experimental landscapes
land care & repair
LND LAB (re)directs maintenance & operations to socially activate and ecologically regenerate fallow landscapes. The practice uses field work and temporary installations to adaptively manage sites over time, incorporating research infrastructure to aid in the documentation and interpretation of landscape change.
This experimental landscape serves as proof of concept, demonstrating the transformative capacity of the “land lab” approach on brownfields, landscapes of infrastructure, and vague terrain.
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Taking laboratory thinking out into the landscape, LND LAB uses test plots, UAS multispectral imagery, and monitoring infrastructure to analyze the site and identify areas of interest (AOI). These AOI’S develop into case studies, field experiments, and rapid prototypes, and the monitoring infrastructure provides a framework for future researchers to connect into at the newly established land lab.
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LND LAB takes an “evolutionary approach” to maintenance, leaving space for emergence and adaptation. Maintenance objectives & operations are addressed creatively to identify ecological boundaries on the site, with the goal of reducing labor or achieving a better result for the same amount of labor. Adaptive management consulting begins with a “post occupancy analysis” to establish how social behavior and ecological function compare with the original design intent.
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In collaboration with environmental artists, LND LAB uses native annual wildflowers and temporary structures to activate designed landscapes during establishment. By creating plant protection as sculpture and building sculptures out of common agricultural materials, everything can be reused after the exhibition for future research. Every maintenance event becomes an opportunity for temporary art installation and public dialog.
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Drawing from professional experience planning, designing, installing, monitoring, and maintaining stormwater facilities and riparian restorations, LND LAB provides a comprehensive scope of services for the design of urban green infrastructure systems.
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With a portfolio that includes the planning, design, construction administration, and maintenance of landscapes on structure, LND LAB brings the technical expertise required to design green roofs, intensive assemblies, land bridges, remediation caps, and other “synthetic landscapes.”