Lando and Associates, Landscape Architecture

We get contacted regularly to add a green roof or living wall to all sorts of buildings and structures and the majority of the time they can’t be retrofitted without major seismic  and architectural modifications.  So over the past decade we have come up with a variety of systems and this is a great art in the service of landscape approach.  Its a kinetic art work that reacts to the wind, provides habitat for mason bees, and displays a prairie-like light show at night.  We are just starting to fabricate a full-size mock up to test the system, and we are so excited about this new approach to ‘Living Walls’

We are working with the good people at BOGS footwear and Urban Agriculture Solutions here in Portland on a community agriculture program.  Originally envisioned as a rooftop vegetable garden and gathering space, it is  now a more user friendly food production wall on the South-side of the building and two herb walls on bordering their West facing entrance.  Look for more details to come!

Bridge Meadows was awarded “The Eisner Prize” by  The Eisner Foundation for the 2013 Best Assisted Living / Special Needs Award.  The award is on of five this year, and it places the project in the running for the grand prize.

“As a society, we tend to believe that each generation is an insular one, and that the interests of each are unique and separate from those of others. But now more than ever, people young and old must join forces to address problems that affect both of their communities – and it is that spirit of inter-generational cooperation that we hope to foster with The Eisner Prize.”  Michael Eisner

The project has already received a National Association of Home Builders in 2012

We’re thrilled to announce that today the MetLife Foundation and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. named REACH a recipient of the 2013 MetLife Foundation Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing.  This award honors our Walnut Park Apartments development which was completed with the team the other team members at Carleton Hart Architecture and MGH Consulting Engineers.

See our portfolio page here.

We are waiting to hear where and when this greenhouse will be built!

The [NPK]house is our winning entry in the 2013 International Living Futures competition which challenged designers to design a 3000 sq. ft greenhouse under the guidelines of the Living Building Challenge (LBC) – meeting net zero energy, water and waste.

We have been studying the operation and aesthetics of  the [NPK]house North facade with this short GIF.  The building blends into the rural agricultural language of the Pacific NW, and by over-sizing and manipulating the louvers on the North facade, it reinterprets this vernacular architecture to announce the modern operations of the building.

Part of the genius that is Martin Wattenberg (link)

As our projects have continually involved “play”, we are once again re-examining our responsibility to what we are recommending, designing and building.

photo credit: Jens S Jensen “Boy on the Wall” Gothenburg, 1973

The circular bench is completed at Rancho Lando and need s’more activity!