Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Eric A. Bernard / The profession of landscape architecture is involved in understanding, designing and, or, implementing relationships between social and natural systems within a spatial-temporal context as defined in discipline literature and the 2005 Landscape Architecture Body of Knowledge (LABOK) study. The LABOK outlines core competencies of the profession and fundamental body of knowledge expected from graduates of Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB) accredited degree programs. Geographic Information Science (GIScience) is a emerging field aimed at spatial temporal problem solving and has been defined as, “a multi disciplinary research enterprise that addresses the nature of geographic information and the application of geospatial technologies to a basic scientific question” (DiBiase, 5, 2006; Goodchild, 1992). The Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge (GIS&TBOK) (DiBiase, 121, 2007) outlines educational objectives for the emerging field of GIScience and serves as the resource for course and curriculum planning for academic and professional programs. This study investigated where intersections exist between the spatial temporal problem solving discipline of landscape architecture and emerging field of GIScience based on the respective Body of Knowledge studies. The three phased study: 1) determined overlapping relationships between the LABOK and GIS&T BOK, 2) analyzed overlaps for their ability to help first professional degree landscape architecture programs achieve LAAB curriculum accreditation, and 3) employed a case study method to illustrate how overlaps between the LABOK and GIS&T BOK and relevant to LAAB curriculum accreditation requirements influence curricula development at Kansas Sate University. The study established 887 relationships between the two respective Bodies of Knowledge, of which, 717 were found capable of helping achieve LAAB curriculum accreditation. The study presents key areas of intersection and overlap between LABOK and GIS&T, and provides a framework for integration of GIS&T educational objectives within first professional landscape architecture degree curriculums, in a manner to achieve LAAB curriculum accreditation.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Claude A. Keithley / In the near future, due to the baby boom of the sixties, a large proportion of the American population will fall into the age group of over 65. This dominating portion of the population will naturally require decent living styles and facilities. Most cities in the US, however in their current plan, do not seem to have enough provisions to address the needs of these senior citizens. The needs and rights of the aged are often found to be not properly addressed as the majority of the population are young and able-bodied and their needs are sure to take priority in formulating any community's plan and policies. Necessary changes in the current plan of many American cities are required to accommodate the needs of the elderly people as the baby boomers age. In this report, an attempt is made to understand and define the needs of the aging population who will very soon form a formidable part of the community. Of late, aging in place has become quite a popular lifestyle among senior citizens who usually like to spend the rest of their life in the same community as they have spent most of their adulthood or even childhood. Moving out of one's community and learning to adapt to a new environment is hardly desirable for anybody at a ripe age when one would rather lead an easy life by relaxing and engaging in the fond recollections of the past. The report attempts to study the aging components within the existing plan and investigates whether they exist or not and prescribes the required components in the comprehensive plan. For that purpose, the literature review identifies the needs of the elderly followed by a review of the Manhattan Urban Area Comprehensive Plan to determine how well the city plan addresses the needs of the elderly. The review of this plan provides a critique of the city's plan in terms of its efforts to make the community livable for the elderly. Moreover, the last chapter provides policy guidelines for the development of a specific component of the plan targeting the needs of the elderly.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine E. Kingery-Page / The primary reasons for the existence of contemporary zoological parks are presented as conservation and conservation education. But in reality, human entertainment is the primary function of traditional zoos. There is a moral dilemma behind the practice of removing wild animals from their native habitats and holding them captive, primarily for the purpose of human entertainment and education. Exhibits designed with these human desires in mind never completely meet the needs of the animal. An exhibit designed with conservation in mind can fully address animal needs. The moral dilemma of keeping wild animals captive can be reconciled if the purpose of conservation shifts to the forefront of exhibit design. The term conservation, in this setting, refers to a habitat where a healthy, captive population can be sustained. Conservation means acquiring an in-depth understanding of an animal species and combining it with thoughtful, insightful design that responds to the species’ needs first. Secondary design considerations include facilitating the work of the animal keeper and visitor education and recreation. The keeper plays an important role in the health and well-being of the animal; a functional workplace is essential to the keeper’s job. The visitor plays an essential role in maintaining the funding that supports the zoo. In order for zoos to maintain adequate funding, they need visitors. To make this experience mutually worthwhile, exhibit design must create an experience that visitors want to be a part of, and the exhibit should impart an educational message to these visitors. This conservation-minded approach results in an exhibit that will serve primarily as a conservation facility. The exhibit is better suited to the animal by encouraging natural behavior and more accurately recreating natural habitat. A conservation exhibit can also fulfill the secondary purpose of human education by providing the visitor with a much richer depiction of the animal in its natural state, as well as showing visitors the need for species conservation.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / William P. Winslow III / MDI Superfund is an abandoned 36 acre metal casting foundry site in the Fifth Ward Houston, TX. The site was recently remediated and cleared of nearly all industrial remnants including more than 16,000 cubic yards of lead contaminated soil. Completion of the remedial action allows the removal of fences that have been separating this tract of land and the community for nearly ten years. Proximity to downtown Houston makes this a desirable location for new development, which has threatened to displace the poor and elderly in recent years. This project explores design alternatives that facilitate affordable housing without isolating it from new development. The integration of affordable housing with community needs is necessary to improve the dynamic in a mixed use, mixed income development. This research is intended to shape redevelopment of MDI Superfund, while providing community needs, minimizing gentrification, and improving quality of life of its inhabitants. The achievement of these goals relies upon the application of specific design principles that minimize conflict and increase success in similar communities.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine E. Kingery-Page / Currently, about 15-20 percent of the worldwide tourist industry, or 70-90 billion dollars can be accounted for annually by mountain tourism (Price et al. 1997). The base of mountain tourism lies within the profound natural features of the surrounding mountain landscape. Therefore, maintaining clean cool air, dramatic variations in topography, and scenic beauty of both the physical and cultural landscapes are imperative. The following project addresses the issue of designing a sustainable mixed use community within the broader context of a top rated mountain resort. Within the last decade as public awareness of green practices has increased, so has the public’s knowledge of terms such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), sustainability, and mixed-use development. Starting in 1995 a sustainable visioning plan emerged for the future development of the Greater Wasatch in Utah. The project, titled Envision Utah Quality Growth Plan, has been widely recognized as one of the country’s most successful efforts to involve the public in regional visioning. The proposed addition to Park City Mountain Resort in the Wasatch Front has been fueled by a desire to create an ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable mixed-use development. The Envision Utah Quality Growth Plan and a precedent study in Whistler, combined with literature by Peter Calthorpe, Sherry Dorward, and Ian McHarg, provided the foundation for a sustainability assessment framework. The framework is applied to test the sustainable viability of existing resorts, as a guide for the design of resorts, and as a tool for comparative analysis between mountain resorts. The result is a conceptual master plan for Park City, Utah that employs the use of stormwater and architectural best management practices, recycled materials, mixed use design, alternative forms of energy, and an efficient public transportation system.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Stephanie A. Rolley / Once a standalone town on the periphery of Denver, Littleton is now completely surrounded by other cities on all sides. Much of northeast Littleton is experiencing many of social and demographic issues associated with an aging suburb. Buildings are showing signs of age and neglect and the area has higher incidences of crime, gang activity, drugs, and graffiti than the rest of Littleton. Because it cannot expand outward, the City of Littleton must look at ways to redevelop within its city limits. This study focuses on achieving service in an infill development in northeast Littleton, Colorado. Research about the urban design was conducted and case studies of were documented. A program was written based on the research and a thorough inventory and analysis of existing site conditions. Based on the program, structures and site elements were located in northeast Littleton based on the principles of Sustainable Urbanism. The design achieves service through the Sustainable Urbanist principles of defined center and edge, compactness, completeness, connectedness, and biophilia. Because the design is focused on achieving service, not strictly on the placement of buildings within an urban framework according to a design style, the result is a community that is able to support local business and mass transit through walkability, increased density, and outside connection.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / William P. Winslow III / The proposed site development is situated in the ahupua’a of Honouliuli, in the district of Ewa on the island of Oahu, Hawaii and has been given the name Kaiaulu. Currently the University of Hawaii is planning to expand their campus in the Ewa district. The project site is 500 acres with the university occupying 204 acres. The remaining 296 acres of the site will be a mixed-use residential community. The design of the site addresses two main dilemmas: 1) creating a town-gown relationship between the university and surrounding mixed-use community and 2) promote the use of the two transit stations that will be located on the site for the new light rail system that will be implemented on the island in the next few years. To better understand the relationships between the institution and the surrounding neighborhood communities and how to successfully incorporate light rail stations into the communities, research was conducted to address the issues stated above. Literature was reviewed with a focus on the guidelines, principles, terms, and relative issues on each topic. Two precedent studies were then conducted relating to town-gown relationships and the implementation of light rail systems and stations. The program and the placement of the transit stations, the institution, and the mixed-use communities were based on the site inventory and analysis of the existing site. With the strategic placement of the transit stations and the university campus, students and residents of the surrounding community are encouraged to interact. Additionally, by making the transit stations welcoming, convenient, and safe, the light rail encourages the students and residents of the communities to lessen the use of their automobiles and use the public transit as a means of reaching their destinations around the island. The design of Kaiaulu brings the students of the institution and the residents and visitors of the surrounding communities together and creates a strong town-gown relationship.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Timothy D. Keane / Visualizing Urban Equilibrium is a landscape architecture master’s project and report intended to enhance the collective hydrologic, social, and aesthetic functions of Kansas State University’s Campus Creek corridor. The highly urbanized conditions of the approximately 1.4 mile channel and 408 acre sub-watershed are the result of neglect for stable hydrologic function, poor campus planning, and a disregard for cohesive form and function of natural aesthetics on campus. This proposal aims to balance goals of enhanced hydrologic function with those of campus social and aesthetic function into one cohesive process of landscape planning and design. Synthesizing complex social fabrics with proper urban watershed assessment and management, as well as natural geomorphic channel design re-envisions of sense of harmony and place within a major campus corridor and green space. Communication of this proposal takes the form of a Comprehensive Campus Creek Corridor Plan, for a rapidly developing academic institution and community. This plan centralizes the creek on campus and includes urban-watershed assessment, site specific conceptualizations of storm-water best management practices, and detailed channel enhancement for improved hydrologic function. Social function is enhanced through integration of pedestrian oriented planning, and education oriented spatial design opportunities for increased interaction with and within the Campus Creek corridor. Enhancement of aesthetic function includes management for a balance of formal and natural character, re-established visual connectivity and sense of place, as well as installation of landscape improvements and artistic expressions of the “equilibrium” paradigm defining the creeks natural function and its urban context. Included in this masters project and report is a project introduction and premise, Campus Creek site inventory and sub-watershed assessment, programming for improvements, and visualization of the conceptual comprehensive plan and site design elaborations.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Laurence A. Clement / The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SSI) put forth by the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is a set of standards which promotes sustainable land development and management practices. The SSI allows the role of the landscape architect to become increasingly important with society’s push to be sustainable. This has become evident with the involvement of landscape architects in projects not traditionally associated with the profession. Equestrian facilities that were once designed solely by “horse people” are now being designed by architects and landscape architects. Equestrian facilities are complex developments that have multiple functions and needs, most importantly being the safety of the horse and rider. Kansas State University has determined a need for a new facility to host the equestrian needs of the campus and has chosen a site located near the corner of Kimball Avenue and Denison Avenue, north of the main campus. Using the location chosen by K-State as a hypothetical site, a program for the EquiCenter was developed to meet the needs of the Animal Science Program, the equestrian and rodeo teams and the Equine Assisted Human Development and Rehabilitation Program. Precedent studies informed the early stages of this project and a thorough review of the SSI led to a selection of credits for application in this project. The selected credits were then applied to the equestrian facility program and the site in a design process. Evaluation of the design concepts yielded a determination regarding the ability of this facility to receive a sustainability rating. Due to constraints of the site and the SSI, it has been determined that the K-State EquiCenter will not be eligible to be rated sustainable under the Sustainable Sites Initiative. The SSI presented unique challenges in developing the equestrian facility. These challenges presented opportunities to discuss limitations and recommend changes to the SSI that may allow equestrian facilities to receive a sustainability rating in the future.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / William P. Winslow III / College campuses are places of education and innovation for students, faculty, and the community of which they are a part. Universities have a unique opportunity to serve as the premier catalyst for development, which gives them the power to create new communities that are more than educational facilities. Nova Southeastern University, in Davie, Florida, is one such institution. The project site is 30 acres in the southwest corner of Nova’s campus. The blighted and disconnected strip mall currently composing the site will transform into an integrated and diverse mixed-use development that acts as a thriving icon for the university and surrounding community. Program elements included in the project are a medical research center, a library/bookstore, a hotel, retail, office, entertainment, and residential. Enhancing the social network of the university and community on one site, while creating a sense of place, is the design’s priority. Making an informed connection between theory and practice in landscape architecture, planning, and design is what gives this project validity. The design solution is a product of research, precedent studies, regional and site specific inventory and analysis, and client and personal goals. Integration between the campus and community is achieved by three design principles: 1) Place Making, 2) Connections, and 3) Community. These design principles establish and inform the social, physical, and natural systems at work in the design, as well as the user experience. A welcoming, comfortable, exciting, and iconic environment is created through the character of the place by attracting people to the site through place making. Connections are made between the site and the existing campus, the surrounding community, and the site users by physical layout and relationships. Program elements, dimensions, spatial ratios, building type, and shared amenities all exploit interaction and instill a sense of community. Each design principle is interconnected with the others, enhancing and enforcing the design as a whole.