Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2007 - (Page 19) products, despite the long-standing reign of the lush green lawn. “The barrier to entry into development projects is stronger in the Northeast than in other areas of the country,” he says. “There’s a longer history of development in the Northeast, it’s more densely populated than many areas, and rules are more strict so you can’t just put up a new building in the snap of a finger.” He says the tenants and clients of Davis Marcus Partners’ are now more educated and more interested in green design, so using LEED techniques and practices is becoming a must, and that includes landscape design. “It’s a tough thing,” explains Machnik, “to get over the hurdle that maybe native plantings and arid-tolerant plantings can be appreciated by users. That’s a leap that hasn’t been tested much yet.” But Machnik and his firm are making that leap in several commercial development ventures in New England, including one complex dubbed 850 Winter Street in Waltham, Massachusetts—an important commercial hub in Boston’s Metro-West area. This 180,000-square-foot commercial building, by architect Elkus-Manfredi, was designed with LEED certification in mind, making low-water landscape design an essential site component. The planners and landscape architects in Stantec’s Boston office have been helping the company not only to address the design aspects of the site, but also to fully understand the environmental benefits and what the resulting landscape will look like. In short, they’re helping the developer shift from a “green lawn” approach to an approach that embraces the varying colors that naturally result in that landscape in the given season. At 850 Winter Street, the landscape development plan contains roughly three “zones” of landscape, each with differing water requirements: “traditional” irrigated lawn, low-irrigation shrub beds, and non-irrigated “natural” areas. The area of irrigated lawn is greatly reduced at 850 Winter Street compared to the typical commercial properties in the vicinity. In the past, landscape architects used lawn areas as the “field” in their artistic compositions and added is provided for the shrub beds so that the plants can establish healthy root systems during the first year or two. It’s anticipated that no additional irrigation will be required once these plants are acclimatized. How a Landscape Architect Can Help A landscape architect is an important partner for developers looking to become more environmentally responsible, whether driven by LEED criteria, changing regulations, or simply a greener business model. The landscape architects working on the 850 Winter Street project considered a number of approaches for applying water-efficient landscape design principles, many of which can be used for any project, whether in the West, the East, or somewhere in between. 1. Reduce decorative turf. Trimming down the amount of grass turf on a site has the most impact of any water-saving technique. Large, green lawns require a tremendous amount of water and chemical treatments to maintain their color and health, so keeping them to a minimum cuts out both the environmental impacts and the financial expenses of such intensive, ongoing maintenance. 2. Get creative with ground cover. Think about the natural environments in your area—fields, forests, etc.—and the types of groundcover you find in them. Most likely, those plant materials naturally thrive in that climate with very little attention. Replace water-soaking turf with these types of materials, matching the look of the plants to the desired aesthetic of your site. These materials could include fields, meadows, grass in its natural color and condition, low-lying junipers and other shrubs, or even areas of stone mulch. 3. Reuse stored roof water. Clean water from roof runoff can be captured and stored for irrigation. While this isn’t a perfect solution— many climates experience little rain for months at a time—it at shrubs, groundcovers, and ornamental trees as the “objects.” Since turf is the heaviest user of water, fertilizer, and maintenance dollars, it makes sense to reverse the amounts of lawn relative to other landscape treatments. The irrigated shrub and groundcover areas of the site will rely on drip irrigation rather than the typical spray heads. Drip irrigation uses a network of tubing and emitters to supply water directly to the root zones of plants, which greatly reduces evaporation, runoff, and overwatering problems. Over time, the drip irrigation system can be eliminated or will stop working and not need to be replaced as the carefully selected plant species adapt to the existing soils, climate, and site hydrology. The non-irrigated areas make up the largest percentage of the site and are composed of existing woodlands; grasses and wildflowers, of which many will naturally go dormant in the dry summer months; and mulched plant beds that contain drought-tolerant plants, both native and introduced. A temporary source for hand watering www.SLDTonline.com 19 http://www.SLDTonline.com
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