COTE: Designing for Ecosystems

Event Description

Join speakers Liz Stetson, Senior Director of Capital Assets & Planning, Mass Audubon, and Elizabeth Randall, Principal and Director of Practice, Reed Hilderbrand, as they discus Designing with Ecosystems at the Mass Audubon.

Mass Audubon has worked closely with landscape architects and architects on many of their Wildlife Sanctuaries throughout Massachusetts. At Brewster’s Woods Wildlife Sanctuary, a 130-acre property along the banks of the Concord River, Mass Audubon engaged Reed Hilderbrand to develop a Framework Plan to convert the former residential property into a resilient, habitat-rich sanctuary for humans and non-humans alike.

This talk will describe how a deep understanding of the natural and cultural features of the site became the basis of the concept design, how the design is intended to support the ecological health of the site over time, and how the design encourages a reconnection of people to place.

Presenters

Liz Stetson | Senior Director of Capital Assets & Planning, Mass Audubon
Elizabeth Randall | Principal and Director of Practice, Reed Hilderbrand

Learning Objectives

1. Identify key components of site analysis-driven landscape design.
2. Explain incorporating public engagement into the design process to create community-specific strategies for engaging with nature.
3. Identify ways to balance ecosystem health and human interaction.
4. Analyze designing for specific plant and animal species, in collaboration with scientists and ecologists.