Environs Design Studio Sample Works

we are committed to planning approaches that

PRESERVE PROTECT HEAL RESONATE CAPTIVATE INSPIRE

in order to produce designs that

OUR MISSION Environs Design Studio is a premier multi-disciplinary design firm serving clients throughout the Southeast in the fields of landscape architecture and ecological planning.

The underpinning of our work is built around a collection of values and convictions that have shaped our practice and which reinforce our great commitment to serve as responsible stewards through creative and sustainable land use practices.

We recognize the critical role landscapes play in defining the essential character and quality of a place. The formulation of each landscape begins with a process-driven, holistic design approach, utilizing the characteristics of the site as a basis for design. Using a site’s unique attributes and site dynamics enables us to ground our designs in their own unique context.

Our scope and experience covers a spectrum of multi-faceted endeavors; from small garden to large farm, and civic park to ecological landscape. Dedicated to creative collaboration, Environs Design Studio is well equipped to embrace the vision of individuals, agencies, non-profits and institutions alike. And our repeat client base underscores our great commitment to exemplary service.

PROJECT SECTORS Gardens Meadow Design; Residential Garden Design; Community Gardens & Edible Gardens

Farms Site Selection & Analysis; Master Planning; Conservation & Sustainable Agriculture; Agritourism & Agribusiness Development

Community Parks & Recreation; Greenspace Connectivity; Green Infrastructure Improvements and Low Impact Development

Conservation Ecological Planning and Design; Landscape Management & Monitoring; Ecological Analysis & Restoration; Land Stewardship; Green Infrastructure; Riparian Design & Mitigation

PARTNERS With the goal of being an innovator across scales and disciplines, Environs has formed partnerships with architects, engineers, wetland scientists, biologists, and land planners, among others. This enables Environs to offers clients a tailored approach, resulting in strategies that are not formulaic, but rather which give rise to designs that are uniquely rooted in an individual site’s context, scope, and scale.

Our affiliation with Georgia Civil was forged in response to a shift in individual and universal needs for more creative land-use planning and landscape design. The collaboration synergizes an experienced, multidisciplinary team of experts in the field of landscape architecture, ecological planning, restoration, civil engineering and survey work. With a combined century of experience, Environs Design Studio and Georgia Civil professional staff specializes in a unique level of technical and creative design solutions for a full spectrum of diverse projects for residential, farm and commercial property owners, public and private agencies, and urban and rural planners.

BIOS - Environs

WES RYALS Lead Design Associate

KENT CAMPBELL, PLA, PWS Senior Associate & Restoration Specialist

THERESA PIPPIN Planning and Research Consultant

Growing up in the diverse environment of the Georgia Piedmont, Wes’ upbringing instilled a deep and steadfast desire to preserve, protect, and heal landscapes.

His work frequently explores the intricate relationships between architecture and the landscape. His work fosters a convergence of history and landscape architecture to examine the interwoven layers of ecology, cultural history, and historical land use practices.

Kent’s passion for working in the natural environment led to a unique career restoring altered landscapes into functioning ecosystems. In more than 25 years in natural resource management, he has worked on aquatic and terrestrial restoration projects totaling nearly 13,000 acres and covering most eco-regions and watersheds in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States.

Theresa brings her experience in community-based planning to the Environs Design Studio team. With a sensitivity to the relationship between people and the spaces they inhabit, her passion for the natural environment, and a commitment to involving the public in the planning process, Theresa offers a unique approach that considers a broad spectrum of implications and possibilities in the design process.

Todd brings over a decade of project management experience to Environs Design Studio and has developed a depth of practical knowledge and considerable expertise in creating memorable spaces in both the public and private sectors. He has been instrumental in forging a consortium of design professionals across projects of diverse scope and scale.

JASON BROWN, PE Principal, GA Civil and Lead Engineer

BRIAN SLATE, PLS Survey Studio Director

His combined love of the outdoors, his degree in agricultural engineering and his experience in land planning led Jason to launch Georgia Civil in 2006. Jason has a comprehensive understanding of the design and implementation process.

His capabilities and high degree of proficiency in stormwater management, erosion control, and hydrology and feasibility studies allow for a true fullservice land development firm.

Brian works on a wide-range of projects including boundary, topographical, ALTA surveys, and construction staking. His 21+ years of work as a land surveyor has taken him to countless properties and areas across the Southeast. His work is critical to the design process and his technical skills expands Environs Design Studio’s capacity towards a holistic approach and premium design capabilities.

BIOS - Georgia Civil

TODD PEASTER, PLA, LEED AP Principal, GA Civil and Landscape Architect

GARDENS Garden design has played a vital role in our history, culture, and quality of life. While garden design was once viewed in light of the “art� of design, contemporary practice expands the discipline, mediating between nature and culture.

At Environs Design Studio, our work balances the aesthetics and productivity of a garden with longterm management and resilience considerations.

Enhanced biodiversity, stormwater management, and wildlife habitat are core to our goal of developing sustainable gardens and landscapes.

Sensory Garden Concept | Creative Enterprises

GARDENS

CASE STUDY | MMH HEALING AND THERAPY GARDENS

Garden spaces for the Morgan Memorial Hospital offer a design that provides opportunities for reflection, recovery, and healing. With a sensitivity to the needs of varying user-groups, including patients, their families, nurses, doctors, and visitors, the plan embodies the core mission of the hospital. Outdoor areas were designed for flexibility, accommodating a diversity of users and activities. The plan incorporates a therapy garden, positioned near the rehabilitation wing of the hospital, enabling patients to take advantage of the landscape. The garden unfolds in a series of outdoor rooms, providing a wide variety of both active and calming outdoor spaces and experiences. The plan also incorporates a healing garden that provides an area for rest and quiet contemplation. A stone wall articulates the space, both framing and dividing the garden which serves as an immediate extension of the chapel.

SIZE 45 acres ROLE: Landscape Architecture, Green Infrastructure

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“All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include its soils, waters, plants, animals, or collectively, the land.� ~Aldo Leopold —

Wild by Design Careful selection of plant species is an important aspect of the garden design process. A variety of factors are considered in making this selection, including soil type, topography, exposure to sun, and context. Native species are favored because of their ability to naturally adapt and flourish in a landscape.

Plantings that are enduring and aesthetically pleasing are prioritized and landscape resilience is fundamental to our approach.

Red-banded Hairstreak Calycopis cecrops

Monarch (male and female) Danaus plexippus

Red-Banded Hairstreak

Winged Sumac Rhus copallina

Coral Hairstreak

Bluestar Amsonia tabernaemontana

Monarch

Butterflyweed Asclepias tuberosa

Common Buckeye

Smooth Beardtongue Penstemon digitalis

Painted Lady

Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea

Common Buckeye Junonia coenia

Target Species. Butterfly species attracted by nectar plants.

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui

Swamp Milkweed

january

Smooth Aster

february

Switchgrass

march

Blue Grama Grass

april

Silky Dogwood

may

june

Blue Flag Iris

july

Joe Pye Weed

august

Turtlehead

september

Hop Sedge

october

Fox Sedge

november

december

bloom schedule

Butterfly | Hummingbird | Songbird | Bee

FARMS Environs Design Studio is extremely proud of our broad range of farm projects where we take the time to build relationships to create large-scale, long-range plans that assist owners in evolving their estates into properties of distinction. In the development of an initial design, concepts are driven by an intensive study of site elements, including hydrology and soil, solar orientation, and native plant communities. We carefully combine our research with the less tangible but equally important elements of history, agriculture, and social context of a place to create sustainable, intimate environments of varying sizes and scopes that are grounded in their unique context.

Red Onion Farm | Reva, Virginia

FARMS

CASE STUDY | RIDEGEBACK FARMS

Perched at the edge of a terraced hilltop, Ridgeback Farms is set in a bucolic, rural setting. Environs Design Studio worked extensively with the architect to site the house in a minimally invasive manner. We also offered slope and elevation analysis, viewsheds, and plant communities documentation.

A restrained plant palette echoes the materials used in construction.

Landscape massing, layering, and plant species selection were intentionally designed and selected to form spatial and functional interconnections between the site’s landscape and architecture.

SIZE 115 acres ROLE: Principal Designer, Project Manager, Ecological Analysis, Land Planning

“Design need not be conducted in isolation, but through an understanding of the complexity of relationships which shape the cultural, political, and economic processes.” ~Joan Woodard —

Master Planning Environs Design Studio offers comprehensive master planning services. The master plan begins with the process of collecting and analyzing information about each unique site, a task that is enhanced by the diverse skills represented in the Environs staff.

From soils and hydrology to context and archaeology, an in-depth understanding of the site, along with each client’s vision, informs the master plan. While this process is similar for each project, each is approached through a new lens.

Ridgeback Farms

Monkeyflower Farms

COMMUNITY Environs Design Studio is poised to address a diversity of community-based projects with an interdisciplinary approach. Community sites include parks, cemeteries, trail systems, and other public spaces. Each plan responds to a community’s unique opportunities and constraints, and works to engage and enhance the ecological and cultural processes present. The public experience is a fundamental consideration in our community projects, and we strive to create spaces that engage and inspire. Environmental factors are carefully considered for each site, with the goal of managing water, incorporating green infrastructure, and enhancing wildlife habitat.

Madison Historic Cemetery Masterplan | Madison, Georgia

COMMUNITY

CASE STUDY | MADISON HISTORIC CEMETERY EXPANSION

The site, located directly adjacent to the City’s existing historic cemetery, has many unique opportunities and challenges. A primary catalyst for the development of a Master Plan for the expanded cemetery is to provide a holistic vision for the development of the entire property and its relationship to the adjacent Madison Historic Cemeteries, already in existence. The overal vision for the Master Plan ensures that the cemetery expansion is compatible with existing natural and historic assets, offers expansion of interment possibilities, improves accessibility, and increases educational and passive recreational opportunities.

In addition to establishing the parameters necessary to meet future interment needs the expansion also provides for proper land stewardship and advances greenspace connectivity within the city.

SIZE 19 acres ROLE: Master Plan Development, Conservation and Preservation Planning

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CHARACTER AREAS: 1.

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The Meadows The Field Memorial Plaza Mausolea Row The Grove Memorial Hill Phase I Phase II Phase III

SHEET LABEL:

SHEET NO:

existing conditions

CITY OF MADISON|CEMETERY TRAIL CONCEPT

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SCALE : 1"=60'-0"

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Land Use - 1966

CASE STUDY | MCRD FACILITIES MASTER PLAN

To meet the recreational needs of Morgan County, the design incorporates a variety of active and passive recreation opportunities across the 65-acre site.

Responding to the site’s topography and surrounding context, the plan offers responsive siting of various recreational elements, including a tournament baseball complex, soccer fields, recreation building, and pavilions. Additional programming of the site incorporates a network of trails, an event lawn space, amphitheater, playscapes, and places for outdoor education and exploration. The plan’s design explores a series of distinctive landscape opportunities by framing views, maximizing site use while minimizing disturbance, accentuating and enhancing site hydrology, responding to solar orientation, and creating pedestrian-friendly circulation with tree-lined avenues and minimizing potential vehicular-pedestrian conflicts.

SIZE 49 acres ROLE: Landscape Architecture, Transportation and Circulation Planning, Green Infrastructure

CASE STUDY | WASHINGTON-WELLINGTON GATEWAY AND STORMWATER PARK

Located in the heart of the City of Madison’s redevelopment efforts, the Washington-Wellington Gateway and Stormwater Park will provide an attractive entry into the City. Incorporating stateof-the-art techniques in stormwater management and water quality treatment, the combination stormwater pond and constructed wetland forebay system will be utilized to reduce and eliminate heavy metals, sediments, and other pollutants before water enters the nearby Tanyard Branch. Plant species in the constructed wetland function as a filter, serving to delay and clean stormwater before it enters a wet pond. In addition, the park serves as valuable green space for the city, providing recreational and educational opportunities, and reintroduces vanishing wildlife habitat that will attract numerous species of birds and other wildlife.

SIZE 10 acres ROLE: Principal Designer, Project Manager, Ecological

Analysis, Land Planning

Site Study

CASE STUDY | MCCSS FACILITIES MASTER PLAN

The plan responds to the unique needs of a school environment, creating spaces that inspire curiosity and learning and providing opportunities for outdoor education. Design elements reflect the needs of teachers and students of varying ages, including multi-purpose outdoor spaces, areas for both socializing and studying, and spaces for creative expression and exploration. The design team worked within and responded to the 60-acre site’s constraints: an area of significant grade change provides a space for an outdoor amphitheater, designated circulation patterns incorporate pedestrian and bicycle paths, and stormwater collection areas are designed to provide educational opportunities about green infrastructure.

SIZE 60 acres ROLE: Landscape Architecture, Transportation and Circulation Planning, Green Infrastructure

Ecological Acupuncture

“Sustainable landscape design must do more than function or perform ecologically; it must perform socially and culturally.” ~Elizabeth Meyer —

ECOLOGICAL PRACTICES Using ecologically-based practices to treat stormwater, Environs designs landscapes that work with natural processes. By biologically treating stormwater runoff, contaminants are broken-down by microorganisms in the soil and absorbed by plant roots. Once processed, contaminant compounds such as nitrogen and phosphorus are released into the atmosphere or absorbed as nutrients by plants.

Natural treatment sites also provide wildlife habitat, improve air quality, and contribute to a site’s aesthetic.

BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT Low impact development strategies are utilized in project design and development. For example, stormwater management practices that utilize natural hydrologic processes protect and reduce impacts to undeveloped land, while reintroducing natural processes to developed landscapes. The process promotes infiltration, retention, biological treatment, and evapotranspiration processes, and manages runoff volume and stormwater contamination close to its source.

CONSERVATION Recognized as one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, the Southeast contains hundreds of critically endangered species of plants and animals. Environs Design Studio goes beyond planning and implementation to focus on the aesthetic, interpretive, functional, economic, social and environmental impacts of our projects. We’ve built a diverse portfolio converting landscapes into functioning ecosystems, including aiding in the restoration of approximately 13,000 acres of ecosystems and watersheds in the Southeast and Midwest.

We specialize in initiating wetlands management, reestablishing botanical diversity, preserving critical habitat, as well as providing ongoing monitoring and management of resources for maximizing long-term survivability and sustained performance.

Soque River Mitigation Bank | Clarkesville, Georgia

CONSERVATION

CASE STUDY | SOQUE RIVER

The Soque River Mitigation Bank is a 140-acre wetland and stream restoration site located on a former sod farm near Clarkesville, Georgia. Environs Design Studio assisted in restoring over 9,000 linear feet of tributary streams using natural channel design principles. We provided bank stabilization with riparian buffer enhancement on 4,000 feet of the Soque River, while at the same time restoring 46 acres of wetlands, important habitat for the migratory Sandhill crane. Environs Design Studio will be monitoring the bank’s performance for seven years.

SIZE: 46 acres and 9,000 linear ft along river ROLE: Principal Designer, Project Manager Ecological Planning 2015

2014

CASE STUDY | ARROWHEAD FARMS

Arrowhead Farms comprises nearly 2,300 acres and is located near Clinton, South Carolina, along 3-miles of the Enoree River.

More than 120,000 linear feet of stream and 130 acres of wetland mitigation within five tributaries to the Enoree have been restored.

Construction is slated to begin in late 2015 and will take approximately 18 months to complete.

SIZE: 2,300-acres and 120,000 linear ft of stream and 130 acres of wetland mitigation ROLE: Ecological Assessment, Ecological Planning, Permitting, Site Design, Site Monitoring

Legend Stream Enhancements Streams Road Networks Site Boundary Mitigation Boundary

CASE STUDY | GEORGIA SAFARI CONSERVATION PARK

A drive through the pastoral landscape of the Georgia Zoo and Safari Park reveals gentle dips in the rolling piedmont hills, punctuated by massive hardwoods and tree-lined streams. The site is a virtual tabla rasa, a blank slate, for bringing the creative vision of the design team’s mission of education, preservation, inspiration, and conservation. To develop this vision, the design team is working with a number of nationally-recognized leading zoo directors and consultants in order to develop a truly world-class immersive visitor experience. The proposal for land use includes reserving pasture lands for more intensive development while striving to preserve much of the existing tree canopy and mature vegetation for conservation. Specific attention was given to minimize impact to streams and watersheds on the property and to identify creek crossings and infrastructure nodes.

SIZE 495 acres ROLE:

Site Feasibility, Land Planning, Civil Engineering

Land Ethic

Bruns wick-A ltama

ha Can al

“Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.” ~Wendell Berry —

SITE ANALYSIS AND HABITAT RESTORATION Analysis objectives seek to investigate potential causes of impairment to a site, while exploring opportunities for improving and restoring water quality, habitat, connecting to cultural resources, and evaulting potential economic impacts.

LandUse Brunswick Canal Industrial Commercial Residential Agricultural/Parks/ Conservation Alluvial Rivers and Swamps

Alluvial Rivers and Swamps

Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest

Peatland Pocosin and Canebrake

Pine Plantation

Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest

Depression Pondshore

Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Peatland Pocosin and Canebrake

Maritime

Pine Plantation

Depression Pondshore

Bald Cypress Water Tupelo Swamp Tupelo Carolina Ash Virginia Sweetspire Laurel Oak Musclewood Fetterbush Red Maple Looseleaf Water-Willow

Taxodium distichum Nyssa aquatica Nyssa biflora Fraxinus caroliniana Itea virginica Quercus laurifolia Carpinus caroliniana Lyonia lucida Acer rubrum Justicia ovata

Loblolly Bay Sweetbay Magnolia Swamp Bay Sphagnum Moss

Gordonia lasianthus Magnolia virginiana Persea palustris Sphagnum spp.

Loblolly Pine

Common Bulrush

Pinus taeda

Typha latifolia

Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Maritime Forest Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Tidal Wooded Swamp

Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Hydric Hammock Successional Hardwood Forest Successional Pine Forest

2008

Live Oak Slash Pine Cabbage Palm Red Bay American Hornbeam

WOODLAND

FLOODPLAIN

MARSH

OPEN WATER

OPEN WATER

MARSH

FLOODPLAIN

WOODLAND

In developing Landscape and Habitat Plans, Environs Design Studio aims to cultivate areas that offer ecological connectivity, improve air and water quality, and increase biodiversity. This is accomplished by considering how to organize a site so that it benefits existing natural resrouces and provides opportunities for enhanced habitat creation. Not only is plant life considered for sites, but also bird, mammal, fish, crustacean, insect, and microbial communities.

CASE STUDY | FAIRVIEW - E.S. BROWN SCHOOL PRESERVATION PLAN

Environs Design Studio recently embarked on a unique opportunity to help preserve one of the South’s few vestiges pertaining to the Segregationera.

Working in collaboration with The Fairview-E.S. Brown Heritage Corporation and Hall-Smith Office Architecture, our team has joined the campaign to help restore one of the four remaining school buildings, recreate the landscape and grounds, and to create a “Living Campus,” the first of its kind in Northwest Georgia interpreting the lifeaffirming African-American cultural and educational experiences of the early 1900s.

SIZE: 4 acres ROLE: Conservation and Preservation Planning, Landscape Management REENVISONED CAMPUS

EXISTING SITE

Landscape Narratives

“Landscape narratives intersect with sites, accumulate as layers of history, organize sequences, and inhere in the materials and processes of the landscape.” ~from Landscape Narratives: Design Practices for telling stories.

— WORMSLOE STATE HISTORIC SITE A thorough analysis was conducted of the Wormsloe property for hydrological, ecological, and ethnographic systems. By analyzing these systems, a comprehensive understanding of the various elements that comprise Wormsloe’s character was gained. This understanding, in turn, directed design applications in ways that support the environment and allow for flexibility and change over time.

3 Ribbed urn with Yucca located at top of wall.

2 1 Picketed wrought iron fencing has since been replaced with wrought iron screen. Iron scrolls at ends of wall have been used as bench arms and relocated to the inside of the garden room.

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not yet cover wall.

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Wormsloe State Historic Site* Savannah, Georgia Work completed under previous employment

5 Shrubbery has been added to rectangular beds. Clay pots have been removed and replaced with seated lion statuary.

Iron statuary on pedestals with ivy growing at base.

Rectangular stone paving noted per 1928 garden plan.

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