Designing Places to Covet

In this two part series, Landscape Architect and Lead Designer Lisl Kotheimer explores the social and emotional connection we have with the built environment.

One of the best things you can do for yourself as a designer is to develop your own style. This frees you from conforming to or “keeping up” with everyone else — you earn freedom from innovation.

Landscape Architects can play many roles on projects from design lead to supporting consultant. There are also many factors that can constrain design direction such as program, resources, and context. It is difficult to move away from the palette of plants, pavement, wood, and steel that make up the built environment, and sites can be unforgiving while building must adhere to many codes, standards, and regulations. However, style can help enhance a design regardless of constraints.

Constraints are a major part of every design industry. One industry that is no exception is the fashion design and textile industry where it is arguably the most difficult to keep up with fast changing trends. But, if you have your own sense of style, it does not matter if you wear Gap or Givenchy. Style comes from the decisions you make about what you wear, the story garments tell, and the materials and processes that go into making them. As a Landscape Architect, how can you develop a style that is as distinguished as the way you dress — through the design process, with material choices, and by telling an enduring story?

Fashion Forward Thinking

If you want to innovate in Landscape Architecture, bring something new and possibly unrelated into the design process to help you see the design problem from a different perspective. This is what fashion and textile designer Ellen Van Dusen does to create strikingly colorful garments that are unlike those designed by anyone else. Color theory is at the center of Van Dusen’s designs, where she uses concepts from neuroscience to develop patterns and combinations that are triggering to the human brain. Van Dusen’s background in neuroscience is what makes her style unique and why her garments and textiles are highly coveted by collectors. 

Van Dusen uses concepts from neuroscience to develop patterns and combinations that are triggering to the human brain.

MKSK’s designers have varying backgrounds and bring unique expertise into their work. Landscape Architect Amy Kay Taylor holds a BFA in Art Education, so she is always thinking about how a great design can stimulate the imagination and enhance problem solving skills.  When designing for children, you do not put things in straight lines, for example. Gaelle Gourmelon, Associate, has a background in Biology and Public Health. Looking at Landscape Architecture through the lens of Public Health has her thinking about behaviors of users. What would make someone choose one location, path, or space over another? How can Landscape Architects give people the flexibility they want with the predictability they crave as they navigate the built environment?. 

Design can stimulate the imagination and enhance problem solving skills. When designing for children, you do not put things in straight lines.

Material World

Search for sweaters on the luxury fashion resale website The RealReal.  You will find that most of these high-end products are made of synthetic textiles or synthetic blends. These types of materials are less expensive to manufacture than natural cotton and wool. Nowadays, you will also find more garments like “leggings” that are easier to manufacture and size than tailored styles like trousers. And of course, most manufacturing processes require that you make a lot of something. These constraints within the fashion industry are not unlike those in Landscape Architecture.

Landscape Architects often use common and economical materials like concrete pavement and clay brick, which are flexible to install, easy to procure, and stand the test of time. Because of these qualities, it can be challenging to create places that feel new and exciting without a lot of customization and premiums. 

How can landscape architects work with standard materials in an elevated way? At the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights, Ohio, MKSK developed a unique paving pattern using standard Pressed Brick from Hanover Architectural Products. The black and white checkered pattern tells the story of the cultural importance of quality and craft in the historic Shaker community and portrays a traditional Shaker weaving pattern. The plaza at the Van Aken District has an upscale style unlike anywhere else, but since it uses standard materials, the pavers are easy to source and the pattern will be easy to replicate in future expansions.

Designing for Seasons

At MKSK we design places with longevity in mind - places that endure and stand the test of time. Fortunately, we do not have to think of “end-of-life” as much as fashion designers, since our projects are enjoyed for decades rather than just a season or two. Landscape Architects can take inspiration from how fashion and textile brands try to extend the life of garments by telling stories about their design process, manufacturing, and materials that appeal to collectors. Brands like Everlane and Jenni Kayne promote “capsule wardrobes” composed of timeless garments and higher quality pieces that can be mixed and matched and ultimately worn and loved for much longer than one season. This is both a sustainable and stylish approach to fashion design. 

To design enduring projects MKSK looks to the site, context, and community for inspiration. We want the designed project to function ecologically and tell a story that will resonate with users well into the future. Using nomenclature from fashion brand Jenni Kayne, MKSK incorporates “Classics” and “Future Treasures” into site design. Classics are the familiar features of a place like red brick or a row of street trees that tie the design into the broader context. “Future Treasures” are those one-of-a-kind elements that make a project memorable and worth returning to again and again and season after season. At Dublin Riverside Crossing Park, MKSK used traditional red brick pavement to tie the new development to the historic downtown on the opposite side of the Scioto River. The iconic connecting bridge and other site elements including flowing granite benches and fountains are the “Future Treasures” that are unique to the park and make it a special place for the community to come together.

“Classics” are the familiar features of a place like red brick or a row of street trees that tie the design into the broader context.

“Future Treasures” are those one-of-a-kind elements that make a project memorable and worth returning to again and again.

Just as in the fast-moving fashion and textile industry, Landscape Architects can bring in outside perspectives and expertise, resulting in distinctive designs that would not have otherwise been considered. They can work with materials and processes to create memorable projects that bring forward the history and culture of a place. They can also look to the site, context, and community to develop a Landscape Architectural style that is enduring and design places worth returning to season after season.

Visit the first part of the series, Designing Places to Covet.

Lisl Kotheimer, PLA, LEED AP, is an Associate Landscape Architect with MKSK. With experience with all stages of design from concept through implementation, she has been the lead designer on a variety of project types including large-scale urban design and development projects, mixed-use retail environments, and multi-family housing. Lisl has unique design experience with public space activation, temporary placemaking, and integrating public art into projects. Her expertise has helped realize some of the most memorable, community-centered spaces in the cities and towns where we work. Lisl has a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University and Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from The Ohio State University.

Fashion Forward Thinking photo credits: dusendusen.com