LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.
Issue link: https://landscapearchitect.epubxp.com/i/107181
hardwood forest over 100 feet deep along the northern edge of the property. The second area is a wooded buffer along the southwest edge of the property that parallels the building façade, which helps shade the building and landscape from direct sun during the afternoon. The site is also near parklands of wooded seasonal stream valleys and wetlands. One of the bigger project challenges was how to create a special outdoor environment within a greater context of a traditional office park. By preserving as much existing perimeter vegetation as possible, the site design visually buffers the surrounding office buildings and allows a pure user experience of the landscape composition. Parking Structure The parking garage and surface parking areas are on the east side of the site, which limits most of the vehicular traffic to the area closest to the site entry, and reserves the majority of the site for pedestrian use. The parking structure steps down in height from four levels to two levels at the point where it becomes closer to the building to reduce its visual impact, and to avoid blocking views toward the surrounding forest pockets from the building. Structured parking provides space for 650 vehicles, while surface spaces will accommodate an additional 50 vehicles. Above The locally sourced fieldstone retaining wall is dry-set and allows the vehicular drop-off to be level with the building's entrance. Water/ Water Sensitive Design-Hardscapes The site is designed to showcase water and watersensitive design. These water concepts are expressed in the site's hardscapes and the softscapes. At the building's entry court, waves of contrasting colored concrete paver fields extend from forms in the adjacent planting mounds into the paving surface. Concrete pavers (4"x8") are set over a bituminous base in herringbone patterns. When the two differing February 2013 65