08th Dec2011

BES Calendar features two projects from TERRA.fluxus

by Jason King

Just in time for 2012, the new calendars are available from the City of Portland, Bureau of Environmental Services and their Sustainable Stormwater Management program.  This annual publication shows off some of the interesting new projects built around Portland, and it was a nice surprise to see two months that included some of the recent work of TERRA.fluxus.  April features a couple of recent works – in particular the Vertical Wetland project completed at Move the House, project for Urban Development Partners, with art feature by Ivan McLean and funded by Metro, that funnels roof water through Corten sculpture visible from SE Division Street.

As mentioned in the calendar:

“Disconnecting a downspout is a simple way to remove roof runoff from the combined sewer system and protect water quality, and it offers opportunities for creative ways to disconnect.”

Also in June, a nice shot of the newly planted living wall at the same project, Move the House- showcasing the idea of vegetated walls, which contribute to sustainable site design – in this case screening the very prominent trash enclosure in the center of the outdoor plaza area – adding a burst of greenery to an item that is often considered an eyesore.   As mentioned in the calendar:

“Green Walls use vertical surfaces to green and beautify our cities.  Green walls can help reduce a building’s energy use and outdoor air temperatures, capture stormwater, or be used for urban agriculture “

Category : announcements, environmental, images, infrastructure, installations, living walls, planting, portland, press, projects, publications, rain gardens, stormwater, sustainability, vegitecture, water, wetlands
0 Comm
01st Aug2011

MTH Living Wall

by Jason King

The living wall installation is complete at the Move the House Apartments (see in progress shots here) – with all of the 20 species of plants placed in waves through the galvanized metal troughs around two sides of the short structure.  The structure conceals the interior of the trash enclosure, which is accessible through the sliding wooden doors seen below.

The plantings are planned in waves, moving from the upper left towards the lower right, with a range of colors and textures that will last throughout the four seasons.  The arrangement takes into account the different moisture gradients that will occur from dry to moist to wet from top to bottom.   Although just planted with 4″ pots, some of the bands are starting to become legible.  The accessibility of the plantings to the users is also important, as some are meant to be activated with aromas as people brush past them, particularly near doorways to the trash and recycling.


A few more photos shows the variety of species and the details of the simple structure of the living wall, which measures around 160 square feet of area total.  Plantings will wrap around the front corner, softening the edge that protrudes into the pedestrian space.


In addition to the evergreen vegetation, many of the species have flowers that will come on at different times of year, including the Hypericum calycinum, in vibrant yellow below.

Even newly planted, the vegetation is starting to attract bees and other pollinators, as seen on the subtle flowers of the Origanum ‘Kent Beauty’ in bloom.  Butterflies have also been spotted in the past day or so.  Not bad for a project that is literally days old.

As with all of our projects, we will be monitoring the evolution of the plantings over time, and adjusting some of the configuration.  Also important will be maintenance, as the predominant form of these plants is to drape rather than climb, so the overall composition may shift as certain plants fill in and others shift.  But that’s part of the fun… stay tuned for more.

Category : art, details, habitat, installations, landscape, living walls, materials, planting, portland, projects, vegitecture
2 Comm
20th Jul2011

Move the House Takes Shape

by Jason King

Lots of activity on the Move the House project, as artwork and landscaping along with final site elements come together.  The sidewalk has been poured, and street trees installed, green canopy planters on the first floor, along with the artwork and relocated tree along Division.  Contractor Lorentz Bruun along with landscape contractor Landservices of Oregon has done a great job of dealing with the unique complexities of the site and landscape elements and realizing the beautiful structure design by Francis Dardis of Stack Architecture.

The relocated tree was moved in a couple of weeks ago, a 25′ Japanese Maple that previously sat on the site near the house that was moved.  Developer and owner Urban Development Partners (UD+P) had the foresight to have the tree moved and stored off-site by Big Trees Today, then brought back to provide instant green along the street.  To accommodate the move, the root ball measured 100″ diameter, as seen in the photograph below.

The tree sits adjacent to the new cor-ten metal sculpture by Ivan McLean, which acts as a vertical wetland to capture water from building roofs and express the movement prior to conveyance back to the larger flow-through planter.  The sculpture itself measures 10′x10′ and provides a thin wedge that is both substantial and airy.  Below is the sculpture arriving on-site.

And it being located in it’s spot adjacent to the building along Division, where it will act as an iconic marker for passing traffic. Plantings will be located on top, inside, and along the front edge and water will travel vertically throughout these zones prior to overflowing.

The eventual route for stormwater comes to the extensive flow-through planter, located along the rear property line, which provides stormwater management for the site per City of Portland standards, which is particularly crucial as the site is located in a Combined Sewer Overflow area, so this site will hold water on-site for longer, alleviating pressure on the system in peak flows, and ensuring better water quality for our regions streams and rivers.  This infrastructure on-site is augmented by permeable paving in all other site locations – shown in the irregular patterning of gray and brown square unit pavers.

The other piece coming together is the living wall that will wrap the exterior of the trash enclosure.  This innovative feature, one of many funded by Metro as part of their Green Innovation Grant program – including the vertical wetland, green canopies, wildlife art, and signage.  The initial structure was built, which will house recycling and garbage but will be transformed into a significant site amenity.

Due to the central location, the concept calls for a series of troughs that wrap around two sides of the structure – designed by TERRA.fluxus and fabricated by Ivan Mclean – which will provide for a tapestry of vegetation that will provide color, texture, and scent to this area.  The initial armature has been welded in place, and you can see the structure along with a close-up of the troughs – which will hold soil and plants, and be irrigated with linear drip tubing.

Category : art, details, environmental, installations, landscape, living walls, materials, planting, portland, projects, rain gardens, stormwater, sustainability, vegitecture, water, wetlands
2 Comm
13th Jul2011

KPV Planters Installed

by Jason King

The design for the Kohler Pavilion Green Screen rehab at Oregon Health + Science University was recently completed, with new soil, trellis armatures, and plantings in and beginning to make their way towards the screen panels – with an aim of providing a lush green cover to the project exterior.  A total of 63 planters were rehabilitated spanning 3 levels and wrapping around two sides of the building.

A variety of plantings are distributed along rigid metal trellis stakes – to allow for a jump from the planter to the screen, which varies but is almost 24″ away from the actual planted area.  The stakes provided an easily installed, yet long-term solution, required little fabrication, and allowed for multiple lengths – with an easy hook into the existing screen.

As you can see from the concept drawing, the project came together very close to the goal – and was able to take a relative narrow planter and expand the plantings out 10′ to provide more coverage visible from the exterior.

At this point the Clematis armandii is the most vigorous, climbing to the screen and adding as much as 12′ of growth in a short period of time.  Fine tuning of the irrigation and diligent training of the remaining vines, including Carolina Jessamine, China Blue Vine, and Fiveleaf Akebia – will allow for these plantings to quickly fill in providing variety of texture and color, while remaining a lush evergreen screen throughout the year.  We will monitor and see what the exterior looks like periodically through the summer and fall – but feel comfortable that the vegetation will be full after a year.

Category : details, installations, landscape, living walls, materials, planting, portland, projects, vegitecture
0 Comm
28th May2011

Vertical Wetland

by Jason King

The plans for the Move the House Apartments are taking shape, including a change in the configuration of the Vertical Wetland (previous version here).   Working closely with artist Ivan McLean, we have reconfigured the vertical wetland to address some concerns about durability and the capacity to handle large amounts of water.  The reconfigured version is a corten steel ‘wedge’ that will fit into the existing plant bed, seen in the revised images below:

A detailed cutaway shows the way water will move through the structure, with a primary flow traveling along the front edge with planted pockets of vegetation and soil.  A secondary overflow allows water to escape down the back side and inside the planter.  In a torrential storm, water will overflow the circular ring inside the top of the planter and fall inside the vegetated zones.  All water off the roof will be captured inside the vertical wetland feature, and will overflow to a subsurface pipe that runs to the larger site flow-through planter to the south.  The structure is also elevated slightly above grade, allowing the art to float above the planting surface.  This will assure a dynamic feature visible from within the site and along Division Street.

Category : art, details, graphics, installations, landscape, living walls, materials, planting, portland, projects, rain gardens, stormwater, sustainability, vegitecture, water, wetlands
2 Comm
16th May2011

Kohler Pavilion Green Grows at OHSU

by Jason King

Initial installation of the Oregon Health + Science University Kohler Pavilion Green Screen is starting going in (see design concept here).  The first few planters allowed us to experiment with the stakes to create a ‘jump point’, which gives the plantings, which are limited to the relatively small existing planters, more of a broad span to create more expansive screening on the exterior of the parking structure.

After some field fitting, we landed on a configuration that was suitable and provided 10′ of width for plantings to spread.  Teufel Landscape provided the installation services, which also included cleaning out existing vegetation, removal of old soil, rehabilitation of irrigation system, as well as installation of new soil, plants, and trellis pieces.

As a cost-effective and long-lasting solution, we re-purposed nursery stakes in varying lengths to hook onto the existing trellis, then return back to the planter for a stable surface to allow plants to trail.  These wires had enough rigidity to span up to 10 feet, and the diameter closely matched the existing trellis structure.

The structure provides an armature for new plantings, which aim to create a mixed evergreen screen that will provide significant coverage of the parking structure when viewed from adjacent areas.  Rather than rely on one type of plant, the design used three different types for additional variety and to also provide different growth characteristics.  The foundation of the design is Clematis armandii (Evergreen Clematis), a hardy evergreen vine that is indigenous to our region.  Each planter has three Clematis to provide a solid foundation.  Alternative varieties of plants complement this foundation, including Akebia quintana (Fiveleaf Akebia) which is a vigorous climber, as seen below.

In addition, we included Gelsenium sempervirens (Carolina Jessamine) which adds some great texture and yellow flower color to the mix.  You can see it below alongside the Clematis.

Finally, the plantings included another vigorous non-native, Holboellia coriacea (China Blue Vine), which should provide a dense covering of evergreen vegetation as well as some sizable purple seed pods for accent.

Rather than rely on one species, the design takes advantage of the diversity of material to provide some resilience if a particular species under-performs, and also provides more variety, texture and color than just using the native Clematis.  Our region is short on quality, native, evergreen climbers, so augment this will non-invasive adapted species provides the opportunity for screening that is functional as well as beautiful.

Category : announcements, details, heathcare, installations, landscape, living walls, materials, planting, portland, projects, schools, sustainability, vegitecture
0 Comm
17th Apr2011

Move the House Apartments – Sustainable Sites

by Jason King

Under development is a project along 38th & Division in Portland, Oregon – an infill mixed-use apartment complex developed by Urban Development Partners and designed by Francis Dardis with a range of sustainable features.  A few renderings of the proposed project gives you a feel for the style, which provides a modern twist along this southeast Portland street.  The major features include moving an existing house to the back of the property, and a split building that spans overtop a community courtyard that drifts through the property.

The project includes permeable paving and flow-through planters to accommodate stormwater management, which is beneficial as the project is within a combined sewer overflow (CSO) area, so additional measures were taken to relieve the pressure on the City infrastructure through this development as part of the Stormwater Management Manual.  The challenge in meeting all of these requirements is to avoid stormwater becoming a problem and to treat it as an opportunity.  A view of the site plan shows additional features that add to the vibrancy of the project, including artwork and landscape beds integrated through the site.  In addition, the project is getting additional funding from Metro to provide innovative development approaches, which added some great ideas to an already cool project.

The canopies around the perimeter of the project will include vegetated planters to soften the building edges and provide an amenity from street level as well as from units.  The following sheet shows the configuration of these ‘Green Canopies’ along with their detailed specifications and locations.

Another feature is a living wall that will surround the trash enclosure area, turning what could be a difficult area into an amenity.  The design will use a custom metal fabricated system of vertical trays that will hold growing media and a number of perennials and herbs to provide color and texture throughout the seasons.

On the south portion of the property, we are incorporating a number of habitat art elements, including areas for mason bees, hummingbirds and songbirds, micro-invertebrate habitat areas, and a bird-bath feature, along with interpretive information.

The habitat is closely aligned with the site plantings, which is densely configured along the south of the property and includes screening and a large flow-through planter which will include a number of habitat-friendly species that provide shelter, food, water, and other inputs to a range of insects, birds, mammals, and potentially amphibians or other species.  For a small site, this concentration of planting area creates a significant patch, especially due to its adjacency to the Ivon Community Garden.

A visual matrix of species associations shows the benefits that come from the site features, and it is interesting to note how particular species are beneficial to multiple different types of habitat from invertebrates to birds and mammals.  It will be fun to see the the success of the site in attracting wildlife through art and landscape as it matures.

The site is currently under construction, and additional features are being developed, so stay tuned for updates.

Category : art, community, details, ecoroofs, environmental, graphics, habitat, images, landscape, living walls, planning, planting, portland, projects, rain gardens, stormwater, sustainability, vegitecture, water, wetlands
3 Comm
04th Apr2011

Kohler Pavilion Green Screen Rehab

by Jason King

An exciting project that is currently getting ready for construction phase is the rehabilitation of the green screen planters at the OHSU Kohler Pavilion.  This project is driven by requirements to screen the structure, which is located at the foot of the aerial tram, from view from adjacent areas.  The original structure was completed in the early 2000′s, with plantings installed in around the perimeter of the structure – growing from small planters to the large screen panels offset from the parking structure walls.  As you see from this photo, the plantings have never thrived, and currently offer minimal coverage of the structure.

The problems with getting vegetation established were manifold.  The planters were undersized, and also suffered from drainage issues – compounded by the uppermost planters draining down into the next level, creating super-saturated conditions that did not promote good growth.  Furthermore, there was a significant ‘jump’ from the planters to the metal screen (up to 24″) which meant plantings needed to grow sideways (and also be helped) from the planter prior to growing vertical.  This tended to inhibit good growth, opened plants to potential damage, as well as localized plants towards the center of the planter – only covering a small strip of the exterior screen.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

TERRA.fluxus was brought in to develop a retrofit of plantings with a goal of achieving significant screening coverage for the entire perimeter of the structure.  The overall scale of the project was important, as though each planter was small scale, there were three levels with 21 planters on each level – making over 60 planters for the entire project.  Thus a solution had to be functional, but also simple enough to be scaled and meet budget constraints.

The drainage issues were being addressed by OHUS through a retrofit to provide diversion of the existing drainage to the side of the planters – which was an important first step.  Rather than merely replace plantings in these new scenario, we looked at a combination of factors to come up with a comprehensive solution that would aid in long-term project success.  The main design concept became development of a ‘jump point’ to allow vegetation to easily grow from the planter and spread vertically and horizontally along the exterior screen panels.  The preliminary version of the jump point used a custom-cable system and provided a 10′ wide span from each planter, significantly improving the overall coverage potential.

With the jump point in place, the vegetation was the next focal point.  While there are a number of vines that are hardy in our region, many of these are deciduous varieties that would not work for this application.  In addition to providing a wide span, the plants in these planters were required to climb up to 30 feet to cover each level of the structure – so vigorous evergreen materials were chosen.  Clematis armandii (Evergreen Clematis) was a first choice, providing the foundation of plantings.  Rather than rely on one species, we added three additional evergreen vines to each planter, including Holboellia coriacea (China Blue Vine), Gelsenium sempervirens (Carolina Jessamine), and Akebia quintana (Fiveleaf Akebia) to round out the planters, providing diversity of color, flower, and texture.

FINAL SOLUTION

The concept evolved somewhat as pricing for the cable system was too expensive when multiplied by 60+ planters, so the ‘jump point’ detail was reworked using a simpler assembly.  The foundation of this concept is use of an off-the-shelf nursery product – loop-end nursery stakes – fabricated by local company Oregon Wire.  These offered a hooked end, various lenghts, and were rigid enough to span distances – and were also easily anchored in the planter soil (versus having to attached to a new bracket).  This reduced installation and labor costs significantly, and also provide an easy fix for future maintenance, if needed.

As construction begins, the hope is to realize the full potential of this green screen to mitigate the visual impact of the parking structure, and maximize the amount of coverage that can be attained.  Due to small planters, it is unlikely that these screens will ever achieve 100% coverage, so our aim is to provide evergreen vegetation covering 60-70% of the area year round, while offering low-maintenance and a variety of colors and textures – as shown in the rendering below.

More to come as I will update progress in coming weeks.

Category : details, graphics, images, installations, landscape, living walls, materials, planting, portland, projects, vegitecture
2 Comm
22nd Dec2010

REWIND: 2010, A Year in Review

by Jason King

What a great year.  Ok, while not a complete year (the firm began operations in mid-February), 2010 was a great start to TERRA.fluxus, with a number of highlights, projects, research, and exploration worthy of a recap.  Rather than a chronological walk through the year, there are a number of themes to be captured within the projects and activities of the firm, which ranged through the west from Washington & Oregon to California, and included a wide variety of explorations of planning, design, and urbanism.  Starting in the home office, I first moved to a shared space with Design Department, then finally to the current location at Tenpod, another  shared office space inside the Rocket Building on East Burnside, centrally located and packed with a range of creative folks.  The changes of scenery have been great, and the people I’ve met, make me feel fortunate to live and practice in Portland.

Starting a business is hard. This fact is not made easier by a tepid economic climate, but I felt I had the opportunity to grow and expand the nature of my experience and the potential for landscape architecture.  So I did so , because I thought I had something to offer clients and the community.  My business model is simple – do innovative client-based work in a range of areas, balanced with equal time for research and speculation of new ideas.  The ability to take on work that is meaningful, challenging, and vital is rare.  The opportunity to do it for a living is a gift.  So, in year number one, I must give thanks to my clients and collaborators, both old and new, who trusted me with their projects, ideas, sites, budgets, and visions.  I wholeheartedly appreciate it, and hope to continue to provide services in the upcoming year.

Green Above Ground

The work in the realm of Veg.itecture was front and center for TERRA.fluxus in 2010, including over 40,000 s.f. of projects designed and/or installed in 2010, augmenting the total ecoroof square footage i’ve worked on over the years to well over three acres.  Always trying to push the envelope for understanding vegetated roofing, I also compiled some new research related to the specific requirements of ecoroof irrigation in the Portland region in a presentation for an on-going group that I helped to co-found, the Green Roof info Think-tank, or GRiT, for short.  In addition, I published a DIY Guide to small scale ecoroofs, and also helped lead the Ecoroofs 2010 Tour as part of the annual ecoroof Vendor showcase that highlights the great companies in the industry throughout the region.

Built work included a number of great OHSU Projects including the Child Development Research Center (CDRC) which was constructed this year, and the Hatfield Research Center (HRC) and the main Hospital C-Wing projects that will be installed in early 2011.  Other projects include the ongoing development BPA 905 Building project, working with the GSA to provide stimulus-funded improvements to multiple roofs on this headquarters building in the Lloyd District.  This project will also happen in 2011.

A major highlight was winning the RFP and the award of the contract from Bureau of Environmental Services for the Ecoroof Design-Build Contract for the Green Above Ground Collaborative, along with wonderful partners Snyder Roofing, Teufel Landscape, Verde, and Cascade Design Professionals.  Our goal of 30,000 square feet of green roof, along with tours, education, a proposed video and mobilization of emerging, women, and minority-owned businesses will provide a ton of excitement through the next two years, expanding on our collective experience in the industry.   This award was also mentioned in local media publications such as the AGC Oregon newsletter and the DJC Oregon.

Media coverage was also thick for the arrival of Ty Pennington and the crew from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where the Green Above Ground crew participated in the fast-paced design of the vegetated roof for the Oregon Center for the Deaf in Salem.  It was wonderful to be involved in this great project that benefited so many, while giving green roofs some visible media coverage on a national forum.  A different small scale roof terrace for the Reliable Apartments went as well.  Outside of the region, I finished up Van Ness MOB (my first project in San Francisco) which will be built in 2011, and locally, got to see the completion of a few older projects done prior to starting TERRA.fluxus, such as the First+Main Building in downtown.

Visualizing Vegitecture

An adjunct to the built work around Green Above Ground, there are visuals to sell future projects.  Many of these were done, working with Tremco, for projects in California,  including the Wilshire-Rodeo roof terrace in Los Angeles, which re-envisioned a drab commercial rooftop into a lively outdoor meeting space.  Another LA project was for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where views from patient rooms overlooked a gray gravel roof, which also led to significant heat gain in the building.  Moving to Oakland, there was also the Washington Medical Center which combined green walls and roofs to provide aesthetically-pleasing (and sustainable) views from patient roofs instead of drab rooftops and mechanical equipment.

This concept expanded on an idea I believed strongly in, that of biophilic design, which engages our connection to nature and natural materials and processes in the creation of healthy and restorative spaces.   While green roofs are great for a number of reasons, the connection to building occupants through visible engagement with nature is one with a special power in hospital settings, where these can aid in many health outcomes.  These visuals aid in convincing decision-makers of the beauty and utility of these concepts.

Urban Agriculture & Food

Continuing the theme of rooftops, this time mixed with food, I had the opportunity to again be involved in the planning, design, and installation of the Multnomah County Hope Garden, a rooftop urban agricultural showcase that provides food for local hunger-relief agencies.  This project, in its second year, donates over 500 pounds of locally-grown produce, cared for by the County’s Green Team, in just a small  200 s.f. area on their rooftop.   The work in urban agriculture led to some great networking, capture here in a great blurb on the ASLA Sustainable Sites PPN blog, which discussed my presentation up at University of Washington on urban agriculture ‘Designing for Urban Food‘ – where I shared the stage with great minds like Deb Guenther from Mithun, Keith McPeters’ from GGN, and Jeffrey Hou from UW.

I also meet some great folks teaching at UW, like Brandon Born and Thaisa Way whom have offered additional opportunities for learning and interaction.  While my time on the Food Policy Council came and went, there were some other exciting projects like the community based remediation of the Emerson Street Garden – a brownfield site turned community gardening, and the site planning for the WVMC Hospital Garden in McMinnville, planned to help feed patients fresh produce at the hospital.

Another highlight was the opportunity to show off the Chicken Cube, our ecoroof topped coop design-build project on this years Tour de Coops, an annual tour of innovative chicken homes put on by local non-profit group Growing Gardens.  The tour had over 300 people, and the coop even garnered some TV time with a short spot on the local show Garden Time – which was a blast – a good use of my fifteen minutes of fame.  On the subject of coops, I also had a great opportunity to be guest juror for an internal coop-design competition sponsored by SERA Architects, as part of a fundraiser for local arts group PICA.

In addition to chickens, the food cart phenomenon was in full gear, and one of my first commisions came working on design for a food cart pod on a derelict brownfield site in Southeast Portland for one of my favorite clients, Urban Development Partners.  This forward thinking developer took a vacant parcel which will eventually be built-out, and constructed this pop-up site, opening in July with a few pioneers.  The site has quickly filled up with over 15 carts, expanding to include covered areas and heaters for all-weather dining.  This planning and design experience also included a quote in the recently released book Cartopia, authored by friends and colleagues Kelley Roy and Kelly Rodgers, which is literally flying off the shelves since it’s October debut.

Ecology & Site Remediation

An ongoing project is the Bradford Street Property where I am conducting multi-year evaluation of remediation plantings done on this waterfront site along the Willamette River in North Portland.  There is also a remediation component for the Emerson Street Garden and 2011 offers opportunities for more specific technical aspects of phytoremediation as this aspect of the lead-contaminated site begins in earnest.  Another ecologically notable project that has also continued is the work around the wetland area for the Asante Court Park in Medford, Oregon.  This multi-phase project, working with uber client Asante Health System, began with wetland mitigation plantings, this year followed with the installation of the new park area plantings to provide more sustainable design than lawn and non-native plantings.  New phases include continue this theme with additional common area plantings and the addition of the stormwater outfall garden, which are in final design and approval process, to be installed in Spring of 2011.

A great article showed up in Multi-Family News focused on sustainable landscaping, where I was able to drop some ideas on ecoroofs, efficient irrigation, appropriate plant selection, and ecological stormwater design.  These principles were also embedded in our proposal for the Min Zidell Garden at the National College of Natural Medicine, which unfortunately we did not get – but the experience working with the team and the great folks at NCNM was truly wonderful, and I’m sure the results will be fantastic.   Another small project includes LEED evaluation for Creekside Clinic in Medford, (operated by Asante).

This site-scale work continued with development of native plantings and LEED evaluation for the Reliable Apartments in Southeast Portland, and will continue into 2011 with some Metro-funded sustainable site improvements to the Move-the-House Apartments on 38th and Division.  The proposed work, in addition to flow-through planters and permeable pavement, will include a vertical wetland sculpture, habitat nodes throughout the site, a vertical green wall, and canopy ecoroofs.

The Urban Laboratory

The beginnings of the year continued the on-going activities related to the Oregon Solutions process for Community Gardening, along with the seminar class at University of Oregon investigating the ‘Urban Edge‘ of Portland.  Both of these projects were specifically representative of using the Portland region as a working laboratory for study.  In that vein, the work on Landscape+Urbanism also continued, with more focus on local issues and ideas as I study my home place in new and exciting ways.  The writing led to a great connection and interview with colleague Christian Barnhard for his great new podcast series LANDCAST.

Work also continues on the PDX Greenmap, to provide a resource for locating information on a range of sustainable resource throughout the Portland metro region.  Also, the next iteration of the urban laboratory to continue into the next year will be recently unveiled Hidden Hydrology Project – which will provide a more robust information gathering, analysis, mapping, and exploration of a range of topics concerning urbanism, water, and the definition of our place.

Community Building

Per my business model, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a number of community-based activities and projects around the region.  There are educational items like the  tour of sustainable sites in downtown for the World Affairs Council of Oregon as well as more expansive tours and workshops such as the great  Oregon Sustainability Experience that brings folks from out of town to learn from Portland about sustainability and urban agriculture.  I was also honored to be a juror for the BEST awards, which awards local businesses pushing the boundaries of sustainability.  Pro-bono work included the design for the Extreme Makeover Ecoroof, the Hope Garden Rooftop Agriculture, and the Willamette Valley Medical Center garden project.

Other projects include the afforementioned Emerson Street Garden included a series of workshops and alternatives that were developed over six months, culminating in the final design concept and groundbreaking in mid-summer.   My involvement in the garden sprang from the connections made during the Oregon Solutions Gardening project – which included representatives from the amazing Groundwork Portland – who have plans for many brownfileld sites throughout Portland.  A community-oriented proposal for the Seattle-based ideas competition Holding Patterns garnered an honorable mention from the judges as well, liking our take on the Urban Voids Matrix, a notion of ‘A Modular Approach to Building the Sustainable City’ that looks at the three typologies of the site, hole, and frame within a matrix of food, community, ecology, and materials.  This award-winning project offers potential for vacant properties not just in Seattle, but also in Portland, which will be explored further in the next year.

Check out the specific links for more information and references for this projects.

I, for one, can’t wait for 2011… it’s gonna be another great year.

Category : agriculture, biophilic design, brownfields, business, community, competitions, ecoroofs, environmental, food, graphics, heathcare, images, installations, landscape, living walls, los angeles, mapping, medford, mitigation, permitting, planning, planting, portland, press, projects, publications, research, REWIND, roof gardens, san francisco, seattle, subnatures, sustainability, teaching, theory, tours, ugb, urban voids, urbanism, vegitecture, water, wetlands
1 Comm
24th Aug2010

Vegitecture Visualizations

by Jason King

A vital aspect of many projects is the ability to quickly visualize the impact of certain design strategies.  TERRA.fluxus recently had the opportunity to pursue some creative visualizations, working with Tremco Roofing on a pair of projects in California.  The first project is for Washington Hospital Healthcare System (WHHS)  in the bay area of Central California.

PATIENT ROOM

BEFORE:  As you can see, the existing roof condition shows a view from a patient room, focused on the myriad rooftop piping and other equipment which steals the impact of the distant vegetation and mountains.

AFTER:  Inclusion of extensive green roof in the foreground, coupled with a vegetated screen panel, offers the opportunity for improved views and to direct the eye towards the distant view.  This implementation of biophilic principles is even more important for medical contexts, where studies have shown improvement in healthcare outcomes due to views of nature.

EXTERIOR WALL

BEFORE: The second visual was for an existing building, containing a blank facade which will front a new building.  Any monolithic wall, with minimal windows or other fenestration, is a great opportunity for an easily improved view.

AFTER: The visual incorporated an image of an existing living wall (in this case, Patrick Blanc’s Tacoma Goodwill Wall) to show what the transformation would be from the relatively sterile view.  While not expressly aimed at showing an actual product or direction, these ‘designs without a design’ are just simple ways of putting strategies within the site context of a clients property.

There are obviously many ways to provide a snapshot of a design to a potential client.  This variety is simple and easy – relying less on photo-realism than on collage to represent possible visions of the site.

Category : biophilic design, ecoroofs, environmental, graphics, heathcare, images, landscape, living walls, planting, presentations, projects, roof gardens, vegitecture
2 Comm