Rethinking America's Streets
Re:Streets is a multi-disciplinary collaboration focused on the planning, design and construction of streets as a method for improving our built environment. The project pushes beyond the current standards to explore the future of streets and what America’s roadways would be like if they were designed for living, instead of driving. For more information and to register for the charrette, please visit the project website:
www.restreets.org
Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Garden's Condor Exhibit is Completed!
The California Condor Rescue Zone is set up as a stage set with settings that reflect the life of the California Condor in the wild, its rescue from extinction, and the Los Angeles Zoo’s role in its survival. Children control their experience during each visit as they role-play as a condor, a Zoo vet or a biologist/keeper while they explore the exhibit.
The Exhibit was featured in the fall 2009 issue of the LA Zoo and Botanical Gardens Zoo View Member's Magazine.
Learning Landscapes: Recreational and Educational Farm Parks in Oregon
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Magazine, Spring 2010 issue, featured an article written by MIG's very own Cindy Mendoza and Jon Pheanis. The article addresses the positive influence farm parks have on the public and their need to be developed in compliance with state land-use requirements.
MIG's Dorris Ranch Master Plan Update wins the Award of Excellence for the 2010 Oregon ASLA Design Awards!
The American Society of Landscape Architects; Oregon Chapter, has bestowed the Award of Excellence to MIG, Inc. for their work in crafting the Dorris Ranch Living History Master Plan Update. The ASLA Awards Jury deemed the master plan update “an outstanding advancement in leadership, contribution, understanding and/or achievement in the field of landscape architecture.” The Award of Excellence, the highest honor they bestow, is not granted every year, but only when a project merits this distinction. The award will be presented at the Design Awards Soiree on June 5th, 2010 in Portland, Oregon.
Dorris Ranch is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its significance as the oldest continuously operating commercial filbert (hazelnut) farm in the country. In addition it is home to rare wetland, oak woodland and prairie habitat and is a much loved community park. This rare mixture of attributes presented distinct challenges and opportunities for the MIG planning team. Working closely with Willamalane Park and Recreation District, the MIG team determined four primary steps to ensure that the very essence and character of Dorris Ranch would be protected and enhanced for current and future generations:
- ensure the continuation of a working filbert orchard;
- preserve the diverse natural habitats;
- decrease circulation conflicts on site between vehicles and pedestrians; and
- increase the site's educational and event programming capabilities.
The planning team understood that these components are not mutually exclusive of each other, but that the balance of historic and contemporary management practices would be critical to maintaining the site’s cultural and natural character. This balance ensures that Dorris Ranch will remain a rich and vibrant Oregon destination.
Within MIG's submission, we highlighted that part of the
success of this project stemmed from having an incredible team of people who
brought a variety of expertise to the table and who cared about the property
and its future. Members of the MIG planning team included:
Architectural Resources Group
Robert Z. Melnick
The Nature Conservancy
Institute for Applied Ecology
Salix Associates
Oregon State University
Extension Service
Friends of Buford Park; Mt. Pisgah
Trout Mountain Forestry
Regenerative Landscape
The Regenerative Landscape approach involves managing the landscape as a living ecosystem and focuses on restoring the ecological health of that ecosystem, beginning with the soil. Through careful choice of plants, habitat is increased and plant health is maximized. A regenerative landscape is a sustainable system that builds and maintains a high quality landscape without using synthetic inputs, such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.
Conventional landscaping methods, combined with construction activities, have had many adverse impacts on soils. These impacts result in soils that are devoid of microbial life, depriving plants of the nutrient cycling and disease prevention that takes place in a healthy landscape ecosystem. The absence of microbial activity also decreases soil structure, causing water runoff and leaching of nutrients. Conventional landscaping techniques require excessive consumption of fossil fuels and energy; pollute water, air and soils; and create overburdened landfills.
MIG implements strategies that nurture the soil, allowing the biology in the soil to function properly, which in turn sequesters carbon and reduces carbon emissions, minimizes landfill waste and water use, increases biodiversity and habitat, and maximizes the overall health of the landscape. MIG utilizes a creative approach that looks at each project individually, assessing site conditions and project goals, and subsequently crafts solutions that maximize health and ecology while minimizing maintenance and other costs.
AZA Toledo Zoo
Nature's Neighborhood is a place for children and their families to explore the indoor and outdoor habitats of Ohio. The Toledo Zoo has just won top exhibit honors from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Read more...
Hal Brown Park at Creekside
Hal Brown Park is a favorite Marin County park. The recently renovated park provides recreation spaces for the community and habitat for sensitive native plant and animals species. Read more...
MIG's groundbreaking West Village Master Plan for UC Davis is getting built!
MIG led a multi-disciplinary team to develop the West Village Master Plan for the University of California-Davis campus. This bold mixed-use project is the largest planned Zero Net Energy community in the country. Phase one opened in the Fall Semester of 2011 and serves as a model for new university housing and mixed-use development nationwide. Instead of following typical residential development patterns, MIG’s planning and design includes a range of housing types and densities; innovative mixing of uses at a neighborhood center; cutting-edge energy production and water conservation strategies; special attention to habitat; and open space and urban-agriculture edge boundaries. The West Village is an integrated and sustainable community that is environmentally, socially and economically beneficial. Read more...
Glendale Children's Center Awarded Sustainable Innovation Award - Materials + Resources
The Los Angeles Chapter of the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council launched its Sustainable Innovation Awards last night during the chapter's 7th Annual Green Gala-with over 500 guests in attendance. Projects were awarded across seven categories, recognizing exceptional achievement and innovation in each LEED category for countywide certified projects from the past two years. Read more...
Integrating People and Nature Through Design
In an overlooked area of Tacoma, adjacent to tribal lands and a public housing project, Metro Parks Tacoma (MPT) and PierceCounty co-own a 383-acre property known as Swan Creek Park. The park is an irregular-shaped, sparsely developed greenspace that protects the riparian corridor. It’s also a place with a unique WWII history that is extremely important to nearby residents and groups, including school children, volunteers, recreation enthusiasts, the Puyallup Tribe, and immigrants from around the world who live in the adjacent Salishan Redevelopment Community.
