Innovative project is one of the first in the U.S. to be accepted in a new Sustainable Sites Initiative pilot program, which tests sustainable design, construction and maintenance for landscapes
AUSTIN, August 16, 2010 – The 4.5-acre Children’s Garden being developed at The University of Texas at Austin’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has been selected to be a pilot project for the recently-launched Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES), a new national rating system for sustainable landscape design, construction and maintenance. The Children’s Garden is one of only about 150 projects in the world selected to participate in the SITES two-year pilot program.
Austin-based W. Gary Smith Design designed the Children’s Garden as a whimsical learning environment that will advance the Center’s environmental education mission. TBG Partners, a leading Texas-based landscape architecture and planning firm, played an integral role in developing the Children’s Garden design, particularly in conceiving and implementing many sustainable techniques that distinguish this project as a model of sustainable landscaping.
As a pilot project of the initiative, led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the United States Botanic Garden, the Children’s Garden was developed from the outset in close coordination with evolving SITES guidelines and criteria — the actual points system itself had not even been established during initial design phases — and was altered throughout development to maximize compatibility with the initiative. Moreover, unlike most urban pilot projects that use existing infrastructure, the Children’s Garden is sited in an undeveloped, naturalistic setting, which required carefully carving the project out of a delicate rural ecosystem and minimizing disturbance. TBG and the project team’s sustainable considerations encompassed not only design and operations, but sourcing of materials, construction and maintenance, ensuring a genuinely green project from conception to construction and beyond.
The project includes a variety of innovative sustainable systems and practices that were developed in close coordination with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the nation’s premier native plant garden. Sustainable elements include strategically placed rainwater gardens that capture and filter stormwater on the site, which reduces the impact on adjacent water bodies. The rainwater-harvesting system also includes two cisterns that collect runoff from the roof of a pavilion and restroom facilities; the captured water will be used for multiple purposes including site irrigation. In addition, water in the garden’s primary water feature, a serpentine stream that flows into a garden grotto and waterfall, will be treated for bacteria using ultraviolet filtration rather than harsh chemicals. This progressive purification approach delicately balances sustainability with health concerns of garden patrons. The resulting design ensures that children and adults will interact harmoniously with the stream’s fish and plants. The stream will also educate visitors by reflecting the area’s overall rainfall characteristics with lower levels during drought conditions, for example..
“This pioneering project has allowed us to not only explore how to effectively create a functioning and sustainable landscape, but also how such a project can be achieved with regard to cost, timing and constructability,” said Charlotte Tonsor, LEED-AP, a senior associate in TBG Partners’ Austin office.
Besides testing the sustainable landscape guidelines of SITES, the Children’s Garden will serve a primary educational purpose. It is intended to provide an educational experience for children of all ages through adventure and exploration on acres of diverse and exclusively native gardens. By encouraging intimate, playful and fun interactions in an assortment of outdoor settings, the Children’s Garden will foster an understanding, appreciation and affection for the natural world. Features include a mosaic-inlaid limestone wall demonstrating the spirals found in plants such as sunflower heads, agaves, Turk’s cap and the fiddleheads of ferns; giant, climbable bird nests; wind chimes; a metamorphosis maze formed by native hedges; a collection of stacked tree stumps known as “the stumpery;” an open-air pavilion; an expansive play lawn; and a meandering stream that connects to a garden grotto cave that will provide habitat for numerous plants and creatures.
While measurable criteria have been successfully developed for the design, construction and operation of buildings, most notably the USGBC’s LEED rating system, additional development opportunities exist for improving carbon sequestration and other sustainable benchmarks — especially through landscape design, construction and maintenance. Therefore, SITES was developed in 2009 to fill this critical gap by creating voluntary guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable landscapes of all kinds, with or without buildings.
The garden and other selected projects represent a diverse cross-section of project types, sizes and geographic locations in various stages of development from design to construction and maintenance. SITES pilot projects will be the first in the United States and abroad to demonstrate the application of The Sustainable Sites Initiative: Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009, released on November 5, 2009.
The Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009 includes a four-star rating system, which works on a 250-point scale. Pilot projects will become Pilot Certified by achieving 15 prerequisites and obtaining at least 100 credit points. Feedback from the pilot program will be used to revise the final rating system and inform the technical reference manual. This guide slated for release in 2013 will provide real-world examples of achieving sustainability goals, documenting the techniques employed to develop sustainable site solutions.
ABOUT TBG PARTNERS
As one of the leading landscape architecture and planning firms in the Southwest, TBG Partners designs mixed-use and residential communities, corporate campuses, civic buildings, resorts, healthcare and educational facilities, city parks and historic sites. With a strong commitment to the advancement of sustainable design principles, TBG encourages its employees to become LEED Accredited Professionals and its clients to utilize green building practices for their projects. Established in 1987, TBG has offices in Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. For more information, please visit www.tbg-inc.com
ABOUT THE SUSTAINABLE SITES INITIATIVE (SITES)
The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) is an interdisciplinary partnership led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to transform land development and management practices with the nation’s first voluntary rating system for sustainable landscapes, with or without buildings. For more information, visit www.sustainablesites.org.
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Media Contact: Cooper Smith
cooper@coopersmithagency.com, (214) 329-9191
