go stick a tree on it

[toby]

Has anybody read this yet?           http://persquaremile.com/2013/03/07/trees-dont-like-it-up-there/

I often wonder about the real costs associated with managing a “green” environment on a building…whether it ever produces a return on investment (not just $). 

Or is the labor quality one of the first things that gets cut in the maintenance budget…because, after all, how difficult is it really to take care of a bunch of plants ?

 

That said, you as the Landscape Architect have no say in maintenance budgets or labor quality once a project is handed off to the project owner.  Do you design that way ?

If an owner chooses not to maintain a project to your desired standard, the money they spent is obviously their loss.  Do you take it personally ?

 

 

[Rob Halpern]

I can’t think of a recent article that had me screaming “YEAH!” so enthusiastically as did this one! Thanks for posting. I blame graphics technology for making architects and landscape architects feel that any thing they can draw can be made to happen (if only some other sucker would foot the $Billion bill!) or should happen or well, someone else can figure out how you make this thing work….

And it would be more than costs of maintenance: are building gardeners and arborists going to visit every apartment and office on every floor every week to maintain these fantasies? “Excuse me, m’am, I know you are cooking dinner but we’re here to prune the birch tree. Has to be done. It’s in your purchase agreement.”

Now to your other question, my clients never maintain my landscapes to the level I think they ought. And yet they hired me to design them. And they seem happy with the results they create. They paid me for my work. What’s to take personally? It is their project, it was never mine.

[Alan Ray, RLA]

the whole idea that putting trees on buildings makes them “green” is absurd.

what is sustainable or even practical about  placing trees in artificial environs?

it only creates more maintenance and the need for more resources….

i’m really bored with it all anyway…

thanks for posting the article….i hope everyone reads it.

[Tosh K]

The winter gardens in the Commerzbank in Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany by Foster are still looking pretty good.  

Paley Park had a maintenance budget locked away when it was built.

Maintenance would depend on how well it was designed (irrigation, soils, etc), and yes, it costs money, but the flip side is if it makes for a more pleasant place, does that increase value/productivity?  There is a fairly substantial body of research on this somewhere.

Very few projects have a good maintenance plan after 2~5yrs; that being said, if you maintain a good relationship with your clients, these can be lifelong maintenance lessons.  I just had a chance to hear Thomas Woltz speak about a few of their residential clients with whom they experimented with various maintenance methods in collaboration with ecologists.  Developing a relationship with the client, and fostering their relationship to the landscape can go a long way.

If the client doesn’t maintain it, it’s a bummer, but it is theirs…

[Author]

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