Learning Landscapes

2010-2011 | WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

Learning Landscapes was first conceived in November of 2009, when I approached Bruce Lindsey, the dean of the architecture program at Washington University, with a proposal for an undergraduate design/build studio the following year.  With help from him and one of my classmates, Miriam Keller, we developed the proposal and eventually gained enough support to pilot the studio.  

Under the guidance of professor Forrest Fulton and in partnership with the Patrick Henry Downtown Academy in St. Louis, a group of 16 architecture students transformed the school's asphalt-covered back lot into a 10,000 square-foot outdoor learning environment to compliment Patrick Henry's "green" curriculum.  This included an outdoor classroom, a set of raised planting beds, and "natural" landscape complete with rolling mounds, a dry creek bed, and hearty native plants.  

The project became the first of a studio series called CityStudioSTL.  In 2012, Learning Landscapes received a Built: Merit Award from the St. Louis Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.