News
Report From the City of Big Shoulders
09.21.2009 Mithun, Thought Bursts
It's sunny and warm here in Chicago. Lake Michigan is crystal blue...they have palm trees on their beaches (I kid you not). The only clue that it is not the Caribbean is that the palms are boxed.
Friday, I was at the HOK office, (newly minted platinum commercial interiors) for the Landscape Architecture Foundation board meeting. Many of you know the new Executive Director, Barbara Deutsch, who was a masters student at UW. She is still a dynamo and has set a clear and powerful agenda for the Foundation whose mission remains to support scholarship and research for sustainable landscapes. The Board was thrilled with her thorough and strategic assessment of how the Foundation fits within the scheme of conservation/stewardship-type non-profits.
The two major programs this year will be the Olmsted scholars and the landscape performance series. This year's Olmsted winner (each school nominates their top student addressing sustainability and a jury reviews their portfolios) is from UVA and is pursuing a degree in architecture and landscape architecture. The landscape performance series will be metrics-based case studies - a chance for us Mithunees and the profession at large to continue to define metrics that every project should have.
Today at the 2009 ASLA Annual Meeting, I presented the Sustainable Sites Initiative with folks from the Wildflower Center and USGBC to a packed house of over 300 people. The latest draft is being edited for release on November 5th in time for Greenbuild. Pilot applications will be accepted between November 5th and February 15th so we will want to continue to strategize which Mithun projects are good candidates.
Other sessions I attended were a prolific outline by Mayor Daley of the City's achievements of green roofs, sustainable streets, tree canopy and climate change goals and some case studies of parks that have been economic drivers in Baltimore and Washington DC. Olin Partnership and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore (a BID - business improvement district) showed their new work for Pratt Street in Baltimore including Inner Harbor improvements. Olin is also working with Canal Park Development in DC and their Director was there. Now that's a smart panel presentation. Bring your clients to the panel with you - good model for us next year when the conference is in DC.
At the expo, there were a handful of interesting products. BigBelly has a solar powered trash compactor; Seattle is already testing twenty of them. They hold the same as ten trash cans in about the same size as one. When paired with recycling bins (non-compacting), the cost is about $4,800 for both and pays back in two years due to reduced pickups required.
ELT, Elevated Living Technologies had their green walls there. Roughly $125/face foot all inclusive (structure, soil, plantings, irrigation, and installation) with a one-year warranty. They are also encouraging maintenance contracts with their certified installers and will provide general price quotes on that soon.
Raintube is a company that makes modular rain barrels that can be designed into walls or slide under decks.
Only one lighting manufacturer had a solar powered street light but it did not tie to grid. He suggested Inovus in Idaho, a company that has developed a grid link system further.
An interesting new site furniture manufacturer just bought a Czech company known for its commitment to sustainable design: Environmental Site Furnishings.
More to follow about the Millennium Park Lurie Garden tour, Karen's BIM presentation, and hearing Despommier talk about his vertical farm concept.
Article by Debra Guenther, ASLA, LEED AP, Partner. Deb seeks to redefine how people experience the outdoors within urban settings and to integrate function and beauty of natural systems into habitable places.