Sustainability, once a niche market, has moved steadily into our commercial culture and is now recognized as a true part of our daily lives. How we create our built environment, and how we work, live, and learn are being improved by simple yet effective methods rooted in the sustainability movement.
Boston has always been known as a city focused on its parks and open space and the landscape architecture firm of Halvorson Design Partnership has been synonymous with quality park and open space design here in Boston. Now, as Boston is committing itself to a range of everyday actions to mitigate the effects of climate change and to protect our environment, that same design firm, Halvorson Design Partnership is poised to provide the same high level of design for projects focusing on sustainability. Already with a long list of projects that respond to specific environmental systems such as Green Roofs, Storm water Mitigation, Habitat/Ecological Protection, and Environmental Education; Halvorson Design Partnership seeks to provide its strong knowledge resource and to apply creative solutions to upcoming sustainable project and initiatives.
Strengthening their commitment to sustainability, the Halvorson Design Partnership has teamed with The Boston Architectural College, an institution that has long defined itself as an educational laboratory, to begin the process of designing a Green Roof and Green Alley at their Newbury/Boylston St. campus. The projects will have all of the immediate benefits of reducing storm water, reducing heat island effect, extending building life, providing habitat, reducing pollution lowering energy consumption, and providing new useable space. The Green Roof and Green Alley projects are expected to be a model in sustainability for the existing rooftops and alleys in Boston. In addition these programs will provide a learning laboratory for the College which offers the premier Certificate in Sustainable Design in the country.
As the sustainability movement increases it influence on our built environment, the Halvorson Design Partnership continues to build upon their already impressive portfolio of sustainability-focused projects. Thirty years of creative problem solving in the Boston and New England area have provided the Halvorson Design Partnership with the skills and knowledge to continue their long commitment towards public open space and to encourage the growth of new sustainable projects that improve the way we work, live, and learn.
Bob Uhlig is president and Rob Adams is a senior associate of Halvorson Design Partnership, Boston, MA.