SITELINES Bimonthly Publication of The Society of Landscape Architects

Kitchen Garden

Business • Killarney • Memento Mori • John Hendry • Delirious

October • November 2004 2 British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects SITELINES October • November 2004 15 The Business of Landscape Architecture BY LARRY DIAMOND MBCSLA

t wasn’t long ago that, like children during the Victorian era, landscape architects were Iexpected to be seen and not heard, and the less of the former the better. As a profession, we can happily proclaim that those days are largely behind us. Landscape architects across Canada currently play vital roles in major projects and, in some instances, coordinate and manage teams that include architects, engineers and specialized consultants rather than only making cameo appearances. With our increasing commitment to sustainable processes, we have focused on ways of improving long-term environmental benefits for our communities. However, relatively

110 - 355 Burrard Street little attention has been accorded to financial sustainability of the profession itself. The , BC V6C 2G8 word ‘business’ has literally been a taboo topic. It is therefore probably timely that we Te l : 604.682.5610 become more open about landscape architecture as a business. Such a dialogue would Fax: 604.681.3394 Email: [email protected] benefit both private and public sector practitioners as well as our clientele. A better Website: www.bcsla.org understanding of the financial opportunities and challenges facing our profession leads to more responsible operation, realistic expectations and the budgets that can accommodate them. A pragmatic and sound business approach reinforces work procedures President Thomas Llewellin 604.222.9189 President Elect Mark Vaughan 604.922.1885 and products that are commensurate with the demands of a project and that recognize Past President Will McKenna 604.531.0532 the vital importance of our role. Improved remuneration also entices high achieving Registrar Adrienne Brown 604.986.9058 students to select landscape architecture as a career. While not exhaustive, this article Treasurer Kate Davis-Johnson 604.257.8471 highlights some key business considerations that should receive detailed coverage in Directors Jeff Cutler 604.646.4110 future Sitelines issues and workshops. Pawel Gradowski 604.684.4611 Yolanda Leung 604.533.6014 Having a Business Strategy David Rose 604.904.9803 Whether you have a large firm with satellite offices or are a sole practitioner, having a Chris Sterry 604.688.6111 business strategy is essential to guide your practice and to establish goals. Five years is a Bev Windjack 250.598.0105 realistic time horizon, although looking into a longer term is useful. A business strategy not West Coast Engineering Group CSLA Rep Liane McKenna 604.257.8691 Intern Rep Blair Guppy 604.736.5168 only firms up your own expectations, it helps you to address the financial implications in Decorative/Ornamental Poles UBC Rep Cynthia Girling 604.822.0438 concert with the human resources at hand. For example, do your objectives accommodate Student Rep Myles Mackenzie 604.874.8769 the particular personalities of yourself, associates, and staff? Is making a large profit an Working with Landscape Architects to create customized decorative poles, Administrator Tara Culham 604.682.5610 overriding priority or is balancing practice with family needs, travel and outside interests whether in a park setting, subdivision or street boulevard. Sitelines is published six times per year; February, more your fit? Where are your strengths and what do you do best? April, June, August, October, and December by the On the dollar side, where will investment and cash flow come from? Do expectations only British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects ! and is mailed to all BCSLA members, registered reflect the current buoyant demand for services (mostly fuelled by low interest rates) or do Decorative Street Lighting Poles landscape architects, associates and affiliates. the they acknowledge that markets can change, sometimes abruptly? These are among the ! editorial deadline is the 8th and advertising is the Bollards 16th day of the intervening months. Advertising questions you need to address in formulating a business strategy. Like all good strategies, ! rate information is available on request. Inquiries it should be a framework with built in CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Finials regarding editorial, advertising, or other issues should ! Capitals be addressed to the Sidelines Editor, c/o the BSCLA ! at the above address. Basket Arms IN THIS ISSUE: ! Sitelines Group Banner Arms Business of Landscape Architecure ______3 ! Davit Arms Editors Laura-Jean Kelly 604.730.4867 Cameron Murray 604.730.8256 Killarney Park ______5 ! Custom Work Advertising Tara Culham 604.682.5610 Editor fax 604.681.3394 Memento Mori______6 Printing The Printing House604.662.7772 West Coast Engineering Group The purpose of Sitelines is to provide an open forum for John Hendry Park______7 7984 River Road, Delta, BC, V4G 1E3 the exchange of ideas and information pertaining to the Tel: (604) 946-1256 ** Fax: (604) 946-1203 **www.wceng.com profession of Landscape Architecture. Individual opinions Kitchen Garden ______8 expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily of West Coast Engineering Group - Ornamental Poles Built to Last for Generations those of the BCSLA. Delirious New York ______9

14 British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects SITELINES October • November 2004 3 BUSINESS - CONTINUED FROM PAGE THREE whereby we undertake a broad range of down a job with an inadequate budget work. A key reason is that landscape than to end up doing it at one’s own time BCSLA Calendar of Events 2004 flexibility in response to shifting architecture with its environmental and and expense. circumstances. creative design roots is applicable to many It is also prudent to verify a client’s Now through November 21 BCSLA Places Exhibition, Surrey Art Gallery At a minimum, a business strategy sites, circumstances and clientele. However, reputation for timely payment of bills, should include: it also reflects the reality that compared to or in some instances, to research their October 20-21 Canadian Urban Forest Conference, Kelowna, BC A) a statement of your current assets some allied professions, notably architecture financial stability. If there are any and liabilities including all costs; and engineering, per-project fees are often questions about a client’s ability to pay, October 21 BCSLA Board of Examiners Fall Sitting B) a realistic projection of income; smaller. Thus to make a reasonable living it is best not to undertake the work. It is October 26 BCSLA Board of Directors Meeting C) a statement of goals for a five year and to meet expenses, we usually have to not unreasonable to request a retainer for period; garner more projects and move them services with new or unproven clientele, October 29 - ASLA Annual Meeting & Expo D) areas of interest and strengths and through an office efficiently while assuring and certainly good practice if the work November 2 Salt Lake City, UT ability to promote these assets; an excellent level of design and rigorous is overseas. E) projected growth over time and technical output. This is one of the most If you are a sub-consultant, identifying October 31 2005 Sitelines Annual Updates Submission Deadline anticipated costs; critical challenges that we often face, the ultimate client is sound business as F) sources of income; projected particularly where fixed fees are entailed. well as noting who actually signs off and November 10-12 Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, Portland, OR improvements (i.e. upgrades in In this context, securing sufficient fees processes invoices. To misunderstand these technology, office improvements at the proposal writing or negotiation procedures could mean that your bill sits in November 23 BCSLA Board of Directors Meeting or a move); stage has taken on greater importance as someone’s “in basket” for a long time while December BCSLA Festive Season Party G) people needs, of advancement, staffing operating costs continue to increase. As you are faced with bills from suppliers plus or retirements. well, there is now more emphasis on the monthly rent and payroll obligations. December 6-7 LARE Candidate Sitting (Sections C and E) front end of projects. If a public process In addition to being an important guide, is entailed, it often includes open houses, .Job Costing:A Helpful Tool December 21 BCSLA Board of Directors Meeting a business strategy is an asset in establish- workshops and council presentations. Once a job is secured, it needs to be ing better rapport with your bank. It also These are all time consuming and usually managed efficiently. A very helpful tool is December 31 BCSLA 2005 Membership Dues Payable helps your accountants to tailor their require excellent graphics, strong verbal a job costing chart that allocates available services to best meet your needs. skill and sometimes use of PowerPoint. budgets to different work phases related to December 31 BCSLA Mandatory Continuing Education Form In the B.C. Lower Mainland, many staff and principal charge out rates while Submission Deadline Profitability: Projections, Fees and Management municipalities have advisory design building in a margin for overhead and profit. panels that yield increasing clout in the The job costing schedule estimates how Running a practice so that its income approvals process. Time required for many hours should be spent for each phase exceeds its costs is the objective of any meetings with municipal staff, for travel of a project, its overall budget and predicted operation that wants to stay in business. and preparation is often underestimated profit margin. The chart provides each In today’s marketplace, this entails efficient by landscape architects. The result can member of the project team with an operation, ensuring sufficient cash flow and be that you end up subsidizing a client’s indication of time allocation. It establishes running jobs so that they stay “in the black”. project – good for them but not beneficial motivation for improved efficiency and As part of a business strategy, allocating for your practice. Therefore, identifying alerts project managers if a job is exceeding sufficient resources to promotion and toward and specifying the number of meetings, budget or if there are tasks being requested pursuing good clients is essential. While the design presentations, revisions that warrant additional fees. techniques of promotion should be the focus anticipated and a basis for travel Following (on page 11) is an example of a of a separate article, emphasizing particular and preparation is vital. job costing schedule. Note that figures in strengths and targeting clientele that best brackets indicate where a work phase has fit with your interests, aptitudes, experience Rationale for requesting additional exceeded its budget. The implications are and goals is most efficient and realistic. fees should be clearly identified in a that the subsequent work phase should be For example, if you have never undertaken proposal for service. Valid reasons include: managed school design, it’s probably not efficient to major changes beyond your control, major more efficiently to recoup initial allocate a lot of time and energy contacting revisions, and requests for additional work, shortfall and to meet with staff to identify school boards when better results might be special tasks and specialized products. issues or problems that are making the job achieved promoting parks or mixed-use Having additional fees approved in writing costly to operate. For example, is there a redundancy developments (providing that you have the by a client is essential before undertaking or inefficiency in completing abilities that these type of projects require). these tasks. Being pressured into accepting tasks or are there client requests to undertake low fees only comes back to haunt a firm. services that are additional to or changed While there are some niche players in our It may be far better in the long run to turn from an original contract? CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 profession, many of us are generalists

4 British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects SITELINES October • November 2004 13 BUSINESS - CONTINUED FROM PAGE ELEVEN successful and adaptable to meet its C) facilitating contact with specific client’s requirements. advisors that know our profession Killarney Park: Creating a Centre Realistically, not every job may be a “winner”. who can offer financial and legal advice However, the job costing process will provide Summary on business matters relevant to our for Play in important information regarding realistic Hopefully, this short article identifies a membership; BY HEATHER SCOTT MLA budgets for similar future projects and guide need for much greater discussion and D) conducting work sessions and the firm in making decisions about what constructive work to be done on this educational seminars on the business ublic parks play an important role in community of Killarney have changed types of jobs and clients to pursue. This long neglected and evaded aspect of aspects of landscape architecture; the health of the community. Not only since the park’s inception, the local information is vital at the proposal stage so P our profession. Through the ASLA, our E) encouraging open discussion about are they places to play sports and run the recreation facilities have fallen short that adequate funds can be requested when American colleagues have benefited critical business issues of landscape family dog, they also provide an essential of providing for the diverse needs of bidding on a job and the appropriate level of from its efforts to improve business architecture during our AGM’s and interface between the natural world and the this diverse community. effort can be anticipated. performance and have developed including workshops on these aspects built environment. They are the place where This new look at the neighbourhood programs that offer educational and as part of the AGM’s program (this The Bigger Picture the natural world can find its way into park seeks to create a place where the advisory assistance, knowing that a might also encourage greater interest people’s everyday lives; they are a place of whole community can come together Many landscape architects have a peculiar financially healthy profession positively and attendance); equality where social stratification can be for their formal and informal recreation belief that somehow what we do is isolated affects all practitioners and gives it the F) requesting and publishing articles less visible; and they are the most significant needs. It recognizes that recreation from the broader economy. Without political strength to exert influence at in Sitelines and the CSLA journal that venue for play in the community. exists in diverse forms for diverse Killarney Plan by Heather Scott reiterating Bill Clinton’s famous refrain all government and private sector levels. address the specific challenges of our Killarney Park and Killarney people and seeks to address that from his 1992 presidential campaign, it is It is therefore incumbent upon both the business. Topics could encompass: Community Centre were built as a diversity with a unified design. The community, a useful, delightful place of sufficient to suggest that those who ignore BCSLA and the CSLA that they play promotion, proposal writing, hiring sports-oriented community facility. proposal seeks to create harmony between community interaction will be created. The the larger picture do so at their own peril. broader and more assertive roles in and dismissal, evaluating and While the extensive sports fields are the natural processes of the site and the design for Killarney Park is a place of local While we all like to be optimistic, it’s a supporting and enhancing the real remunerating staff, project quite well-used during game times, the programmatic needs of the community. celebration where sports viewing, outdoor good idea to also look ahead. Would you business aspects of the landscape management, client-landscape community is not often seen interacting Stormwater management systems watching, and local produce selling all find board a jetliner whose flight crew rarely profession. Some initial ways in which architect fee negotiation and with the landscape or using this open- interface explicitly with the main a home. The needs of the natural world are glanced at the radar? Probably not. our provincial and national societies could client-consultant dispute resolution space for purposes other than sports- circulation system and put the site’s addressed by enhancing the stormwater Therefore, staying abreast of financial help include: (among others). playing. As well, the current park design ecological functioning in the public eye. infiltration and fruit production on the trends, changes in the market place, A) encouraging greater dialogue among fails to meet several programmatic needs This project proposes a design for site. Allowing this aspect of the project fluctuating prices of labour and materials, practitioners, particularly principals As practitioners, we’ve been operating too of the community. Tai Chi practitioners Killarney Park that seeks to directly address to influence the design will reveal the role upcoming environmental and development and senior staff to identify and address long in isolation with a foxhole mentality. and local youth find themselves without the needs of the community. Through a public open-space can and should play in legislation, potential interest rate hikes, common business challenges facing Lets openly address and embrace landscape an appropriate venue for their interests. programmatic approach that examines lessening the impact the urban fabric has the potential (and inevitable) bubble burst our profession; architecture as a business as well as a While the needs and profile of the and formally addresses the needs of the on the healthy functioning of the local in the housing market and the spiraling B) encouraging and actively lobbying for creative and environmental endeavor. ecosystem. Close attention has been paid costs of energy makes the task of guiding improved fees related to services that to the selection of materials that are at once a firm less onerous. Being ahead of the we offer; contemporary, timeless and familiar. Natural curve will help in estimating staffing materials such as granite and wood speak levels and upcoming work loads, making to the vernacular while the manufactured or deferring financial commitments and in sleek nature of concrete, metal and glass identifying which markets to pursue. For express a contemporary appeal. Children’s example, if at some point the development play equipment finds itself integrated into industry takes a breather, there may be NEW INTERN MEMBERS the landscape, and the use of natural outlays by various government levels for materials such as rock and wood create infrastructure and parks as they play catch a sense of connection with the landscape. up or prepare for the next growth spurt. BCSLA is pleased to welcome the following new Intern Members: By incorporating the park’s features Spiraling energy costs imply that clients Blair Arbuthnot, Alison Condé, Timothy Dobson, Sarah Howie, Udit with the landscape, the relationship increasingly may request low maintenance between site and place is enhanced landscapes and green roofs. The Kapur, Derek Masselink, Bruce McLeod, Elaine Naisby, Ian Stewart and and the role of the public park becomes Economist, Business Week, Business in rooted in the community. B.C. and the Globe & Mail make good Ted Uhrich. We wish you good luck in all of your endeavors. For more information about Heather’s bed-time reading (or at least during lunch UBC Landscape Architectural MLA break) on economic information. The thesis research, please contact her at: more prepared a company is to be flexible, [email protected]. responsive and efficient, the greater its • chances are that it will also be financially

12 British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects SITELINES October • November 2004 5 Memento Mori; Siting the Sacred in the Urban Realm BUSINESS - CONTINUED FROM PAGE THREE BY LEILA ZEPPELIN MLA Finding out the cause at an early stage can help to rectify problems quickly so that the overall job comes in on budget.

ites of remembrance have long been a eastside of downtown, between the the site becomes a living urban narrative S central feature in the urban landscape Dunsmuir and Georgia Street viaducts. of past, present and future. setting, as a means of commemorating the The site is flanked by various public Site materials further reveal the passing dead and reflecting cultural values of the institutions including B.C. Place, G.M. of time. The continually changing surfaces present and past. Twentieth century fears Place and Stadium Skytrain Station. As of rusting steel, weathering concrete, and around death relegated urban cemeteries to part of the original False Creek shoreline, plant material that changes throughout the physical and consequently spiritual the escarpment is a defining element of the seasons, enhance the notion of fringes of cities and society. Clearly, history the downtown peninsula and a historic transition. With time and weather has helped to determine the form and landmark that demands a public function. inevitably intervening in the work, placement of today’s cemeteries, yet the The layout and design is concerned covering, eroding, and allowing it to underlying reasons for their organization with the passage of time. The multiple lay- become part of the natural landscape and limited function must be re-examined. ers of the site reflect accretion over time the cemetery will be seen less as a burial Death is part of life, so its integration into and reference the history of the site. For ground and more as a forest and field. the public realm is essential, and will example, the CPR tunnel built in1936 that Here, through the choreography of life, contribute to the depth and diversity of the cuts through the escarpment is an integral death and change, the sacred is sited in urban fabric. The goal of this project is to part of the tunnel procession through the urban realm. design a multifunctional, sacred space for which people pass from the upper level of For more information about Leila’s remembrance within downtown Vancouver. the escarpment to the lower level. The UBC Landscape Architecture MLA The proposed site is the prominent design does not dissolve or attempt to thesis research, please contact her at: An Example of a Landscape Architectural Job Costing Schedule Beatty Street escarpment, located on the bury or erase the past. Like a palimpsest, [email protected]. • CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

Tunnel Procession Section, by Leila Zeppelin.

Places Exhibition BCSLA is part of the Walk Ways Exhibition that runs until November 21 at the Surrey Art Gallery (13750 88 Avenue, Surrey). Walk Ways brings together a selection of works by a diverse group of individuals who explore the theme of walking as an action and/or metaphor. The “Places” portion of the exhibition showcases landscapes designed by BCSLA Members. “Places” is intended to be a touring exhibit of the entire province once the show closes. Many thanks to WMW Reprographics for their support with the awards boards and to those Members and firms who participated. Admission is by donation and the show is open to the public. For viewing hours please visit : www.city.surrey.bc.ca/Living+in+Surrey/Arts/Surrey+Art+Gallery/About+the+Gallery.htm.

6 British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects SITELINES October • November 2004 11 DELIRIOUS - CONTINUED FROM PAGE NINE It’s a shame this part of the project was not realized, because the renderings show Realizing the Sustainable City Park: for the flowing water. These schemes were a series of spectacular roof gardens on the not realized, however they were shortlisted two low rise buildings fronting Fifth A Redesign of John Hendry Park as designs for the pedestrian connections Avenue. Koolhaas finishes the book with BY HONGBING CHEN MLA surrounding Rockefeller Centre. During the story of the creation of the United the planning of Rockefeller Centre, the Nations complex on the East River. ity parks play an important role different species. The Nature House is team of architects saw the grid as Although ‘Delirious New York’ was Cin urban life. By using sustainable located on one peninsula and provides precluding “the creation of premeditated originally published 26 years ago, the techniques to revitalize parks and their public education. It is also a demon- perspectives”, and so they responded by story it tells of New York’s role in the adjacent neighborhoods, we can provide stration building using various sus- relocating the Beaux-Arts sensibility in development of modern urban form sustainable places where people want to tainable technologies. the basement, where the grand design remains just as topical as it was in the be, that can be maintained with minimal culminates in the entrance to the subway. 1970’s. Visiting the fantasy landscapes cost. This project demonstrates different Community Garden & Summer Farm Market The site of Rockefeller Centre had been which have been lost; those planned and methods to achieve a sustainable city park. the location of Elgin Botanic Garden in the never built, and the skyscrapers we have Goals of this project are to enrich the old The community garden, along with early 19th century, and architect Raymond come to know as symbols of Manhattan park program, increase the attraction, the parking lot, which is used as Hood proposed an extensive system of is always worth an afternoon or two enhance the sustainability of John Hendry the summer farm market, occupies landscaped roofs for the new complex to when the rains set in. Park and allow for public activities and the Northwest corner of the park. honour the history of the site. He saw it *Originally published in 1978, this community functions. John Hendry Park in A water feature provides water for as “nature reinforced” to deal with the version has been in print since 1994. East Vancouver is one of the larger neigh- the garden, and serves as a centre John Hendry Park Plan by Hongbing Chen demands of the Culture of Congestion”. It’s available in paperback at amazon.ca. • borhood parks in the city and is currently for the market as well. used for sports and recreational purposes. Sports Area The plan highlights the following areas: For efficiency, two baseball fields and a They are crucial areas to increase landscape Community Centre & Outdoor soccer field are overlapped. diversity and to enhance wildlife habitat. Activity Area To achieve a Sustainable City Park, Sustainable development does not conflict To create a harmonious relationship several methods can be combined. In with other park functions. The key is to between the Community Centre and this park, sustainable techniques, such as: find a balance. Sustainable City Parks can the lake, a friendly walkway with water swales, biofiltration systems, porous play a significant role in modern life. features connects the Centre with the lake. pavement, minimal impact technologies, For more information about Hongbing’s A small deck with an arbour floats on the roof gardens, wetlands, water harvest, UBC Landscape Architecture MLA thesis lake at the end of the walkway. Several cisterns, compost, grass pavers etc., are all research, please contact her at: open spaces along the path provide for applied. City parks have multiple functions. [email protected]. • outdoor activities. The walkway and the deck integrate the centre and the park as a whole. To collect the roof water, a goldfish Green Roof Products pond is situated East of the Centre. This is and Living Wall Systems a good place for enjoying the fish, chatting and viewing the park.

Daylight Stream & Wetland For more information, Verdir Systems Inc. supplies green To improve the water quality of the lake, a please contact: buildings and sustainable sites. The biofiltration wetland is created to the Randy Sharp, BCSLA, Growing Media features Tephragro™, Southeast of the park. The source of the LEED Accredited Professional stream is the water pumped from the dog a lightweight black pumice, which is VERDIR SYSTEMS INC. release pond and the duck ponds. After 602 - 1401 West Broadway mixed with blended soil amendments to being treated in the wetland, the purified Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6H 1H6create a biologically active ‘soil’. The water goes back into the lake. tel: 604-681-3303 fax: 604-681-3307 mixes provide superior stormwater Habitat Restoration & the Woods retention, faster plant coverage and To enhance habitat diversity, small islands, web: www.verdirsystems.com e-mail: [email protected]@ numerous environmental benefits. peninsulas and a dyke are created on the Northeast of the lake to offer territories for

10 British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects SITELINES October • November 2004 7 Contemporary Kitchen Gardens: The Needle, the Globe and the Green Roof The Marriage of Form and Function REVIEW BY ADRIENNE BROWN MBCSLA BY KATIE MURRAY MLA Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan by Rem Koolhaas, 1994*, The Monacelli Press, New York, 310 pages. ood production and the betterment configuration of East Fraserlands for F of the urban landscape find a common improved agricultural, as well as fter visiting the new Seattle Library doesn’t take away from the story of how and “the Great Lobotomy”, for the form within the contemporary kitchen community use. For simple classification, A in the summer, I ran across this title Manhattan came to be the city it is today. disconnection between the inside and garden. This project focuses on integrating a range of kitchen garden typologies or in Elliot Bay Books (a seemingly endless The history of Coney Island is illustrated the outside of the building. He argues that kitchen gardens into the East Fraserlands “types” was defined in various series of niches and balconies, fitted out with a generous selection of photographs, Manhattan is a success as an urban space residential development in southeast locations throughout the community. like the Bootlegger stores were in the early renderings and plans of the many attrac- because the skyscraper, as Vancouver. A range of intentions drives the These garden typologies were grouped 70’s). A quick glimpse of the illustrations tions; many of which lasted for only a mandated by the 1916 zoning law, design. These include: enhancing the overall into several categories: interstitial/ convinced me that this would be a great decade, and have been gone for a century resembles a gigantic gabled house, and health of the community, demonstrating the adjacencies, public open spaces, semi read. ‘Delirious New York’ presents the rev- now. Throughout the book Koolhaas keeps grid: a traditional village. The notion is aesthetic qualities of vegetables, herbs, fruits public spaces and private spaces. elations and theories Rem Koolhaas has the story moving with a new title every that this shift in scale takes little away and their maintenance facilities; bringing the For the purposes of this project, come up with to describe the enduring few paragraphs: titles which describe the from its validity as urban form. process of eating and cooking closer to the three typologies were designed: appeal of ‘Manhattanism’, and its vocabu- topic at hand, such as “blob”, “tongue”, We are introduced to Harvey Wiley productive garden, and increasing civic spirit The restaurant garden, street and lary of urban form. It is also an engaging “cartography ” and “crater”. Corbett’s Metropolitan Suburb, through community involvement in the community allotment garden. These biography of New York, as well as a collec- Renderings of New York buildings connected by footpaths which are processes of growing and harvesting food Kitchen gardens were selected to tion of stories about the people who as monumental forms are dramatically enlivened by a multitude of female forms. in the city. represent a range of the typological designed and built many of the landmarks represented in the charcoal drawings of This is seen by Koolhaas as the most East Fraserlands is located on the groups to demonstrate the differences of the 20th century. Hugh Ferriss from the 1930’s, and items appealing version of the tower-in-the-park northern shoreline of the in and similarities among the gardens. Our Cover: Kitchen Garden Plan by Katie Murray Koolhaas sees Coney Island as a dress such as the 1909 “Skyscraper as a Utopian formula ever proposed, and he argues that Southeast Vancouver. Historically, the site Each garden contains valuable design rehearsal for Manhattan; as “an accumula- device for the production of an unlimited it foreshadowed Le Corbusier’s Radiant was an agricultural area until the early 1900s implications, speaking to the overall forms, and maximizing production capacity. tion of possible disasters that never hap- number of virgin sites” are explorations City plan. Corbett went on to conceive of when it was converted into a logging productivity and to the betterment of the Historically, kitchen gardens were not only pen”, and makes a compelling case for the of how gardens might be built in the sky. the New York streets as Venetian canals operation. While currently zoned industrial, visual landscape. For a detailed design, places of production, but also places of needle and the globe as the extremes of “Vertical Schism” is the term Koolhaas with the pedestrian traffic relocated to a the City of Vancouver plans to redevelop the the restaurant garden was chosen. The beauty and contemplative retreat. “It was to the city’s formal vocabulary. We’ve lived to uses to describe the separation of themes network of arcades and bridges, with the site to house 10,000 people in a range of restaurant garden design focuses on the vegetable gardens that the literati retreated see a possible disaster take place, but that between the floors of a skyscraper, traffic standing in CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 housing types. This design implementation interaction between the building and from governmental affairs, often recording focuses on reorganizing the open space garden, while drawing on historical garden musings about their vegetable patch in essays and poems.” 6 With this in mind, the project will rediscover the beauty and meaning of Kitchen Gardens, and incorporate them into a contemporary urban residential community, Thus, the kitchen garden becomes more than a vegetable plot, it is an artistic ingredient that has the possibility of making communities a more beautiful and healthy place. I cannot think of a more captivating way to live than to bring back the ritual of growing and celebrating one’s own food.

6 Pennington, Susan J. (2002) Feast Your Eyes

For more information about Kate’s UBC Landscape Architecture MLA thesis research, please contact her at [email protected].

8 British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects SITELINES October • November 2004 9