This Landscape Architecture design studio grew around a family's wish for an earth-sheltered house on 40 acres in a watershed near Crow, Oregon.
A Walk in the Garden
Taking the term "comprehensive" literally as a summing up of lessons learned before graduation, my work walked reviewers through planning and design proposals aimed at improving the family's quality of life and environment through a range of experiences from ecosystem-aware rural energy and economic development projects to an earth-sheltered home with an integrated greenhouses.
Regional Planning and Design
In the Watershed Settlement Scenario, proposals intended to support population growth by honoring and consciously raising the region's ecological vitality and support capacities through development consistent with the region's inherent landform features, water availability, air flows, and daily income of solar energy.
Used watersheds as an organizing principle for systems analysis and design of the a two square mile area. Development zones followed what the local soils, landforms, air flows, daily sunlight, and annual availability of rain and ground water could sustain independent of property boundaries - assuming landowners could agree to share responsibilities in service of shared sustainability goals.
Land Planning and Design
In the Land Use Scenario plan, proposals intended to balance economic and environmental investments through forestry, agriculture, natural preserves, buildings and renewable energy that balanced development and nature, like microhydro that worked alongside Beaver families, silviculture that restored creeks for Salmon, and terraced bands of no-till row crops that prevented soil loss.
Site Planning and Design
In the Site Plan, proposals responded to the family's immediate needs and long-term goals with development specifics for building placement, roads following contours, food production alongside creeks, micro-hydro downstream of a Beaver dam, a native white oak plantation on footslopes, and a restorative cover of conifers on the steeper hillsides.
The house sat at the center of the family's outdoor work and recreational spaces, all of which were connected together by an access road with buried utilities following the lower terrace contours. Orchard health benefitted indirectly from septic drainfield groundwater flows.
Building Design
The Meadowhome proposal integrated life, light, spatial freedom, comfort. and ease of living through a passive solar, earth-integrated structure. 1
The floor plan intended to impart a sense of belonging to the land and shortening winter retreat times by connecting indoor and outdoor spaces, facilitating the natural flow of outdoor air through rooms, protecting and enlivening interior spaces with light and the presence of life, and leveraging an internal greenhouse for moderating indoor climate.
Building design for an earth sheltered house explored how simple concrete, steel, and glass shapes could create well-lit, comfortable spaces that reduced energy demand through passive heating and cooling.
Interior Design
All rooms used natural materials and colors, and most featured built-ins and niches for plants.
Proposal included specific requirements for a two-bedroom earth-covered house with office, livingroom, kitchen, dining room, utility room, two-car garage and a greenhouse.
Ground Perspective
The long expanse of south-facing windows took in a wide view of the valley. Angled glazing assisted with solar heat gain in the winter and large overhangs created shade in the summer.
Structural columns were detailed in local rock and built-in cabinets were made from local hardwoods. Built-in planters created sites for indoor plants.
1. Developed in collaboration with designer William R. Higginson.