At the end of the fall 2021 semester, students from the landscape architecture studio Green Schoolyards: Playgrounds of the Future partnered with Lafayette Open Spaces and Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer Elementary to host a soft opening of the new Lafayette Outdoor Classroom.

Students presented brief examples of the types of outdoor learning that could happen at each station as they welcomed the community to the new space. 

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Over the past two weeks, students in Instructor Siobhan Brooks’ landscape architecture studio have been exploring �鶹ӰԺ County, learning firsthand about the structure of community parks and their role in regional recreational planning. The studio will be collaborating with the City of Longmont’s senior planners and landscape architects to develop masterplan schemes for a future community park in southwest Longmont. 

During the first week, students visited Foothills Community Park, Sandstone Rand and Dry Creek Community Park. This week, students launched their site reconnaissance analysis phase, with a site visit to the 80-acre Sisters of St. Francis property. The studio was accompanied by City of Longmont Senior Project Manager Steve Ransweiler, PLA.

During the first clear and cool day of the semester, Brooks and the students enjoyed marching through the cornfields, hopping across irrigation ditches and investigating riparian zones.

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Instructor Stacey Schulte’s conservation and recreation in the American West course traveled to Rocky Mountain National Park last week. Students learned about the park management design strategies that are used for reducing the impact of high visitation. Resource Specialist Scott Esser took the class to various spots around the park where staff has implemented various management strategies, which included fencing, parking and signage. The group left �鶹ӰԺ early in the morning but was rewarded with three rainbows during the trip. 

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On Thursday, September 27, Emily Greenwood and her senior plant identification and design class traveled to Denver Botanic Gardens for a field trip. 

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On September 4, Professor Ping Xu and her landscape design and feng shui class held a site visit to Saint Malo's Chapel on the Rock in Allens Park, Colorado. The students visited the impact area of the 2013 debris flows that were initiated from MT Meeker, which is five miles away. 

On September 14, ENVD 4100, an architectural design studio, visited their project site at Mesa trail to learn about site selection and feng shui.  

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On September 7, students in ENVD 3100, a city planning studio, met with Rhys Duggan and Chris Wood, principals with Revesco Properties and the owners and developers of Elitch Gardens in downtown Denver. Views from the observation tower gave students a unique perspective for their class case study, which is the re-development of the Elitch Gardens site into a mixed-use neighborhood. Throughout the semester, student teams will prepare a master plan and apply their plan to solving an urban design problem.  

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On Friday, September 14, ENVD 3100 sections 011 and 012, taught by Assistant Professor Danielle Rivera and Lecturer Alana Wilson went on a site visit to the RiNo Art District in Denver. The classes walked through the community and met with Tracy Weil of the RiNo Art District. Students in these two sections of 3100 are tasked with creating a master plan and urban design for the RiNo Art District this semester.

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The weekend of September 7-9, Neal Evers’ 4100 architecture studio and Siobhan Brooks’ 4340 landscape architecture studio traveled to Santa Fe to visit , an immersive art experience produced by the artists’ collective and Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin. This semester they are lightly integrating and overlapping to design the proposed 90,000 square foot Meow Wolf coming to Denver in 2020. While in Santa Fe, they met with Meow Wolf’s Design Director Anthony Guida, to discuss Meow Wolf’s history, their creative process and plans for the Denver expansion. Students spent up to five hours in the exhibit exploring the underlying narrative, as well as the complex layout of “portals” that compose the exhibit.

After exploring Meow Wolf, students had the opportunity to visit , which was designed by in New York. This gave students a sharply contrasting museum experience.

Other visits included a local multidisciplinary design firm called . Kenneth Francis, one of Surrounding’s principals provided the students a tour of the office and the nearby Railyards park, which was designed by Ken Smith. Before heading back to �鶹ӰԺ, the students toured St. John’s College, which is listed as a site, because its master plan was developed by landscape architect and EDAW founder Garrett Eckbo.

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Despite the frigid weather and broken down van, nineteen ENVD students, along with Senior Instructor Jade Polizzi, enjoyed a spectacular weekend in Taos, NM on a site analysis field trip to the .

The students gained valuable insights to inform their future design projects while taking in the beautiful scenery of the Rio Grande Gorge. The trip began with a visit to the Taos  community to learn about sustainable construction and off-grid living. Afterward, the students spoke with the Lama Foundation to discuss their needs for the permanent residence which the class will design and build over the next few months.

Photography by ENVD students Dixon Stein and Greg Blanpied

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