Building Communities

Boulder's Daily Camera recently ran an article highlighting Design Concepts' focus on integrating parks into communities. Read the article here. Photo courtesy of the Daily Camera.

Irrigation Design

As “Green” design becomes more of a standard practice, one aspect frequently overlooked is irrigation design. Green design or not, we take water conservation seriously and it’s something we practice with each and every design. Being one of the in-house irrigation designers I thought I would share with our readers some of our efforts to conserve water through irrigation design. The way we see it, the more people practicing water conservation the better.

We typically start by considering the plant material. It’s usually Kentucky Bluegrass that’s the killer in terms of water consumption. Not only does it use a lot of water, it’s costing our clients a lot of money to pay for that water. So we ask ourselves how we can reduce the amount of this turf type. If the area of turf can’t be reduced any further we look at alternative turf types such as Reveille, or Thermal Blue. These are Texas hybrids of Kentucky Blue and can take anywhere up to 30% less water than their purebred cousins from KT. So what’s the catch, right? Well, from what we’ve found the hybrids do have some downsides including less tolerance to foot traffic and higher material cost (I say material cost because the overall cost including money spent on watering will become a wash over a period of time). If you’d like to learn the more about these turfs types, CSU Extension has a great report posted here. Gardner Turfgrass andGraff’s Turf Farms can also offer more insight. They also keep the hybrids heavily stocked if you need a source. More info on Thermal Blue can be found at Scotts website.

The next alternative to replacing turfgrass?: Synthetic Turf. It has come a long way since the rug burning, skinned knee days of Astroturf, but we’ll save that discussion for another time.

Plant material aside, we try to stay up to date with the latest and greatest from the major irrigation manufactures. Hunter and RainBird are what we most commonly use and they both offer great advances in water conservation. From efficient heads and nozzles to innovative smart controllers, these guys continue to pushing the bar, which is what we like to see. Controllers are also playing a big role in conservation and you no longer need a doctorate in computer science to keep a system running based on local ET. Smart controllers are now affordable and easy to use. I just finished building my yard from scratch and have a Rainbird ESP-LXMi running the show. It’s an awesome controller that was a breeze to install and get connected to a local weather station. Now I can kick back and rest assured that the amount of water being applied to my yard is directly related to local ET. Sweet! I’m actually so excited about this stuff I bore my wife to sleep with it on a weekly basis.

If you haven’t had lunch with your local rep lately, you should. Chances are they have a new a product you’ll find useful.

Of course we couldn’t share all this info without giving props to CSU Extension. They have so much information to offer it’s almost overwhelming. If you’re not it our area, check out your local cooperative extension to see what they have to offer.

We’re always looking for new ways to practice conservation. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment and keep the discussion going.

-Erik

Meet The DC Team: Erik

Name: Erik Spring

Number of years at DC: Seven

Title: Landscape Architect, Tech Guy

Where are you from?: California, avocado land.

Where did you go to school?: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Do you have any pets? What are they like? An 85lb chocolate lab lap-dog named Mystery, and Roxy the cat. Both think they own the place.

What's one thing you can't live without?: Apple products

Where is the farthest you have traveled?: On a plane – Nepal. In a car – Mexico. In a pool – 2.4mi. On a bike – 125mi. On foot – 26.2mi.

What's your favorite food?: Most any kind of carbohydrate.

What's your favorite part of working at Design Concepts?: DC’s a friendly place to work. The office really encourages both personal and professional growth, so there’s a lot of flexibility and opportunity.

What would you do with $1 million?: A personal assistant would be nice. Other than that I’d probably invest most of it so in 10 years you could ask me what I’m doing with my $2M.

If you could be a professional athlete, what sport would you play?: Ping Pong. You gotta admire those mad skills.

If you could win any type of award, what award would it be?: The “Getting The Most Done In The Least Amount Of Time” Award.

What is your favorite movie?: Comedy – Dumb and Dumber. Action – The Transporter. Drama/Thriller – The Godfather. Sports – The Endless Summer. Art – River and Tides.

What inspires you?: Visual Arts. I love eye candy, it gets my brain going.

What's one totally random fact about yourself?: I have to board a plane with my right foot first. :)

Natural Play

Natural play, what does it mean and how does it effect our playgrounds? As designers, have we really grasped what the concept of natural play means? Is it as simple as adding tree trunks, sand, and boulders to a design? If so, great! We do this in many of our playgrounds here at Design Concepts. But yet, I want to believe that there is more to this notion of natural play than the addition of “natural” elements. Although, as designers, we are trying to incorporate the notion of natural play, we are still faced with the same parameters and restrictions of liability, safety zones, and fall heights.

Natural play is not strictly about using “natural” elements, it is about creating connections, a sense of risk, and a feeling of discovery. Creating connections is about designing spaces, such as playgrounds that allow kids to interact with their natural surroundings. A sense of risk is important for kids to “test their limits” and a sense of discovery can be created by providing opportunities to unearth something new. In the end, no matter how “natural” the space is, it must be well designed.

One of Design Concepts most recent projects, Bear Creek Park, is a great example of a park where formal play elements, such as swings and climbing walls, are combined with natural play elements. And yes, we used tree trunks and boulders! Our clients are asking for natural play and parents are talking about natural play, our challenge as designers is to continue to create connections with nature, “test our limits” and remember our sense of discovery.
-Amanda

Our day on 9News

As play becomes more of a topic of interest in Colorado, the News decided to talk to people who are intimately involved in the next generation of play design. We have been working, studying and applying our extensive history of creating play places to making multi-generational recreation areas in our state and others. It was our pleasure to share this knowledge through the 9News people, principal Axel Bishop did the interview.
Watch the video here.

Bear Creek Park Renovation Makes the News

Channel 4 News recently reported on the completion of a park that Design Concepts was involved in renovating. See the link to the story on the News 4 website here.

Meet The DC Team: Amanda

Name: Amanda Castelli

Number of years at DC: 2+

Title: Landscape Designer

Where are you from? Originally, I am from a small town, Rillton, which is located outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I moved to Colorado 7 years ago and never left!

Where did you go to school? For my undergraduate degree I attended Pennsylvania State University and received a degree in Environmental Resource Management and a minor in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). For my graduate work, I attended Colorado University – Denver and received a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning.

What's one thing you can't live without? Where to begin? Professionally, I would say I cannot live without my computer. Personally, I can not live without my family. I talk to my mom, dad and sister practically everyday.

Where is the farthest you have traveled? In college, my husband studied abroad in Australia and I traveled to see him for about two weeks, we had a great time.

What's your favorite food? Nothing beats a slice of east coast pizza, hands down, thin crust pizza is the only pizza. What’s up with dipping your crust in Coloroado?

What's your favorite part of working at Design Concepts? My favorite part of working at Design Concepts is the people. It was one of the major reasons why I took the job. Everyone is willing to help and share their knowledge and experience, which only helps everyone grow professionally.

What would you do with $1 million?

1. Pay off any dept for me and my family
2. Buy my parents an awesome retirement home
3. Travel wherever I wanted
4. Give some to charity or set up scholarships for college students
5. Buy a cupcake store
6. Hire a chef, I can’t cook!

What inspires you? Nature, family, friends, music, art, food….

What's one totally random fact about yourself? I am addicted to flavored seltzer water; there are probably about 10 cans of it in my recycling bin.

The Public Process

Recently Axel, Kurt, and I hosted an open house held at the City Center Offices. It was the third and last meeting as part of the public process regarding Centennial Civic Center Park.

Centennial recently incorporated to officially become a city on February 7, 2001. It is Colorado’s newest city. Consequently, this is the first park that the City has commissioned. The site is located adjacent to the city offices and will be a true civic green space—something fairly unique for the Front Range (above photo shows the preliminary site). Because of the central role this park will play in the city, it was very important to receive strong public feedback from the residents on their park.

This meant holding three meetings to which the citizens of Centennial were invited. The first two meetings were public workshops wherein feedback was solicited from those in attendance to drawings and graphics presented. The most important discussion involved ideas about developing a park program (playgrounds, amphitheater, trails, shelters and other amenities). What did people want in the park and how should they relate to each other? The other critical thing to establish was the look and feel of the park: aesthetics, character, materials and other park aspects. As Centennial is such a new community this park will, in part, be establishing the identity of the city, making these elements all the more important.

The third meeting was not a formal presentation like the other two had been but instead an open house that allowed for more discussion to take place and for the public to comment on the current plan. It was obvious that residents were starting to get excited about the direction the design was headed and to see the park start taking shape. They provided great feedback and came up with great ideas about things that could be incorporated and changed in the design as it moves forward.

While sometimes it can be hard to juggle so many opinions, in this case everyone was on same page: especially in establishing a list of program elements. For example, most everyone was in agreement that the project should not incorporate any sports fields. In the end, city council has the final say of what stays and what goes. It is nonetheless important for community members to provide their input so as to influence decisions city council makes.

With the public process over DC is incorporating public comments from the final meeting as the plan evolves into the final master plan. Personally, I am very energized to be a part of the public process and design of this project for many reasons. The site has lots of natural features that make it unique such as 35’ of topography difference from east to west, a creek on the west boundary and great mountain views. Not only is this Centennial’s first park but it is not often that we get to help establish the identity of an entire City through park design. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the park is that it is located at the heart of the City and provides a great opportunity to bring the community together. To see people using and enjoying spaces that we have designed is a part of what drives my passion for Landscape Architecture. I believe connecting people to outdoor spaces helps contribute to a better quality of life for everyone. This park will help residents in the City of Centennial feel more connected to each other and the larger community.

-Scott

The Value of Play

Clemson University recently hosted a national Summit on the Value of Play, which I was fortunate to attend. It was exciting to witness a groundswell of what might be called the “Back to Play” movement. People from a wide range of professions, from education and child development to parks and recreation all gathered to discuss the importance of play on the health and well-being of children, adults, and society in general. The result is a series of strategies to bring play back into the lives of people everywhere at all ages. To read a report on the summit see the website, or to stay informed on the play movement check here.

Now go outside and play...

Posted By Rob Layton