Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning / Alpa Nawre / Anne Beamish / Sound has always been an integral part of the outdoor environment. However, since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, and given the continual emergence of new technological sounds, society’s aural awareness and sensitivity has continued to decrease (Schafer, 1977). While the visual often dominates the perception of the outdoor environment – especially within the design field – all five senses are vital to a holistic experience. A greater emphasis on sound in landscape architecture is critical as landscape architects move toward a more holistic approach to designing the outdoor environment. The primary learning objective of this thesis was to evaluate the effectiveness of soundwalks and listening exercises for landscape architecture students, as a way to increase their aural awareness and sensitivity. The first part of this study established the current status and need for an acoustic education in landscape architecture by examining university course offerings and surveying professionals and faculty members in the field. The remainder of the study involved a listening experiment conducted with landscape architecture students from Kansas State University. Participants were assessed on their ability to listen to and analyze sounds before and after participating in soundwalks, listening exercises, and lessons in interdisciplinary sound terminology. This study provides a clearer understanding of the role of sound in landscape architecture and, more broadly, the environment. The surveys revealed that respondents more often consider sound as noise to be mitigated rather than as inspiration for design. Respondents also indicated that sound is an important consideration in design and that an acoustic component can be valuable in landscape architecture education. Those who participated in the listening experiment also indicated that an acoustic education, including soundwalks and listening exercises, can be effective in increasing aural awareness and sensitivity. While this study did not explore all approaches to an acoustic education, it provides a suitable point of departure for future related research.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture / Laurence A. Clement, Jr. / Restorative landscapes are a growing trend within health care environments and can have a lasting impact on people if applied within other settings, particularly higher education campuses. Their design captures the many healing qualities of nature that humans are instinctively attracted to (Heerwagen, 2011). Within restorative landscapes, people have been historically found to experience relief of stress, improved morale, and improved overall well-being (Barnes et al., 1999). While campus planning standards do consider the outdoor environment as an extension of the classroom, higher education campuses can do more to utilize the cognitive benefits of nature for students, faculty and staff. This project explores principles and theories of restorative landscape design, empirical psychological research, and campus design to develop a framework that facilitates the creation of restorative campus spaces on higher education campuses. In partnership with the Office of Design and Construction Management at the University of Kansas, the framework was subsequently applied through the design of the landscape for the Center for Design Research on the KU campus. In the context of current campus planning challenges, restorative landscape design is a potentially valuable strategy in strengthening the beneficial roles and efficacy of the campus landscape. This design project explores its application to envision places within a higher education campus that, along with other benefits, relieve stress for students, faculty and staff.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional & Community Planning / Laurence A. Clement, Jr. / Our current agricultural system in the U.S. involves procedures that appear to maintain high levels of productivity. However, the long-term outlook regarding this system indicates an overall degradation of the ecological resources that generate the abundance of agricultural products to which we are accustomed (Lyle, 1994). This project applies sustainable food production strategies specifically addressed in permaculture as a regenerative alternative to industrial agriculture to a site on the Kansas State University campus. This research initiative quantifies the productive benefits of sustainable agriculture in providing for the Derby Dining Hall, and illustrates how sustainable food production strategies can be shaped through landscape form and space in ways that connect people with ecologically sound food production. The literature review addressed landscape architecture theory and sustainable agriculture. In addition, a set of interviews as well as three precedent studies helped to focus project considerations and to inform design decision-making. The site design process comprised the primary method for exploration and subsequent development of conclusions. The first two design iterations were performed with a specific focus on garden productivity and then garden form, with the third acting as a synthesis of the first two. The final plan suggests that there is a potential for a positive didactic experience of sustainable food production through the artful synthesis of landscape form, particularly with regard to carefully arranged circulation patterns. In addition it was found that, given the average growing season rainfall of 3 inches per month, the water harvested from the roofs of Moore and West residence halls can support over 7,300 square feet of intensive produce beds with a 1 inch per week application rate. In regard to food production, select non-bulk items on Derby Dining Hall’s menu (e.g. Parsley, Garlic, Basil, Kale, Radishes, Turnips, & Oregano) can be provided for or supplemented entirely, given the designed array of produce in the proposed gardens. It would appear that incorporating permaculture and organic farming strategies into the campus fabric would facilitate K-State Housing and Dining’s efforts to promote healthy food -- and sustainable thinking -- by increasing the variety, freshness and interest of its menu.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning / Jessica Canfield / Kansas City is in the midst of an urban renaissance, with a construction boom within the downtown core in excess of $4.5 billion over the past several years (CVA 2012). In 2010, Kansas City’s Greater Downtown Area Plan (GDAP) was implemented to guide the future transformation and development of the city. Despite its long-term vision and specific goals, including activating the public realm and fostering a strong urban community (City Planning et al. 2010), the GDAP fails to address opportunities for short-term strategies for interim ‘place-making.’ Yet, temporary gatherings are critical to fostering and sustaining a sense of ‘place.’ Kansas City currently has an emerging, vibrant urban culture, but it lacks amenities and spaces to support and celebrate spontaneous social activity. To address this issue, this project proposes a series of prototypical fluxspaces – small, temporary interventions activated by the presence of food trucks - throughout Kansas City’s downtown area. These new temporary acts exploit the potential of underutilized urban surfaces in the short term while re-invigorating social activity and celebrating an emerging urban culture in the long term. Sites are linked to existing mobile food vending hot spots and interventions are timed in conjunction with major Kansas City events and festivals; this grounds the proposed system in Kansas City’s population of temporary users. A detailed schedule ensures that Kansas City’s fluxspaces feature a dynamic, rotating population of food trucks, while fluctuating amenities promote diverse, exciting, and attractive temporary places. Kansas City’s new fluxspaces accommodate spontaneous social gatherings and celebrate their vital importance in fostering a vibrant urban environment. //fluxspace activates Kansas City’s latent urban surfaces, filling the gap between Kansas City’s immediate need for places of temporary gathering and the long-term goals inherent in the vision for Kansas City’s future.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Anne Beamish / The current educational model utilized in the United States focuses on teaching technology, preparing for standardized tests, and training students to be productive members of society. These are all valuable and necessary educational goals, especially considering the fact that the current national trend is to promote citizens’ integration into a more global community and job market—significantly affecting the work opportunities available to our country’s youths. However, one of the most necessary and fundamental aspects of childhood—outdoor learning in nature—is being undervalued. Outdoor learning experiences in the natural environment are exceptionally important in encouraging holistic childhood development because they offer children firsthand experiences with natural processes. Through interactions with nature, children are able to witness the impact that human actions have upon the environment. As Richard Louv asserts in the Last Child in the Woods, “Healing the broken bond between our young and nature—is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demands it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depends upon it” (Louv, 2008, 3). The broken relationship between America’s youths and nature must be healed. Public schools offer a unique opportunity for children to be reacquainted with nature because about 90% of American students below the college level attend public schools. In the year 2009, over 2.3 million students attended public elementary schools; 226,082 of those students were in Kansas (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). Garfield Elementary School in Augusta, Kansas is an ideal situation for the development of an outdoor learning environment that promotes student awareness and connection to local nature. The nature-oriented design of Garfield Elementary School’s grounds, described in this Master’s Report, fosters the creation of deep-seeded emotional ties to the natural world in the children who experience the site—effectively combating Nature-Deficit Disorder by encouraging students to become environmental stewards. This is accomplished by using children’s literature to inspire the organization of spatial environment variety and a range of natural elements (such as water) on the school site, which encourage students to engage in five outdoor learning activities: physical, creative, sensorial, solitary and social.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Tim Keane / Climate change and declining ecological health of urban environments are global issues of growing concern. In order to mitigate these issues we must reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions and increase green infrastructure solutions. One way of doing this is through improving public transportation and decreasing parking areas. In this study, Manhattan, Kansas was used to illustrate how improvements to public transportation can reduce parking demand and to show how excess parking can be transformed into green space to improve the ecological health of the city. First a review of literature and case studies related to increasing ridership of public transportation, reducing parking demand, and calculating ecologic and economic benefits was done. Then ArcGIS was used to analyze the existing public transportation in Manhattan, Kansas. Improvements to the existing transit system were developed and potential increase in ridership was calculated. ArcGIS was then used to analyze existing parking in Manhattan, Kansas. Excess Parking was determined based on current parking demand and predicted transit ridership. A suitability study was then done in ArcGIS to determine which parking areas should be converted into green space. The suitability map assisted in choosing four specific parking areas to redesign in detail to incorporate additional green space and tree cover. It was estimated that improving Manhattan’s bus system could double its ridership. It was also estimated that with improved public transit and parking planning, 30% of Manhattan’s parking could be eliminated. Converting 30% of Manhattan’s parking into green space would decrease runoff and pollutants from parking lots. Ecological valuation methods were used to calculate the benefits of converting parking into green space. It was found that integrating green space into parking lots would decrease stormwater runoff, mitigate the heat island effect, store carbon, improve air quality and may have social benefits as well.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Anne Beamish / Human nature compels us to remember the past. A society’s collective memory creates meaning in our lives, establishing individual and group identity and contextualizing cultural values. Commemorative landscapes give physical form to loss and memory, providing a space for public awareness and remembrance while acting as a sanctuary for dealing with loss. Over time, memorials face a loss of relevance as generations pass and society evolves to embody different shared memories and values. At the same time, our environment directly affects our physical and psychological well-being. Restorative environments benefit the individual by reducing stress. If the well-being of the individual and his or her environment are directly linked, landscape architecture can be utilized to restore mental well-being. A commemorative space combining the characteristics of memorials and restorative environments will act as a “restorative memorial”. Beyond remembering the events, people, or circumstances that establish cultural identity and values, restorative memorials would improve mental well-being, reminding the individual of their cultural identity while reducing psychological stress. Synthesizing literature understanding the importance of memorials, restorative environments, loss, stress, and environmental psychology with experiential observations of memorials and restorative environments generated a set of design guidelines for restorative memorials. These design guidelines were applied to a design commemorating the legacy of the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. The Menninger family formed the first group psychiatric practice in the country. They became world-renowned leaders in psychiatric and behavioral health treatments, believing a patient’s physical and social environment was instrumental to improve mental health. In 2003, the Menninger Clinic relocated to Houston, Texas, vacating a campus which played a great role in the history of Topeka, Kansas, and psychiatry. A restorative memorial commemorating the Menninger legacy could reconnect the citizens of Topeka with the history of the former campus and would pay homage to the ideals of the Menningers, using the designed environment to continue improving mental health. Restorative memorials can become landmarks in the urban fabric, providing an engaging built environment, imbued with meaning. They will transcend generational significance, serving the past, present, and future.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Timothy Keane / Wichita is an historic keystone in American history. Since 2002, Wichita has begun another period of urbanization and the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation (WDDC) was formed to help facilitate the needs of both the people wanting to move downtown and the developers who aim to realize the city’s historic potential. With the help of the WDDC the City of Wichita adopted the Project Downtown Master Plan developed by the Boston based firm Goody Clancy in 2010. The Project Downtown has a market driven development strategy that has little concern for ecology. The economically driven master plan gives little reason for a developer to be ecologically and socially oriented. The City of Wichita does have a rudimentary incentive focused on public infrastructure. Essentially, the City of Wichita will front the money to help develop the public infrastructure of a site to ease the total development costs. This is the key to begin defining the Project Downtown’s green spaces that are socially and ecologically oriented. Green infrastructure is a method of developing land used by pedestrian, automobile, and other human needs in a way that is ecologically sensitive. The general idea of green infrastructure is to open up the barrier of an impermeable infrastructure created by urban development to the soil below. The goal is to get as close to an undeveloped footprint as possible while still meeting the needs of the humans who occupy the area. This project looks at the Catalyst Site C-2 (chosen by the Project Downtown as an integral step of development) and designs the given program using several green infrastructure techniques. The proposed design is treated as a pilot project intended to treat 80% of the stormwater runoff developed by the building, automobile, and pedestrian space during a two year, one hour storm. This schematic design would cost roughly $536,00 designed using traditional grey infrastructure of impervious pavements that drain directly to the Arkansas River. By implementing green infrastructure the costs total roughly $533,000 saving $4,000 and greatly improving the ecological and social benefits of the design.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Timothy Keane / Kansas City’s outdated sewer system is presently incapable of capturing and treating the increased runoff volumes in Turkey Creek Basin during rainstorm events. As a result, 2.66 billion gallons of untreated sewer system overflow is released annually into the Kansas River and nearby properties. In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a civil action requiring the City of Kansas City, Missouri, to take appropriate and necessary actions needed to prevent or minimize the discharge of untreated sewage. In response, the City of Kansas City adopted a comprehensive Overflow Control Plan intended to reduce sewer system overflow volumes in Turkey Creek Basin by 85% at a cost of approximately $244 million. Initially, the City of Kansas City seriously considered implementing stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in place of sewer system improvements. Stormwater BMPs infiltrate, filter, store, and evaporate stormwater runoff close to its source, preventing stormwater runoff from reaching the sewer system. Subsequently, many BMPs were eliminated from the Overflow Control Plan and replaced with conventional sewer system technologies because of performance concerns. However, the Overflow Control Plan acknowledged that BMPs located on private property would indirectly benefit Kansas City’s stormwater management strategy. Using geographic information system (GIS) analysis, suitability maps were generated for twelve different BMPs to determine suitable locations in Turkey Creek Basin for reducing stormwater runoff. Analysis concluded that the most effective strategy for sustainable stormwater management would be to locate BMPs at higher elevations within the watershed to prevent upland runoff from flooding sewer system pipes at lower elevations. Areas having the highest suitability are located primarily on residential land, implying that Kansas City could benefit most from encouraging its residents to equip their properties with site-appropriate BMPs. This can be achieved through educational initiatives, policy adoption, and homeowner incentives. Therefore, policies and incentives targeting Kansas City’s residents should be implemented to reduce sewer overflow volumes and prevent future costly improvements to Kansas City’s sewer system.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Within the past decade, waste landscapes of decaying regional shopping centers and malls have been transformed into new buildings, streets, and towns— otherwise known as greyfield redevelopments. The most successful of these greyfield redevelopment projects are designed as vibrant town centers that exhibit traits of larger 24-hour cities. Unfortunately, landscape has been less relevant within these projects than they have in historical town center precedents. Landscape architecture originated from societal, cultural, and environmental needs and emerged as a profession to meet those needs. Theory, research, and design principles have emerged as well from studying the importance of landscape within the urban realm. Based upon the theory of Landscape Urbanism, landscape should be the primary element of urban order and that landscape architects possess the ability to enhance these multi-disciplinary projects. In CenterScapes, explorative design projects act as experimental subjects for a landscape architecture approach to current successful greyfield-redevelopment-into-town-center design. This masters project illustrates design research in theory, precedent, design principle, analysis, and explorative design through two applications. While both applications exhibit traits of a greyfield-redevelopment-into-town-center typology, one is designed solely by landscape architects and the other is designed by an interdisciplinary team represented by architectural, landscape architectural, and real estate development disciplines. This report functions to reveal the importance of strategically allocated and designed open space to act as catalysts for new town center developments.