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Academy Homes I, Roxbury
site: 11 acres, urban location, low-rise housing
with 202 units, mostly families, substantial sloping, new
sidewalks and roads
goal: master planting plan to include opportunities
for individual residents to maintain stoop gardens, low
maintenance in common areas
client: Urban Edge
design team: Priscilla Fitch, Debbie Gaw, Susan
Juretschke, Judi Lipson-Rubin, Nancy Phillips, Ginny
Stewart, Julie Wang, Lelia Weinstein, Dale Wilson; Jean
Cavanaugh, advisor; Joann Paul, graphic support
start: winter 2002
end: spring 2002
method: design team met bi-weekly with residents,
staff, and invited ‘experts’ to review work and solicit
input; experts included Roy Blomquist, Boston Parks Dept.
chief horticulturist; Andrea Taaffe, Boston Housing
Authority landscape planner; Betsy Johnson, Boston Natural
Areas Network community liaison
result: site analysis, plant lists, planting plans,
maintenance manual and calendar
follow-up: Urban Edge received funds for landscape
installation and hired members of the design team to oversee
implementation; plant material installed in 2002 – 2003.
Bethany Hill School, Framingham
– Landscape designer Nina Shippen created a community garden
plan and the programs required to administer it for this low
income housing facility. She gardened with residents for a
season to help them develop good gardening practices.
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Project Sheet
Boston Housing Authority - the Whittier and
Tremont Streets site, built in 1951, provides 199 units of
family housing. This site provided an advanced design
studio of the Landscape Institute opportunity to gain
experience in the challenges of improving an out-of-date
community landscape on a dense urban site. Students, under
the direction of instructor Jean Cavanaugh, presented their
plans to staff and residents.
Boston Housing Authority, Dorchester – Franklin
Hill is a housing development for families. The landscape
designer, Judi Lipson-Rubin, as her Landscape Institute
thesis project, improved the community landscape by
relocating vehicular patterns and by creating a safer and
more welcoming interior space in her design. She also
created modules for entryways, which could be used in
different applications, that linked the housing project to
the surrounding community.
Brookline Improvement Coalition - This non-profit
community group repairs and converts buildings into low cost
housing. Landscape designer David McCoy provided a plan for
a small sidewalk garden and design suggestions for an
attractive back patio.
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Project Sheet
Casa Esperanza in Roxbury has been helping men, women, and families overcome homelessness and substance abuse and become self-sufficient, contributing members of society. A new, proposed housing facility, Nueva Esperanza, is planned for women coming out of intensive treatment and transitioning to a more independent life with supportive services. COG's designer, Carolyn Cooney, designed plantings for an entry area and play space, and a street edge. The planting plan was designed to meet LEED Home criteria.
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Project Sheet
Everett House, Dorchester is a residential
treatment center for children with severe emotional
problems. The landscape designer, Rosalie Johnson, created
a challenging, non-traditional, and welcoming landscape for
children to play, invent, dream, and heal, including an
‘adventure path.’ The administrators, Home for Little
Wanderers, have used her graphics for their fundraising.
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Project Sheet
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Everett House
Adventure Path by Rosalie Johnson
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Fran Hintsa Memorial Garden, Newton – The design
team of Janice Reilly and Sarah Kish is working with
Community Living Network to design a landscape appropriate
for this home for low income elder adults. The front
garden, named in honor of a supporter, will be a destination
for residents, provide outdoor experiences, and connect
residents with the neighbors passing by.
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Project Sheet
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Plan for
Fran
Hintsa
Memorial
Garden
.
Sarah Kish
and
Janice Reilly
, designers
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High
Street Veterans Public Housing, Brookline, MA – Landscape
designer Ellen Forrester served as the gardening coach for
residents of this affordable housing. She provided
horticultural information and hands-on support to residents
for their stoop gardens, purchasing materials and plants
with a grant from the Brookline Community Fund.
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Project Sheet
Horizons II, Women's Industrial and
Educational Union, Dorchester completed the renovation
of its second home for battered women and their children
leaving emergency shelters. The design team of Alice Evans
and Sally Muspratt developed concepts for welcoming
streetside plantings and private gardens to meet the needs
of the young mothers and many children who live here.
House of Hope in Lowell is a homeless shelter for mothers and their children. The design team of Viola Augustin and Nia Rodgers, with horticultural support from Lucia Huntington, developed a landscape plan for an improved play yard for the children which will also encourage the young mothers to be outdoors. The designers also developed a concept for a connecting ‘bridge’ between the shelter and the near-by New Hope Apartments.
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Project site
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Concept drawings of new play area.
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Kent Street Apartments, Somerville, MA
is low income housing developed and managed by Women’s
Supported Housing and Empowerment, Inc. (WSHE) and The
Community Builders to provide a stable and supportive living
environment for previously homeless women and their
children. The design team of Amy Ackroyd, Jan Childs, and
Charlotte Fleetwood conducted a series of design workshops
with residents using slides and model to convey design
possibilities. The designers, residents, and COGdesign
volunteers installed plant material and took part in
workshops about container gardening, maintenance, and
composting.
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Design Workshop
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Gardening Workshop
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Planting Day
"As you know it is a
continual challenge to maintain an attractive environment
while working within the constraints of a limited budget and
frequent use of the grounds. COG's involvement with Kent
Street Apartments has been an invaluable component of our
landscape efforts. Your organization has allowed Kent Street
to enjoy amenities that would otherwise be unattainable."
--
Denise
Deschamps, Kent Street Apts.
Property Manager, Somerville, MA |
Menotomy Manor, Arlington - This
low income housing facility was the subject of a Landscape
Institute advanced design studio under the direction of
John Furlong and Jean Cavanaugh. Students gathered input
from tenants and presented several master plans to residents
and the Arlington Housing Authority. The Housing Authority
credits the students' work with providing a vision for
improvements to the facility and, as a result, the town
applied for federal and state grants to fund construction
drawings.
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Project Sheet
Pine
Street Inn residence, Brookline, MA –This
permanent home for low income residents was in need of a
beautiful, low maintenance front yard in keeping with its
attractive neighborhood. Landscape designer Geri Sprague,
with consulting support from Howard Garden Designs’
principal Karen Howard, designed an ornamental, hardy and
low maintenance garden and sitting area for residents.
The Brookline Community Foundation provided funds for the project.
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Project Sheet
Pine
Street Inn residence/Jenks House, Brookline, MA - The
Jenks House is permanent housing to 27 previously homeless
men and women. Landscape designer Sally Muspratt, with
input from staff and residents, designed a private patio
garden which responds to the needs of the residents and
provides beauty, respite, and a sense of community to them.
The garden terrace was installed with the support of
COGdesign, the PSI Development Office, individual donors,
the Mustard Seed Foundation, and Fleet Bank.
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Project Sheet
Rediscovery House, Watertown, is
transitional housing for young men leaving the Department of
Youth Services. Landscape designer Ginny Stewart
collaborated with the residents to create a working
landscape.
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