Landscape Architecture Magazine March 2019

Stand Landscape Architecture, in collaboration with Sustenance Design and Mushroom Mountain, was recently awarded a City of Atlanta Office of Sustainability contract to facilitate and prepare a community vision plan for a neighborhood food forest on Browns Mill Road in Atlanta. This will be the first municipally-owned and operated food forest in the City of Atlanta and the largest publicly-owned food forest in the USA. This project was awarded the U.S. Forest Service 2019 Chief's Award and was published in Landscape Architecture Magazine’s March 2019 issue.

Clara Kwon designed, detailed and project managed this naturalized play space for infants to preschool-age children from concept to bid documents. Starting with precedents research and visioning, this design met the client’s mandate for natural materials, sensory experiences and development of early motor skills, stringent national codes on playground design as well as stormwater management and tree planting and preservation requirements in a play space approximately 600 square yards for 50 children. The budget and future maintenance were the design constraints and Clara had to strategize on how best to achieve the project program and goals by simplifying the material palette while strengthening the design.

*This work was completed while project manager at DTAH, Toronto, Ontario

Photo credit: DTAH/DTAH Architects Limited

Clara Kwon managed the research, coordination and final editing of 'Tree Planting Solutions in Hard Boulevard Surfaces: Best Practices Manual,' a ground-breaking report on construction methodologies for tree longevity in Toronto's sidewalks, working with urban tree expert James Urban and infrastructure engineers at Arup. The report was awarded the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) 2014 National Merit Award of Excellence. Clara was also selected to present the research at the 2014 CSLA Congress on Climates, Adaptations, Landscapes. This work caught the notice of Kathryn Evans of the City of Atlanta Tree Conservation Commission and Clara is currently serving as a member working towards policies to protect and improve tree canopy.

The report was commissioned by the City of Toronto to examine municipal precedents for street tree planting in 8 comparable cities, to provide cost-efficient recommendations, standard construction details and specifications to support the growth of trees to maturity, and to test the proposed methods in a utility installation and repair scenario.

In close collaboration with engineers and arborists, Clara worked through in-depth reviews with multiple city departments on the budgetary, operations and maintenance and streetscape implications of the proposed best practices. The 250-page document went through multiple iterations to gain the support of the Parks, Forestry & Recreation, Planning, Water, Technical Services, Transportation and Waterfront departments as well as public utility providers. The project brought together landscape architecture, arboriculture and engineering to improve the urban forest, infrastructure and city life.

*This work was completed while project manager at DTAH, Toronto, Ontario

Clara Kwon lead a landscape architectural team from detailed design, value engineering to contract administration on Canada’s most expensive government headquarters, with a total budget of $1.2 billion. This federal department is equivalent to the US National Security Agency. This 80-acre, LEED Gold, high-security Ottawa campus was a public-private partnership contract (design-build-finance-maintain) on a very tight schedule, requiring close coordination and collaboration with engineers, architects, security experts and contractors. The architecture and landscape were designed to be a enticing lure for top talent in cryptology and modeled after notable tech campuses. The design is nestled into a forest with cross-country ski and hiking trails, frisbee field, basketball and beach volleyball courts. Large naturalized ponds were designed with the civil engineer to function as part of the sustainable stormwater design strategy. With the security consultants, Clara worked through multiple design options to subtly embed security considerations into the landscape. Due to the fixed contract price, she worked through numerous design and costing studies to meet the budget while keeping sight of the larger design vision.

*This work was completed while project manager at DTAH, Toronto, Canada

Photo: Aerial view of construction progress (Government of Canada)

I assisted in the construction detailing and materials research phase of this major waterfront revitalization project in Lower Manhattan. With all components down to the paving units custom designed, I worked with the design team to execute innovative and sustainable construction solutions for a 2-mile pedestrian, cycling and recreation space that included pavilion green roofs and a dog run.

*This work was completed while landscape designer at Workshop: Ken Smith Landscape Architect, New York City, New York