Architecture Studies

The role of landscape architecture in sustainability initiatives and responses to global warming is critical. The recognition of this reality was front and center at the recent American Society of Landscape Architects conference in early October. The theme of the conference was "Green Solutions for a Blue Planet." ASLA met jointly with the International Federation of Landscape Architects, and the international perspective was certainly appropriate for this world-wide issue. A student report on the conference can be found at http://www.planetizen.com/node/21561. Another report by a graduate student / professional landscape architect is at http://www.planetizen.com/node/21562.

The Architecture Studies Library has several titles worth examining on the topic of landscape architecture and sustainability. Here are a few:

Regenerative Design Techniques: Practical Applications in Landscape Design by Pete Melby and Tom Cathcart [SB472.45 M45 2002]

Ecology Community and Delight: Sources of Values in Landscape Architecture by Ian H. Thompson [SB472 T48 2000]

Landscape Planning: Environmental Applications by William M. Marsh [HD 108.6 M37 2005]
Note: this title includes case studies such as "Modifying Urban Climate and Reducing energy Use Through Landscape Design."

Ecology and Design: Frameworks for Learning by Bart Johnson and Kristina Hill [SB472.45 E39 2002; also available as an e-book] Note: approaches to teaching ecology in landscape architecture studio and classes.

There is much more on this topic. and much more to say. For the moment let me just add one more citation, an article specifically on reducing carbon emissions: "Indirect Carbon Reduction by Residential Vegetation and Planting Strategies in Chicago, USA" in the Journal of Environmental Management 61, no. 2 (February 2001): 165-177. The abstract notes that "the effects of shading, evapotranspiration, and windspeed reduction were considered and were found to have decreased carbon emissions by 3.2 to 3.9% per year...."

Who has not yet calculated their personal ecological footprint? If you have not yet done so, go to the Earth Day Footprint Quiz site http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp and spend about 15 minutes to determine how close to the norm you are.

Of course being average is none too admirable. The World Wildlife Fund issued its Living Planet Report Oct. 23. (The news release is at
http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/displayPR.cfm?prID=322 and contains a link to the actual report at the end.) One of the two indexes reported on is the Ecological Footprint for the world, which has "tripled between 1961 and 2003. This report shows that humanity's ecological footprint exceeded biocapacity by 25 per cent in 2003. In the previous Living Planet Report 2004 (based on data to 2001), this figure was 21 per cent." And the U.S. had the second highest ecological footprint.

In the better news category, the WorldChanging web site team, citing a Reuters article, reports Oct. 26 on the use of wind turbines in 80,000 single-family homes in Great Britain. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005162.html

We sure get a lot of wind in Southern Nevada.

Last week the Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership announced program requirements for builders seeking to construct sustainable and energy efficient homes in Southern Nevada.http://www.thegbi.org/southernnevada/guidelines.asp

The requirements are based on those developed by the National Association of Home Builders' Model Green Home Building Guidelines www.nahb.org/gbg but modified to fit the climate and environment of our area.

The City of Las Vegas is the first governmental entity in the area to adopt the guidelines. According to their press release http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/Publications/10038.htm "The city’s objective is to support and recognize green building practices within the community and provide homebuilders and homeowners an easily identifiable certification that a house meets its criteria. While this program will initially recognize new residential construction, it is fully expandable to recognize other types of new construction and renovations in the future."

It will probably be late 2007 before home buyers will see that certification, and be able to confidently purchase a green home. The Green Building Partnership notes that green homes will produce savings in utility costs and better indoor air quality. And of course, help to save the environment!

Do you feel confident that you can find whatever information you need? This is something of a trick question, since research has shown that many who are quite confident are not, in fact, able to identify quality information in the area of their search. [See citations to the research below.] There are several reasons for this. One of the reasons is that by relying exclusively on web site information -- which some students do -- there are many sources of quality information that are not being accessed.

I and several colleagues have spent the last year drafting a set of information competencies for students in design disciplines [including architecture, landscape, architecture history, interior design, art history, studio art, fashion, and planning]. They are divided into basic, intermediate, and advanced skills. By looking at these very specific skills you may arrive at a different assessment of how info savvy you are! I would be most interested in your take on these skills, and how useful you would consider them to be to you as a student now, and as a professional later. You can send your comments to me at jeanne.brown@unlv.edu, post through the form bolow, or feel free to drop in and see me in my office.

Information skills are at http://www.scsv.nevada.edu/~asl/index.html.

Some of these skills are addressed in the ASL online Finding Resources modules. http://www.library.unlv.edu/arch/instr/ There are 14 modules so far, and more to be added. They cover a variety of topics, including finding scholarly articles, and copyright restrictions for posting images on the web.

Citations to research suggesting that confidence in one's research skills do not always translate into superior seaching skills:

1. Gross, Melissa. "The Impact of Low-Level Skills on Information-Seeking Behavior: Implications of Competency Theory for Research and Practice." Reference & User Quarterly 45, no.2 (Winter 2005): 155-163.

Dunning, David. "Not Knowing Thyself." The Chronicle of Higher Education 52, no. 35 (May 5, 2006).

The ASL has the Reed Design Registry on CD. Ask at the desk for NA53 R44x 2005. This electronic resource allows you to search by project type/subtype, and by type of staff (e.g. architects, landscape architects). You can also specify the number of staff at a firm, if you want to limit to large or small firms. Coverage is international.

To determine which local architects specialize in certain building types, you can check the AIA Las Vegas Directory and Resource Guide, which has an index by areas of practice. This directory is in the ASL reference section NA55 L37 A48c.

Another approach to local architects is to search the Las Vegas Architects and Buildings database http://www.library.unlv.edu/arch/archdb/arch.php by building type. This database contains information on both the architect and the building, as well as lists of published sources available in the library.

I'd like to draw your attention to two resources that have the potential to be basic tools in addressing the most immediate of the 2010 Imperative challenge to professional design schools: that "all projects be designed to engage the environment in ways that dramatically reduce or eliminate the need for fossil fuels."

The first is a subscription database/site to which UNLV Libraries subscribes: BuildingGreen Suite. Since it is by subscription the instructions on how to access it apply only to UNLV library patrons. Go to http://www.library.unlv.edu/search/databases/index.html#B and select BuildingGreen from the alphabetical list. On the BuildingGreen site is a substantial directory of green building products and Environmental Building News. The Suite itself is described on the site thusly: "The BuildingGreen Suite integrates online versions of GreenSpec, Environmental Building News, and a database of more than 100 high-performance building case studies."

The second is a freely available site from the University of Minnesota College of Architecture. Their Sustainable Design Guide http://www.sustainabledesignguide.umn.edu/default.htm is seen as a design tool. It provides goals and strategies in six areas: waste, water, materials, energy, site, and interior environment. Each section is divided into subsections. Each subsection has resources, actions, and examples. Students wanting to apply this guide to their projects will be rewarded with both guidance and information. There is also a documents section which provides the framework for project evaluation, in environmental terms.