Often times, in design, monetary constraints affect the long-term integrity of a building, the landscape, and the overall site. All too often, cut backs on spending negatively impact an under-rated landscape. This impact can quite literally stunt the growth of the landscape in which every person moves. At the forefront of these cut backs are [...]
A growing trend in the United States, advocated by landscape architects, is the transition of many well-manicured lawns, to ecologically functioning meadows. The transition is spurred by a growing advocacy for stormwater management, declining efforts to maintain gasoline consuming lawns, and pure aesthetic variation. But whatever the reason, the growing trend of replacing lawns with [...]
Many communities across Maryland do not think of sustainable improvements when it comes time to make road improvements. But the town of Edmonston saw the road’s expiration date as a time to put a new lease on the roadways. Leading by example, the town created an innovative green street that creates environmental and transportations improvements [...]
As most can attest from their daily routine in an urban setting, meeting people on the street is inevitable. Whether it is a stranger, an old friend, or a new acquaintance, the interesting thing that allows for this interaction is the space in which we move. These spaces are often called, plazas, promenades, sidewalks, streets, [...]
With an increased awareness of our waterway’s health, the City of Baltimore has taken the lead in setting a local example on how to reestablish the vital ecosystems that once dominated the city’s Inner Harbor. Wetlands once filled the waterways surrounding the city, but over time, development, industrial expansion, and increased impervious surfaces contributed to the [...]
Embodying the raw aesthetic and functionality of the Chesapeake Bay, and balancing the necessity for a low-impact way of living in such a delicate watershed, the 2011 University of Maryland Solar Decathlon Team has conceptualized and articulated a design for a new form of living; a home simply name “Watershed.” “Watershed” draws inspiration from the [...]
Increasing food prices due to transportation, labor, and resources, have led to a revolution in the way that people perceive and purchase their food. Considering that more than half of the world’s population lives in urban settings, an efficient and effective use of the city structure was inevitable. Pairing the necessity of food, with the [...]
With the increase of vehicular traffic across the United States, and most other countries, many habitats have or are becoming forever divided, damaged, and broken due to the construction of a road, highway, or interstate. Much of these habitat disturbances leave wildlife separated from their native territories, and in grave danger when crossing roads, highways, [...]
While the term sustainability lingers in the ears of Washington, D.C. locals, true sustainability rarely is as visible as the transformation of the Nation’s most heavily polluted water body, the Anacostia River. Poised above the Anacostia River is D.C.’s South Capitol Street Bridge, which carries more than 55,000 vehicles daily and it will soon be [...]
