of species of wide-spreading Ficus trees that will eventually create shade and a comfortable environment. Up on the fifth level, there’s a topiary walk and horticultural gardens, and an event space for up to 1,000 people.

Jewel Changi aiport upper canopy / PWP Landscape Architecture

Throughout the biosphere-like terminal, PWP selected some 200 species of mostly-highland plant species, calibrating them to the giant torus’ unique conditions where temperatures and humidity levels are slightly cooler than outside. “Air movement, humidity, and natural light have all been balanced.”

Jewel Changi Airport roof and oculus / Safdie Architects

In addition to hosting some 300 shops and restaurants and a transit hotel, the terminal connects to the city’s public bus system. Pedestrian bridges and an inter-terminal train link passengers and visitors to the airport’s many gates.

Jewel Changi Airport train tunnel / PWP Landscape Architecture, Safdie Architects

With Jewel Changi, Singapore has reinvented what an airport can be, just as they re-imagined what a hospital can be with Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, which is not only a medical facility but also a green hub open to the community. Now let’s hope Singapore’s biophilic design culture spreads around the world, like the planes that leave its terminals.

In Copenhagen, You Can Ski Down This Power Plant

02/21/201908/08/2019Jared Green1 Comment

Eight years ago Danish architect Bjarke Ingels came up with a fantastical idea — build a ski slope on top of a power plant. Well, now, it has actually happened — the $660 million Amager Bakke is preparing to welcome adventurous ski bunnies in Copenhagen. Known to locals as Copenhill, this cutting-edge renewable energy system converts waste into energy while giving sports lovers access to a 2,000-feet-long ski slope, a 295-feet-high climbing wall, and hiking and running paths. The project is the most visible demonstration yet of Copenhagen’s determination to become the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2025.

According to Babcock & Wilcox Vølund, the engineers of the power plant, Copenhill will convert 400,000 tons of waste each year into heat for 250,000 homes and energy for another 62,500 while producing zero toxic air pollution. Some 100,000 pounds of ash collected from the waste incineration process will be reused to build roads; and some 90 percent of the metals in the waste stream will be salvaged.

Two ski lifts take visitors up to the slope, which allows for all types of skiing — alpine and racing — along with snowblading and snowboarding. On the Copenhill website, one can already reserve a time to snow plow or slalom down the slopes for about $20 an hour. Visitors can also rent equipment, take a ski class, or join SKI365, the building’s ski club. The big plus: because the slope is built using specialized artificial turf, people will be able to ski up there year round.

Translating their website from Danish, it’s clear they’ve tried to design the space for everyone: “If you a beginner, a shark on skis, free-styler, fun skier, man, woman, boy, girl, thick, thin, tall or short, then you are part of the community. We have something for everyone. There are both red / black, blue, and green courses. In addition, there is also a slalom course, free-style park, and, of course, an area for the smallest.”

For those who avoid skiing, there are freely-accessible paths sloping up a 5-35 percent grade where one can walk up or take a heart-pounding run. Bjarke Ingels’ firm BIG and landscape architects with SLA planted more than 30 trees in landscaped areas. There, Copenhill invites you to “take a picnic in the shrubbery or just enjoy the view on one of the reclining benches.” There’s also a club for these path enthusiasts — RUN365, with crossfit training options for members.

The facility replaces an older power plant, and the cost of building Copenhill is shared among the five municipalities who will sell Copenhill’s heat and power. But according to Bloomberg, the city government thinks it’s perhaps the tourism money — rather than the heat or power — that will end up offsetting a larger share of the cost of the new plant. Situated just 13 minutes from the airport, it will be hard for first-time visitors — particularly those with kids — to avoid making a stop.

In an interview, BIG told Inhabitat that the building is expected to blow steam rings at some point. The technology apparently works — they are now fine-tuning.

See more images at DesignBoom and check out an interview we did with Ingels in 2011, where he discussed his bold ideas about merging buildings and landscapes.

A Model Green Office in Vietnam

09/21/201508/09/2019Jared GreenLeave a comment

mein1 — Mein Garten Headquarters, Hanoi, Vietnam / © Vu Xuan Son via ArchDaily

Mein Garten, a landscape architecture and horticultural design firm based in Hanoi, Vietnam, decided to create a new headquarters to showcase its work. With local architects at Studio 102, they created a green haven that merges architecture and nature, creating a free-flow between indoor and outdoor environments. Mein Garten wanted to create an office as open to nature as possible, not only to boost employee health but also their creativity. The offices rely on natural ventilation and lighting most of the time.

According to ArchDaily, Mein Garten found a vacant house in the Cau Giay district. Instead of turning it into the usual “closed, air-conditioned standard office,” they thought it had the potential to become a new kind of work space. Using simple wood structures, paint, and plants also kept the “cost of the renovation very low.”

The architects took out some walls, creating open spaces that bring fresh air and light into the work spaces. These open spaces were then filled with plants. Mein Garten writes: “There is no boundary between the inside and the outside. Plants are everywhere: in the garden, in the semi-open space, on the ground floor, first floor, on the roof, the walls.” The effect is reminiscent of Indian modern architect B.V. Doshi’s “vernacular architecture,” as seen at his Indian Institute of Management Bangalore campus.

As visitors enter the building, they are invited to step over a concrete pathway that appears to float in the water. A series of rafters covers the walkway, providing shade. At the facing wall, there is a basic green wall structure that provides a home for potted plants.

mein5 — Mein Garten Headquarters, Hanoi, Vietnam / © Vu Xuan Son via ArchDaily

Moving into the lobby, there’s an inviting courtyard with seating and views of the showroom.

mein3 — Mein Garten Headquarters, Hanoi, Vietnam / © Vu Xuan Son via ArchDaily

Within the offices, employees look out on another interior patio. There’s a spot to sit with a colleague and take in the lush plant life. As Mein Garten explains, “this office bring people closer to nature, closer to each other, and makes them work more effectively.”

Mein Garten Headquartes, Hanoi, Vietnam / © Vu Xuan Son via ArchDaily — Mein Garten Headquarters, Hanoi, Vietnam / © Vu Xuan Son via ArchDaily

In the back, at the employee entrance, plants are allowed to climb up the rafters, so employees on the upper floors looking out their windows also get a green view.

Mein Garten’s approach is smart and sustainable in a tropical climate like Vietnam’s. While it’s often hot and humid, there are cooler, wet seasons, too. And these seasonal changes are reflected in the office. “Day by day, season by season, the plants continue to grow and change, giving the office a new look. This office, therefore, is not just a built object. It is living, like an organism.”

See more photos at ArchDaily.

Also, check out Fast Company‘s 2015 Innovation by Design awards.

Sustainable Design Innovation: Perez Art Museum Miami

08/20/201408/09/2019Jared Green1 Comment

perez6 — Perez Art Museum Miami / all photos by Robin Hill

The built and natural environments merged to form something new and amazing in Miami: The Perez Art Museum. One of the most fascinating recent uses of integrated design, the museum features a hanging garden and a complementary, tropical landscape filled with native plants and irrigated by the building itself. Designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron and landscape designers at ArquitectonicaGEO, the museum is a prime example of multidisciplinary team-driven sustainable design.

Exploring the museum from the ground up shows us how the project just builds one sustainable layer upon the next. As ArquitectonicaGEO explains, given the museum is close to the Biscayne Bay, it first had to be elevated to meet flood and storm surge requirements.

The designers ended up putting the garage underneath, which opened up opportunities for smart, multi-purpose design. The arrangement enabled the creation of a “design that integrates parking and planting beds with irrigation system water storage, storm water infiltration, temporary storm surge storage, and aquifer recharge. The innovative porous-floored parking garage, along with rain gardens, has been designed to capture rain water and funnel it into the ground water system, thus reducing local flooding and storm water runoff into Biscayne Bay.” This approach apparently saved the client money, too.

Examining the surrounding landscape, one discovers the varied yet native-rich landscape is also a journey of discovery, enabling visitors to explore new realms of both the plant and art worlds. ArquitectonicaGEO tells us: “A naturalistic planting style dominates throughout the ground level and Level 1 planters, progressing from South Florida natives mimicking endemic habitats outside the building, to a mix of plant types adjacent to the building, and finally a more constructed pan-tropical and exotic palette within the garage and Level 1 planters. The landscape sequence begins on Museum Drive along the new Science Museum and Art Museums, continues in the underground parking garage with a surprising display of plant material in an unexpected location, and continues above ground with the spectacle of the hanging vegetation, and the discoveries within the sculpture garden.”

Landscape architects also saved ten of the large West Indian Mahogany, Black Olive, and Tabebuia trees found on the site, transplanting them to new spots.

The building itself maximizes its exposure to natural air flow and the cooling power of plants. There are “extensive roof overhangs,” providing access to the landscape and elements.

Much like the first Brutalist buildings in France, which paired concrete and nature, here, the pan-tropical vegetation is a counterpoint to the Modernism of Herzog & de Meuron’s building. Laurinda Spear, lead designer of ArquitectonicaGEO, told us: “Native plants have been chosen to display the raw materials of our landscape as a contrast to the geometric architecture of the building.”

The hanging vertical green gardens only enhance the effect of the green counterpoint. They were created by green wall designer Patrick Blanc and horticulturalists Michael Davenport from Fairchild Tropical Garden and Jeff Shimonski from Jungle Island.

ArquitectonicaGEO explains the original design just featured the hanging gardens, but was eventually expanded to include the sustainable system for the horizontal landscape. The result is a far richer place.

Solar Decathlon 2011 Innovations: Constructed Wetlands, Edible Landscapes, Rain Gardens, and More

09/22/201108/08/2019Jared Green2 Comments

The Solar Decathlon, a design competition and public education program run by the U.S. Department of Energy, returns to the National Mall this year, where it will be open September 23 – October 2. Like the competition two years ago (see earlier post), teams of architecture and landscape architecture students from universities around the world compete to design, build, and then operate the most “cost-efficient, energy-efficient, and attractive” solar-powered home. The team that reaches optimal energy production, maximizes all efficiencies, and combines design excellence with affordability, takes home the top prize.

In 2009, Team Germany beat out all the top talent from the U.S. and Asia with their innovative cube home entirely covered in solar panels. Given all the fundraising needed to create these projects (some of these model homes cost hundreds of thousands to create), not many of the schools from 2009 appear again this year. A whole new set of competitors are in play.

All projects have the requisite solar photovoltaic or solar thermal systems installed in various places on or around the home, but in terms of integrated site design, the University of Maryland’s WaterShed was the most innovative project this year. An attempt to create a “micro-scale ecosystem,” the project truly integrates building and landscape and uses “living systems,” or constructed wetlands to recycle and reuse greywater from sinks and showers. In combination with the wetland, exterior native plantings, edible gardens and walls, and a green roof mean the site will not only be highly energy efficient but will also be extremely water efficient and have zero stormwater run-off.

Using plants native to this region, which creates habitat for local birds and insects, architecture and landscape architecture students at UMD constructed the wetland right outside the home’s floor-to-ceiling bathroom window so it’s clear that water from the sinks and shower flow outside to the wetlands, where the water is then cleaned and reused to irrigate the landscape.

However, their landscape also does more than clean and recycle wastewater, it also produces food. Veronika Zhiteneva, a student with the UMD team, explained that a garden plot with vegetables can help a family in their model home “live more sustainably and with greater self-reliance.” Near the garden plot, there’s also an edible wall made of twisting grape vines.

The building’s green roof, which was grown by LiveRoof, is comprised of 150 2.5-inch deep trays, which feature six different types of sedum. Placed on the north side, the green roof not only reduces energy use by 25 percent, but also slows down and absorbs any stormwater. Any excess rainwater not captured by the roof is then soaked up by the surrounding native plants.

In fact, the entire project, from the wetlands and native plantings to the garden and edible wall to the green roof, are designed to ensure the home only offers positive impacts on the surrounding environment. Scott Tjaden, another team member, said “our inspiration is the Chesapeake Bay,” which has suffered major impacts from agriculture and stormwater run-off. Indeed, of all the projects in this year’s Decathlon, WaterShed seemed to offer the more thoughtful approach — it places high value not only on energy efficiency, but stormwater management, water efficiency, and biodiversity too.

Among the other 19 model homes on the Mall, a theme this year was edible landscapes. A student from the Middlebury College team (see below) said these homes “offer an opportunity to produce your own food.” Their project had an indoor “greenhouse wall shelter” for growing herbs and seedlings that could be moved outside to the garden plot once they grow larger. “The local food movement is part of living sustainably.” The team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also added an edible garden around the exterior of their home.

Parsons The New School of Design and Stevens Institute of Technology worked with Habitat for Humanity to create a real home that will be turned over to a family in the Deanwood neighborhood of Washington, D.C. once the competition is over. Parsons said the family was actually brought into the design process early on and they requested a rooftop food garden, which will be accessible via the second floor of the home. One fun element was a Parsons-designed cookbook offering recipes for the foods grown in the home. In addition, their home is designed to have zero stormwater runoff: a rain “spigot,” which funnels water into a rain garden, captures any stormwater coming off the roof. Any excess runoff will be stored in a 2,000 gallon tank buried under the house and then reused for irrigating the landscape. Eventually, when the home is put in place in Deanwood, two bioswales will be installed at either ends of the house to capture stormwater. Their project is also designed using PassiveHaus technologies, including extra thick walls and glazed windows.

Victoria University of Wellington, which is representing New Zealand in the competition, elegantly integrated a range of New Zealand landscapes into the form of their home. As visitors enter the house, they “begin at the beach,” with a landscape of grasses and sand-binding plants that “mimics the New Zealand coastal landscape.” Further in, around the home, there are a “mosaic of shrub land,” here innovatively incorporated into plots around bench seating. Behind the house, there’s a “forest edge” that replicates the “conifer-broadleaf forest which the most complex and diverse in New Zealand.”

Lastly, there are alpine zones featuring “unique flora” and another productive landscape offering opportunities for growing herbs, veggies, and fruits. The landscape provides water efficiency and stormwater management value.

Team New York from the City College of New York came up with another unique approach that uses 30 percent less water than the conventional home: Shower and sink wastewater is recycled and reused. Also, some 30,000 gallons of rainwater will be captured via external banks of native plants that a landscape architecture faculty advisor helped select and install. New York’s project is designed to be placed on top of the roof of an existing New York City building in an effort to “increase density and encourage car-free living.” This approach is made possible by a “dunnage” system that distributes load through steel beams. The idea is to then plant a green roof around the rooftop home that will function as a yard and garden.

Innovative use of materials, including non-conventional materials and building waste, was another big theme running through the homes. The best example of this was the team from Appalachia State University, which beautifully reused corrugated iron as siding and internal walls, along with a natural, locally-sourced bark siding that is “soaked, flattened, and then kiln-dried” into sheets that last up to 80 years. One student said the bark is a “by product of the lumber industry.” Very smart reuse of a little-considered material.

Explore the 20 teams on the National Mall this year. In 2009, more than 300,000 visited the Decathlon in 10 days. Get there early this year to avoid long lines.

Image credits: Krista Sharp / ASLA

BIG Goes Biophilic with New Sports Center

03/22/201103/05/2022Jared Green1 Comment

Ice hockey rink in Umea / Bjarke Ingels Group

Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, perhaps one of the youngest architects to get the “starchitect” label, is creating a model of biophilic design with a new sports center in Umea, Sweden, which will be set in an “open landscape where the inside and outside meet seamlessly.” Preserving the natural lines of the site located in the Umedalen Sculpture Park, Ingels will use the area’s “natural bowl-shape” to create a dramatic 4,600 square meter ice rink, amphitheatre, restaurant, and outdoor cafe.

BIG let the natural elements of the existing site dictate the design. A natural recess that offered “people a nice place to hang out and enjoy the nature” was effectively cut into two. The south half was then used to create the new ice rink. “By splitting the recessed area into two, we can sweep the program under a green roof, the latter becoming part of the sculpture park.” The rink’s green roof will serve an extension of the surrounding landscape, blending hidden structural and natural elements.

The biophilic design ensures the center functions well year-round. In the colder months, a new glass facade in the middle of the recess will enable ample sunlight to warm the interior but will protect hockey players and ice skaters from the frigid temperatures outside. In warmer months, the daylit subterranean facility’s facade will open up, removing the barriers between the indoor spaces and the outdoor amphitheatre. BIG writes: “the interior landscape is considered an extension of the exterior landscape.”

Given this center is supposed to be an “accessible landscape” in all seasons, the design for the wheelchair ramps were built into the early concepts.

See more images of the new design.

Also worth checking out: Ingel released plans for a new waste-to-energy power plant that will also function as a ski slope. Multi-use infrastructure projects like these show how otherwise-unwieldy infrastructure can be better integrated into communities. See his new TED talk as well.