GreenWorks Welcomes Intern Ben Hedstrom

 

The summer season brings new opportunity at GreenWorks with Ben Hedstrom  joining the team as an intern. Ben, a third-year Cornell MLA student, kicked off his internship with the construction of a model for the Hillsboro Reservoir #3 project. The model serves as a tool for community members to further understand the attributes of the new reservoir, namely that it won’t be visible from their homes in Hillsboro with careful tree and shrub planting design.

The model also provides a learning opportunity for Ben whose interests lie in the social side of green infrastructure and in the way landscape architecture impacts communities beyond design.  “It’s not enough to provide sustainable practices. I am interested in how we as landscape architects can educate the public to understand how design solves problems and extends beyond a site’s boundaries,” Hedstrom said.

Ben starts his third and final year at Cornell this fall and will be working with GreenWorks throughout the summer on a wide range of projects.  That range is what attracted Ben to this internship.  He mentions “I enjoy the wide variety of sustainable projects GreenWorks has to offer. The exposure to the range in both scope and design is proving to be a tremendous learning experience.”

Girl Scouts Bring Change of Scenery to Silver Falls State Park

Silver Falls State Park is home to hundreds of acres of native forest and dozens of beautiful waterfalls. It will also be the future home of a Natural Play Area. The transformation of this animal-themed discovery area moved further last weekend when three local Girl Scouts Abby, Carling, and Kate built bird and bat houses to be integrated into the site. Girl Scouts from Troop #1047 were rewarded for their work, earning the highest award for Junior Girl Scouts, the Bronze Award.

The girls built a variety of boxes for the site – a Screech Owl Box, Small Bird House, and Bat House all of which were pre-drilled with screw holes and mounted directly to trees in the play area. The bird boxes will attract local native birds into the bird themed play area where park visitors young and old explore human sized bird houses.

Last Month’s bird house construction comes after the park broke ground last fall, incorporating animal themed play areas that get children outside and connected with nature. The park is being built primarily by parks staff and volunteers like the Girl Scouts. The Play Area will continue adding on play features this summer and aims to be open to the public by the fall.

ASLA Emerging Professionals: Nursery Tour + Wine Tasting

On June 9^th five members of GreenWorks enjoyed a beautiful evening in Newberg, Oregon at Oregon Small Trees Nursery.  Danae Davison, Claire Maulhardt, Alex Perove, Azad Sadjadi, and our new summer intern Ben Hedstrom attended a nursery tour plus wine tasting as part of ASLA Oregon’s Emerging Professional (EP) series.  Claire is the ASLA Oregon Emerging Professionals Committee Co-Chair, and put on the event with Emily Hull and Christopher Olin. Dave Leckey, owner of Small Trees Nursery, gave an educational talk about process of building his nursery, consisting mostly of mature small trees.  He explained sustainable processes he implements to grow the trees and shared the different qualities of trees he grows and how their form matures over the years.  Dave discussed how small trees could inspire a design and be a nice accent in small places. The nursery was started about 15 years ago when Dave began planting a group of unique and unusual small slow growing conifers. Today, the nursery still contains mostly small conifers with a small collection of maples.

In tangent with the nursery tour, K&M Alchemy Vineyards held a wine tasting in the central gathering space. Ken Morrison, owner of K&M, poured a selection of their Pinot Noir vintages.

Dave Leckey talks about the qualities and characteristics of a tree at Oregon Small Trees Nursery

For more information about Upcoming ASLA Events, visit: www.aslaoregon.org

Oregon Small Trees Nursery Phone: 503.625.9467

www.oregonsmalltrees.com

K&M alchemy vineyard

Phone: 503.625.3236

http://kandmwines.com/

Volunteers Install New Playground in Forest Hills Park

GreenWorks joined Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District, the Beaverton Optimist Club, a representative from Ross Recreation and neighborhood volunteers last Saturday to install new playground equipment for Forest Hills Park Playground in Beaverton.  THPRD Maintenance Department staff directed GreenWorks and other volunteers through the process, installing landscape structures play equipment including 4 swings, a play structure and a mobius climbing wall. Forest Hills Park is one of three area playgrounds slated for new equipment in addition to upgraded ADA accessibility, new site amenities, plantings for buffers and shading, and fencing and seat walls.  Saturday’s installation brings a collaborative design between THPRD, GreenWorks and Ross Recreation  to life, based on community feedback from the internet and public meetings.

Forest Hills is the second area park to be built by volunteers.   John Marty underwent installation last month and is now open to the public. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/5/prweb8459301.htm.  New play equipment will be installed at Raleigh Hills Park before the end of the month.

Special thanks to THPRD, GreenWorks staff, and all the volunteers that pitched in to make the playground installation a success.  Forest Hills Park will open to the public in early July.

GreenWorks Receives Three 2011 Top Project Awards

The results are in! The Daily Journal of Commerce announced the 2011 Top Project winners last week with GreenWorks earning 3 project awards in the Public Building category. GreenWorks received First Place Awards for Hood River Middle School and Lane Community College Health and Wellness Center and a Second Place Award for Riverdale Grade School.

First Place – Public Buildings - $1M to $5 Hood River Middle School

The Hood River Middle School science and music addition is a LEED certified project designed as a hands-on learning laboratory, where students interact with the site's resource systems. GreenWorks worked closely with teachers and the school principal to design a site that meets school needs while utilizing a small ecological footprint. GreenWorks' services included schematic design, construction documents, specifications, LEED documentation, bidding assistance and construction administration.

Teammates: Hood River County School District, Opsis Architecture, Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co

First Place – Public Buildings - $5.1M to $15M Lane Community College Health & Wellness Center

Lane Community College Health and Wellness Center sets a new standard for classroom space where students experience the benefits of an enhanced learning environment, a deeper understanding of human health and well being, and new inspiration to care for the earth. GreenWorks provided landscape architectural services for the Health and Wellness Center including site planning, hardscape, grading, planting, irrigation, and site furnishings.

Teammates: Lane Community College, SRG Partnership Inc., Balzhizer & Hubbard Engineers, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Solarc Architecture & Engineering, Lease Crutcher Lewis, Altermatt Associates, CompView, Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, Heery International Inc.

Second Place – Public Buildings - $15.1M to $50M

Riverdale Grade School

 The new Riverdale School facility, campus, and recreation fields encompass the development of a 45,000 square foot state-of-the-art, two-story education facility for grades K-8, including approximately 24 classrooms. The project incorporates sustainable site practices and LEED design. In addition to a new education facility, the project provides improved child safety, bus routing, parking and parent drop-off areas as well as a central courtyard for outdoor play and environmental learning areas.

Teammates: Riverdale School District, Mahlum Architects, Cardno WRG, Bremik Construction, Green Building Services, Hubbard and Associates, Interface Engineering, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Shiels Obletz Johnsen,The Bookin Group

Congrats to each interdisciplinary team for their hard work and deserved recognition. A full list of the winners can be found at http://djcoregon.com/topprojects-2011-winners/