Resilient Landscapes in Built Environments | Section I

Section I: Design and Structural Components

Fridays, February 7, 14, 28, and March 7

Resilient landscape practices are connected to the evolving environment. Incorporating low-maintenance design, resilient landscapes sustain and regenerate under stressful environmental conditions, rather than falling victim to stressors. They are aesthetic, powerhouse systems providing ecological services; as such, they give the landscape professional the opportunity to evolve their business, adapting to the changing environment.

Section I of the course focuses on examining and incorporating ecological design and the influential components of water, soils, design lessons from nature, and sustainable structural materials. Classes will illustrate concepts through case studies and provide evaluation of applications, methods, and materials.

Please contact the Gardens to sign up for both sections at 207-633-8034.

Day 1: Ecological Design for Resilience| with Lisa Cowan

This course is an introduction to the site-based ecological frameworks and design strategies that inform the development and management of resilient landscapes. Whether transitioning from an environmentally degraded urban site or a conventionally managed backyard, every landscape has the potential to contribute to the fight against climate change. Focusing on using site documentation, inventory, and analysis to create an ecological baseline for design proposals, students will consider how soils, topography, and climate shape the growing conditions for different native plant communities and how to develop landforms, drainage networks, circulation patterns, and plant palettes that support both human and wildlife habitats. In this interactive class, students will expand on lecture content through discussion and analysis of select case studies.

Day 2: Applied Soils: Restore and Engineer | with Bruce Hoskins, Michael Phillips, & Anthony Will

Exploring low-impact development (LID), this class examines soils via the perspective of a landscape practitioner as they examine a jobsite: soil health and fertility, restoration solutions for degraded soils, proper sourcing of any transported or engineered soils, and long-term soil management practices. Through sample lab results and case studies, discussion will include an overview of soil biology and chemistry, carbon sequestration and filtration of urban inputs, specific engineered blends for function, and lessons of sustainable agriculture applied to residential applications.

Day 3: Systematic Solutions to Water Management | with Trevor Smith

In this class, students will discuss methods and materials that capture and reuse stormwater as well as other management solutions for stormwater runoff. Class will also identify updated materials and best practices for irrigation that result in water conservation, reduced poly-made materials, and hardier, healthier plants.

Day 4: Sustainable Materials: Site Specific Features and Applications | with David Homa

This class will examine multiple methods of erosion control, discuss biodegradable materials to apply both to and above the soil, explore innovative concepts that utilize locally derived and repurposed materials, and examine what materials are most effective for a variety of settings. Class content will focus on features such as fences, access ways, patios, ponds, swales, stone walls, and terraces.