Macdonald Environmental Planning, PC

Designing Specialized Healing Gardens for “Behavioral Health” Centers

Bryan — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:17:05 +0000

The characteristics and functions of a typical healing or therapeutic garden are becoming more widely documented, yet those for specialized healing environments within the hospital setting remain relatively unknown. We at MacDonald Environmental Planning are very excited to be working on three separate hospital projects with a “behavioral health” garden component, and adding to the dialogue on creating healing garden environments for these distinctive users in the months to come.
A well designed garden contributes substantially to the overall perception of health and wellness within any healing environment. A profusion of plants and plant/people interactions, defined seating areas and garden perimeters, easily readable pathways, and understandable wayfinding all work together to form gardens which provide a sense of security, serenity and safety for patients, family and staff alike.
When designing for the emotionally vulnerable and/ or cognitively impaired, security and safety become primary. Insure that gardens are indeed secure through physical enclosures such as high walls and plantings that are not scalable. Remove any potential weapons by securing furniture to paving, and using solid concrete rather than pavers or stone which could be dislodged and thrown. As in any healing environment, avoid any and all poisonous plants.
In this challenging economy, hospital administrators are facing strong pressures to become more patient- oriented and improve patient healthcare experiences. A number of studies have demonstrated the healing effects of nature to patients, families and staff in highly stressful situations. Additionally, it is being shown that creating gardens is an effective means for hospitals to achieve more positive market identities. As evidence-based design becomes the standard in hospital design, so too is the inclusion of healing or therapeutic gardens.

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Living Green Screens Challenge Planter, Irrigation and Drainage Design

Bryan — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:53:13 +0000

The Borealis Apartments, located in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, incorporates green walls to buffer the residents from the busy traffic and screen the views of expansive parking lots to the south. The vines and climbing plants in these green façades are also intended to help screen the direct sun, purify the air for the residents and create a green link to Denny Park directly west of the site.

The green walls are comprised of prefabricated trough planters, green screens®, cables and plants. The planters are supported two-foot four-inches off of the building façade and alternate from side to side as they ascend up to the parapet arbor planters. The planters incorporate green screens® tied directly into the back of the planters and plant climbing cables which link the planters from floor to floor.

The biggest challenge in the design was to provide the planters with irrigation and drainage without compromising the building envelope. The plantings are irrigated from a rooftop connection in the mechanical room which drops down the building façade to the support brackets and out to the planters on each floor. The irrigation system is constructed with galvanized pipe, which will not deteriorate in the suns UV rays and complements the galvanized siding on the building façade.

Each planter is also fitted with a drain line to catch surplus water and keep it from splashing against the windows and building façade. Greening the Architecture on The Borealis integrates the building into the neighborhood.

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'LEED for Landscapes' Finally!

Laurel Macdonald-Bonnell — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:19:32 +0000

As a LEED® Accredited Professional, I have read the USGBC LEED Reference Manual multiple times and spent months trying to memorize Indoor Environmental Quality credits. But let’s face it, all the clean air we pump into our buildings is from the outdoors. And as far as I know, buildings can’t generate clean air, plants do that. So, what about Outdoor Environmental Quality?

photo by Brandon Godfrey

The good news is that the United States launched its first voluntary rating system for sustainable landscapes in November, 2009. And it’s about time. The American Society of Landscape Architects, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the U.S. Botanical Garden have partnered to develop the rating system. The system will be part of the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which will test a series of pilot projects over the next two years. Although Macdonald Environmental Planning, PC wasn’t able to submit for a pilot project, I can say that we are hopeful to participate in such projects in the future.

I am personally excited to see if the new LEED rating system for landscapes can generate as much interest in sustainable landscapes as it did for sustainable buildings. But more importantly, will the rating system challenge our traditional landscape model? And even so, will designers and contractors take it upon themselves to change their traditional work standards? Let’s hope so.

Bryan Bailey, LEED AP
Macdonald Environmental Planning, PC
503.224.1225

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Landscape Irrigation? With a water deficit of 3.7 Trillion Gallons of Water?

Laurel Macdonald-Bonnell — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:46:39 +0000

We need to reduce our clean water consumption on a country-wide scale – and taking a hard look at the way we irrigate our landscapes may be a good place to start.

Water conservation is becoming a very worrisome topic in the United States – and for good reason. Currently, the EPA estimates the water deficit at about 3,700 billion gallons per year. This means we are consuming more clean water than nature can pump back into our environment.

To combat this trend, our nation needs to become creative in finding a way to balance the water deficit. Landscape irrigation is a great place to start.

North Main Village in Milwaukie, Oregon is a great example of innovative water conservation design. The project consists of a main courtyard rain garden and adjacent green street. These features collect and filter water that is channeled from the roofs and parking lot areas, so the amount of water going to the stormwater treatment facility is reduced or eliminated.

What about irrigation? Well, native and adaptive plants are grown in the courtyard and green street, so the irrigation is reduced to drip lines in some areas within the courtyard. These drip lines supply minimal amounts of water during the dry season.

Landscape Architecture holds a large influential position within our country for the design of public exterior spaces like parks, urban plazas, greenways, and golf courses. As professionals and stewards of the land, they are educating clients on the importance of water conservation and how these methods can be applied to their projects.

Bryan Bailey, LEED® AP
Project Manager
Macdonald Environmental Planning, PC

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Healing Gardens Rank High at Medical Centers

Laurel Macdonald-Bonnell — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:54:41 +0000

The healthcare systems have begun to recognize the benefits that nature can bring when incorporated into a Healing Garden within their Medical Centers. This realization has been supported by statistics showing that there are direct and beneficial health outcomes attributed to access and views to nature. The evidence as it relates to gardens has proven to the healthcare community that patients heal faster, need fewer medications, lowers stress levels for staff and administrators, and develop more favorable image of the medical center¹ in Communities nearby. These all translate in more income to the healthcare providers. These health and capital outcomes have raised the priority for all healthcare systems to include healing gardens, therapeutic gardens, outdoor gathering areas and a wide variety of opportunities to access nature on new expansion projects.

I tend to address these and Healing Environments because there are so many different types of garden areas found on the medical center campus’ all of which contribute to a healing outcome. The Healing Garden though, is one that should be central to the campus with access to multiple facility buildings. At Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, the healing garden is central to the Heart Center, Ambulatory Services Center, the new West Tower and main hospital. It offers opportunities for many participants to take a break, find respite, watch the waterfalls and garden landscape, or get physical therapy. The healing garden will provide patients, visitors and staff access to Nature and its power to heal.

Citations:

Health Facilities Management, “Great Outdoors-Developing a master plan for exterior spaces” by Julie Manning and Laurel Macdonald, February 2007, page 26

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Greenroofs Contribute To Cleaning Our Air – Beautiful!

Laurel Macdonald-Bonnell — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:37:21 +0000

As our cities grow so does their respective carbon footprint. More people translate into a higher volume of new cars, the need for new buildings, which in turn, increases the need for energy. The picture that is painted here is not very encouraging from an environmental perspective. The good news is that Ecoroofs can absorb a great deal of the pollution created.

The absorption takes place via the plantings on the ecoroof. Plants absorb the pollutants through their leaves and eventually convert pollutants to nutrients. Plants can then reuse the nutrients as food. Both the density of coverage and the types of plants used can vary the amount of pollutant absorption hence the selection of species should be thoughtfully considered in efforts to maximize the absorption rate.

In a publication recently written by Portlands’ Bureau of Environmental Sciences, titled ‘Cost Benefit Evaluation Of Ecoroofs 2008‘, we find that .04 pounds per square foot of carbon particulates are consumed on average by ecoroof plantings. When applying this number to our 7,188 square foot Central City Library Ecoroof in Portland, Oregon, 288 pounds of carbon is consumed annually!

This statistic is certainly encouraging and with persistent promotion of ecoroofs world wide, we can, as a community, create a cleaner environment. The more square feet of ecoroof we create the easier we will all breathe! How much carbon can YOUR roof clean?

Daniel Edwards, ASLA, LEEP AP
Macdonald Environmental Planning, PC
(503) 224-1225

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Portland Roof get a Green Face Lift

Laurel Macdonald-Bonnell — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:40:08 +0000

Learn about Portland’s incredible strides in the area of Green Engineering. Macdonald Environmental Planning, P.C., the landscape architect responsible for designing the Multnomah County Central City Library Ecoroof, will be appearing live on the KPTV morning show to discuss it’s commitment to Sustainability and Green Engineering.

Daniel Edwards with Macdonald Environmental Planning, P.C., will be joining the team of professionals responsible for the design and installation of the new Multnomah County Central Library Ecoroof for a live interview to be televised on KPTV’s morning show tomorrow, January 13th.

The interview will be televised at various times throughout the morning: 5:53am, 6:23am, 6:53am, 7:53am, 8:23am, and 8:45am respectively. KPTV will be interviewing Allen Profit from Multnomah County, Kat West from the Bureau of Environmental Sciences, a Central City Library spokesperson, Mark Carpenter of Columbia Greenroof Technology who was the provider of the tray system installed, and Daniel Edwards of Macdonald Environmental Planning,P.C..

Viewers will be informed on tours that are available for the ecoroof, the effects that the ecoroof has on staff productivity, how the tray system installed contributes to energy savings, water retention and heat island effect reduction, and how this contributes to Portlands plan for making the city a more sustainable place to live.

Please join us tomorrow morning to learn more about our Multnomah County Central Library Ecoroof and it’s nurturing benefits for our environment.

Laurel Macdonald Bonnell, Principal
Macdonald Environmental Planning, P.C.

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