2016-2017 Landscape Architecture Foundation: Case Study Investigation
The Case Study Investigation (CSI) program is a unique research collaboration that matches LAF-funded faculty-student research teams with designers to document the benefits of exemplary high-performing landscape projects. Research teams develop methods to quantify environmental, social, and economic benefits of built projects and produce Case Study Briefs for LAF's Landscape Performance Series. The CSI program is highly collaborative and helps bridge the gap between research and practice. Together with the industry partner HGA Architects and Engineers, the West Virginia University team conducted a systematic post-occupancy investigation of three hospital gardens (lot area averaging 157 acres) through the assessment of environmental, social, and economic benefits over the course of one year.
Throughout the process, multiple methodologies were used for data collection. The results have been published as part of the Landscape Performance Series, providing a set of measures for assessing the effectiveness with which landscape solutions fulfill their intended purpose and assist sustainability. As such, the team has contributed to the immense online library, accessible to all, which provides free access to a searchable collection of tools and methods for estimating landscape performance more effectively.
Morgantown Transect Analysis: How do we read the evolution of the city by walking?
How do we understand the evolution of places through direct experience and observation? The project’s concept was drawn from JB Jackson’s “The Strangers Past” and Grady Clay’s “Epitome Districts.” It asks questions: How do we read the evolution of the city by walking? What elements help to define the character of specific districts in Morgantown? What is the meaning of these districts? We followed different routes through the city that took us to a wide range of places and we reflected on what we were seeing by using our eyes, mind, and camera simultaneously. We focused on different spatial elements: the built environment, the natural landscape, words on buildings, people and their interaction with a place and with each other in place.