Studio 2: Intermediate Landscape Architecture
Session: Fall 2020
Instructor: Emily Greenwood
Boulder Valley School District | Green School Yards
In response to the Green Schoolyards movement, students were tasked with working with Boulder Valley School District (BVSD), the BVSD Outdoor Learning Group, Thorne Nature Experience and Growing Up Boulder to envision and design a master plan and site element designs for one of four schools: Douglass Elementary, Emerald Elementary, Creekside Elementary, and Louisville Elementary. Despite the restrictions of the current pandemic, students worked in strong groups of 4-5, collaborated closely with school representatives, and presented in ways that elicited robust feedback from the communities.
Too often, playgrounds consist of acres of asphalt, fields of gravel or thoughtless lawn punctuated with short-lasting play equipment. Seeing the grounds of schoolyards as accidentally preserved “open space” means that designs not only meet the needs of the school and community, but they can also create spaces for outdoor learning, community gathering, stormwater management, nature play, community engagement and urban agriculture. In spring 2021, a group of students will continue to work with our stakeholders to develop designs in more detail, provide temporary outdoor learning spaces during the pandemic and help to source funding.
Session: Fall 2020
Instructor: Siobhan Brooks
Sisters Community Park | Longmont, CO
Instructor Siobhan Brooks' section of this studio was organized in two parts: team master planning and individual schematic design. Students worked individually and in groups to develop master plans and detail design schemes for an 80-acre community park in south Longmont, CO. The site's relationship to diverse neighborhood types, floodplain and riparian zones, and agricultural history was influential in the development of students' design concepts. Site research and design were carried out in consultation with Steven Ransweiler and Kathy Kron, senior planners with the City of Longmont.