The Living Green Infrastructure Lab: Advancing Interdisciplinary Teaching and Experiential Learning in Landscape Architecture Pedagogy

Abstract

Demonstrating and experimenting interdisciplinary teaching and experiential learning, faculty and students across three colleges (Agriculture and Life Sciences, Architecture and Engineering), and 4 departments (Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Horticultural Sciences, and Civil, Biological and Agricultural Engineering) designed, implemented, and are monitoring effects of a rain garden. This collaboration presents a model for multi-scalar, interdisciplinary studio instruction involving a project conducted by over 200 undergraduate and graduate students across allied fields. Landscape Architecture students provided designs, construction details, and performance monitoring of the site as well as developed a large-scaled campus master plan. Horticultural Sciences students propagated and produced the plants. Civil engineers assisted with constructed infrastructure design and water quality/quantity assessment. Professional landscape architects, urban planners, horticulturalists, engineers and campus facilities maintenance personnel evaluated student work. This paper specifies lessons learned from the application of a program that sought to educate and train students in LID alternatives to traditional stormwater management through hands-on outdoor classroom activities. While opportunities for interdisciplinary networking, knowledge of the landscape construction process, and the ability to utilize scientific rationale for design decision making all increased, challenges included coordination efforts across disciplines, overcoming unknown nomenclature specific to each field, delays due to unforeseen circumstances, and budgetary increased as a result of maintenance issues. However, Collaboration between multidisciplinary professionals enabled students to experience the professional design process and have a deeper understanding of the positive impacts of green infrastructure through interdisciplinary experiential learning.

2. INTRODUCTION

In recent decades, higher education has been emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary experiences and high impact learning for students to be better prepared for immediate employment. According to Kuh (2008), “collaborative assignment and projects” is considered one of the high-impact educational practices in higher education because it deepens one’s own understanding by “listening seriously to the insights of others, especially those with different backgrounds and life experiences (p.10).” To facilitate more cross campus collaboration, Texas A&M University (TAMU) launched a series of initiatives with funding to support interdisciplinary teaching and experiential learning in 2015. Faculty from three colleges (Agriculture and Life Sciences, Architecture, and Engineering), and four departments (Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Horticultural Sciences, and Civil, Biological and Agricultural Engineering) formed the research team and collaborated to propose a project that addresses the importance of green infrastructure, and the project was selected to proceed with funding.

The project team focused on the green infrastructure topic because drought has had a statewide impact on Texas with current groundwater reservoirs at only 67% fill level (down from 81%) and reservoir storage rapidly declining with losses of up to 64,000 acre-feet per week from lack of rain, lack of stormwater infiltration, and over-consumption of water (Newman et al., 2018). Groundwater has declined in most aquifers while areas closer to the Gulf have subsided up to 8 ft. since 1940 due to groundwater consumption. Low Impact Development (LID) provides an alternative to traditional approaches that require costly maintenance and waste resources. As flood events become more frequent and impervious land cover increases, management of stormwater runoff becomes increasingly important (Thiagarajan et al., 2018). Planning strategies emphasizing stormwater management, such as Low Impact Development (LID), are increasingly utilized in sustainable design/development, minimizing impacts of impervious land cover. LID is an innovative approach treating stormwater at the source, using uniformly distributed facilities such as stormwater collection devices, filtering systems, and water reuse mechanisms. However, the interaction of different scales (from master plan to site-scaled facilities) and disciplines within the design process are rarely conducted in academic settings. Current design studios have both limited funding and limited interdisciplinary cooperation. In most cases, products created within a landscape architecture studio conclude at the conceptual level and are never installed, nor does post occupancy evaluation occur (Newman et al., 2017). This is typically due to licensure/insurance/oversight issues with faculty and student work, along with ethical issues in performing work that could/should be done by practicing businesses. If installed, the performance of the project is seldom calculated and physical inspection of the built out product does not occur.

To overcome the typical structural, legal, and ethical dilemmas involved with such an undertaking (such as academics competing with professionals for jobs), we chose a site that was not, nor has ever been, scheduled for any design intervention. It was simply an open ditch that carried runoff from a parking lot into a nearby creek. Secondly, maintenance crews working for the university typically undertake such planning ventures so that no bidding would occur on such a job. Thirdly, funding for the project was obtaining internally from specific outlets which allow for faculty to conduct such interdisciplinary applied research and teaching and create programs specifically for campus enhancements. Finally, we worked with campus landscape architects, campus planners, and maintenance personnel to ensure the project adhered to current university goals and plans.

Using a site on the TAMU campus, the project team and participating students designed and implemented a rain garden, which serves as a living green infrastructure (GI) lab. In this living GI lab, different courses under the landscape department were connected from the design studio to construction courses, and interaction between multi-disciplinary departments was promoted. In this way, a comprehensive masterplan, a detailed rain garden design, a feasible construction layout, a planting plan, an irrigation plan, a maintained plan, and substantial performance monitoring involved the students across all four departments, which provided the opportunity for interdisciplinary cooperation, design application, and landscape performance assessment. Landscape architecture students have been experiencing the real time project design and implementation process, allowing for a better understanding of the utilization of LID, as well as providing a hands on experience for conceptual design to detail and implementation.

This paper presents lessons learned from a framework for interdisciplinary site design studio teaching integrating landscape development, stormwater management, professional feedback, landscape performance, and the integration of site scaled design into existing larger-scaled masterplans. General benefits of this project were to raise awareness of hydrological issues and to demonstrate the feasibility of widespread implementation and to educate a new generation of practitioners in LID applications. Several objectives were sought to achieve this focus:

1. Strategically implement a set of structural and non-structural LID facilities on each test site and link their core functions through education, research, and demonstration provided by outdoor classrooms.

2. Operationalize the construction, performance measurement and long term monitoring of each site assessing the impact of LID treatment versus non-treatment as an educational mechanism for students.

3. Assess the learning outcomes of the interdisciplinary teaching and experiential learning outcomes.

2.1. Disciplinary Roles

Like professional landscape architecture projects, the design and implementation of a project usually requires interdisciplinary cooperation (Meyer et al., 2018). For designs involving planting plans, an expertise in regional horticultural knowledge is an essential facet to bringing a landscape design into reality as well as its long-term success. To demonstrate this process and expand the border of the traditional landscape courses, the instructors from different departments interacted in this project to provide feedback and instructions on the design and strengthen its feasibility.

In this project, the landscape architecture department played a leading role with the design, revision, implementation, and performance monitoring, the horticulture department played an important role of plant propagation and planting design, and civil engineering department took charge of construction plan feasibility as well as assisted in the monitorization processes. During this process of design and implementation, multiple courses were involved: In the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, 5 Construction and Site Engineering Courses (LAND 329/330/331/612/614), 6 Design Studio Courses (LAND 318/319/320/321/601/602), and 1 Practice Diversity Course (LAND 645) were utilized. In the Horticultural Sciences Department, 6 courses were utilized (HORT 306/308/425/485/608/609), and in the in the Civil, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, 4 courses were utilized (CVEN 301/413/627/665). In total, the students involved in the design and implementation phases totaled more than 200 across all departments.

2.2. Site Description

The site of this project was located on the western portion of the TAMU campus, on a site adjacent to White Creek. This portion of campus was recently designed in part by White Oak Studio, a professional landscape architecture firm, as a component of the Leach Teaching Gardens. It is also a part of the 2020 vision of the TAMU masterplan to become a campus greenway. The implemented rain garden portion is adjacent to the Borlaug Institute, which was an open grass swale which transported runoff from an adjacent parking lot. The mission of this living lab was to design a comprehensive masterplan and a detailed rain garden design. After a planting plan consultation with horticulture department and a construction plan consultation with civil engineering, the SSC Campus Facilities Service helped install and currently maintains the student and faculty led raingarden design. Funding for construction of this project was provided by both the Aggie Green Fund ($61,500.00) an organization for sustainable built projects at TAMU as well as a TAMU Tier one Grant ($300,00.00), a three year interdisciplinary research and teaching opportunity. Both offer major funding to empower students, faculty, and staff to take action and bring creative environmental improvements to the TAMU campus.

3. FRAMEWORK DESCRIPTION

3.1. Learning Objectives and Outcomes

The primary intent of this project is for students to learn what hydrological and ecosystem services are and the important role that LID facilities can play in mitigating urban flood issues. Students were exposed to multi-disciplinary approaches and learned how to analyze, interpret and present data from complex projects. The program addressed six learning outcomes of each department: 1) mastering the depth of knowledge required in design, construction and plant biology and landscape function; 2) demonstrating critical thinking in problem solving for the design and evaluating effectiveness from the collected data; 3) communicating results effectively to a variety of audiences; 4) learning socially responsible uses of water management; 5) preparing the students for lifelong living by stimulating curiosity and learning to acquire knowledge from multiple sources and assembling it into a coherent purpose; 6) working in many collaborative groups and teams to accomplish the various stages of the project. It also directly linked to 5 of the university’s student learning outcomes: 1) developing a coherent understanding of the subject matter through synthesis across courses and experiences; 2) application of subject knowledge in a range of contexts to solve problems; 3) using a variety of sources to analyze and integrate information; 4) using appropriate technologies to communicate, collaborate, conduct research, and solve problems; 5) conducting valid and data supported appropriate research. Table 1 describes these learning outcomes and the assessment methods which accompanied them.

Table 1.

Learning Outcome Breakdown and Assessment Tools

	Learning Outcomes	Assessment Tools
University	Nurture critical thinking and lifelong learning skills needed for deep and continuing engagement within the built and natural environments	Determine the degree of self-motivation increase and understanding of the causal linkages of developmental decisions
	Demonstrate leadership and informed decision-making skills in professional practice and in the community	Monitor and analyze the roles of each student and their devotion to the program’s development
	Build a broad knowledge base of natural and cultural systems	Identify the multiple components which comprise the composite of the natural and cultural environments
Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning	Develop and apply knowledge of landscape architectural materials, methods, and performance, from source through extraction, design use, and place	Construction detailing examinations and professional critique
	Demonstrate a deep knowledge of and ability to apply the processes of design, planning, preservation and construction of exterior spaces	Juried review by faculty and visiting professionals
	Develop and apply knowledge of landscape architectural materials, methods, and performance, from source through extraction, design use, and place based characteristics	Portfolio, technical report, and design package development
Horticultural Sciences, & Civil, Biological and Agricultural Engineering	Identify horticultural plant characteristics and their uses	Measure students’ understanding of the importance of matching the correct plants with the desired functions in the design
	Integrate knowledge of the movement of water, nutrients and energy through the biosphere and the resulting impacts on plant growth and physiology	Identify the extent to which students understand the bio-filtration and water collection systems modification of hydrology and nutrient movement in the test systems.
	Critically evaluate options for sustainable plant management, including natural, urban and engineered horticultural systems	Determine the extent to which students have gained an understanding of the alternative water saving technologies into urban landscape designs.
	Collect, manage, analyze and interpret data	Measure the extent of involvement of student in analysis and presentation of data generated.

3.2. Project Phases

As noted, this program sought to educate and train students in LID alternatives to traditional stormwater management through hands-on outdoor classroom activities involving development, installation, monitoring, management, and evaluation within interactive test plots on the site. The first phase of this project was the conceptual master planning for west campus. Students were introduced to LID, instructed to investigate existing drainage problems, and applied LID strategies and design elements to solve said problems.

The second phase of the project was to link the conceptual design to the goals of the Texas A&M Gardens and Greenway at White Creek, a public greenway for conducting teaching, research, and extension/outreach activities. In this phase, landscape architecture students were required to integrate the LID facilities and apply of GI as a means of assisting in stormwater management while connecting to the current greenway system. Since the masterplan is part of the 2020 TAMU vision masterplan and adjacent to the landscape design site of horticulture buildings under construction, the studio had the consultation with the university planning faculty and landscape architecture professionals from the White Oak Studio. Students in this masterplan phase received feedback from professionals as well as planning faculty about large-scale design, and gained practice-wise feedback from practicing professionals. The studio was divided into four groups based on different themes. Their final masterplan was modified throughout the self-reflection and a series of feedback sessions with professionals, faculty, and maintenance associates.

The third phase was the conceptual design of the rain garden, located near a series of Borlaug Institute green houses. Horticulture faculty members cooperated with landscape faculty on plant selection and evaluation/feedback for the planting plan. Plant selection process for LID was conducted under their instruction and utilized mostly native, low maintenance species. Students gained a deeper understanding of plant characteristics for LID and suitability under certain conditions. Later the designs were illustrated and presented to the horticulture faculty members and professionals. The best design was selected to move forward for revisions and an eventual construction plan for implementation.

After the conceptual design phase, the project was integrated with civil engineering students and faculty. In consideration of performance and feasibility, an overflow detention structure was put into the design to divide the first flush and better handle the peak runoff during rainfall. The structure of the overflow structure was designed under by both landscape architecture and civil engineering faculty/students. After the design with the civil engineering group, instructors in the horticulture department cooperated in a review and revision of the planting plan according to the current nursery inventory within the horticulture department and what was available to grow. During this phase, the students collaborated with more disciplines and professionals, and gained better understanding of the practical landscape implementation such as budget control, material selection, sourcing, and plant combinations for maintenance considerations.

To compare the pre-construction condition and post-construction condition, a program to monitor the water quality and quantity of runoff into and out of the site was installed. Landscape architecture students used ISCO water samplers to collect rainwater, and H-flumes to test runoff speed. After retrieving data and water sample from the samplers, the water samples were sent to the TAMU AgriLife Extension Service Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory to compare the water quality before and after entering our pre-construction site. When the construction is completed, and the plants are fully established, students will use the same method to test the water quality and runoff velocity in and out the rain garden again, to compare pre and post conditions. The research will provide a powerful longitudinal case study for future education for LID from the perspectives of site design, construction design, and design practice.

4. RESULTS

During this three-year period, over 200 undergraduate and graduate students across four different departments collaborated with one another and working professionals within their related fields. From the perspective of landscape architecture education, this course was well received. There are students interested in construction design who worked with the civil engineering faculty to develop the final construction documents of the on-site overflow device. Meanwhile, the students with special interest in planting design cooperated with the horticulture faculty and students to finalize the feasible planting plan. In addition, among the four student design teams, three teams won the state chapter ASLA student awards; two of which won awards of Excellence in the General Design, and Planning and Analysis Categories. During the three-year duration of the lab, the participating department earned experience with multi-discipline cooperation across different colleges, and has poised itself to develop a solid scientific case study for future education of the impacts of GI on stormwater mitigation.

The traditional landscape architecture studio course usually consists of a process entailing site analysis, case studies, conceptual design, and design schematics. There are few opportunities for students to explore multiple scales of design and implementation of these projects is quite rare. The isolated environment of landscape architecture students from other disciplines in traditional design studios can be different from most of the multi-disciplinary working environments in professional practice. Furthermore, traditional studios can limit opportunities for students to be involved in real projects and have a more comprehensive understanding of construction materials, the construction process, and planting materials.

In the living GI lab, because the project is both multi-scalar and interdisciplinary, students have the opportunity to have different experiences with both large-scale master planning and small-scale site design while providing an in-depth multi-disciplinary learning experience. With the feedback loop with planning and maintenance crews and well as professionals, students were able to be intimately involved with the many revisions and sacrifices required to actually get a project installed. Furthermore, the landscape performance measurement provides great opportunity to examine the research associated with GI and LID benefits.

As noted, prior to the installation of the project, the runoff speed, volume, and water quality were monitored and recorded using water samplers produced by ISCO and consultation with the TAMU AgriLife Extension Service Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory. The entire construction process was recorded by time-lapse cameras to produce videos for further inspection and to educate students about the different phases: site preparation, grading, paving installation, metal structure installation, and planting. After the installation, post-design water quality measures were conducted and compared to pre-installation data. The results of the performance monitoring are more than study material for this lab, but also a case study for future course materials of construction, theory application, and practice diversity classes to demonstrate the outcomes of LID and future interpretation of this rain garden to improve its performance.

5. CHALLENGES

Despite the positive outcomes of this project, there are a few challenges for future process of this lab and usage of this lab model. The first challenge of this model is its time consuming process. Since the different phases of this project are dependent on different groups of faculty and professionals, the timeline often changes according to the changes of human resources, curriculum, weather conditions, and other emergencies. In this case, the construction of the rain garden can be influenced by the surrounding construction (which delayed the installation of the raingarden for more than three months) or other outside circumstances. The delay of installation forced the timetable to change, which made this project exceed the duration of planned 3 years. The excessive amount of time causes challenge of costs of the project. A majority of the costs of the project were construction costs, since the plants were grown by students. However, the equipment of the monitoring devices was also a significant financial burden. Since the devices will be implemented in the outdoor environment under raining weather, they are very easily influenced be wind and rainstorm events. The devices for conducting pre-development condition tests were actually broken by the storm during Hurricane Harvey. The substantial cost of repair also ate into the budget. The shipment of replacement parts for the devices required extended time as well. Relatedly, since the designed device for the overflow structure on site was custom, the work for the metal flume was extremely costly and required an excessive amount of communication work with the custom metal workshops and fabricators. Having said these, these challenges are real in the industry and therefore, allow true learning for the students and faculty.

6. CONCLUSION

This project is an experimental approach to integrating different disciplines into a single living lab which covered site analysis, campus masterplan, site design, LID application, planting design, construction documents, construction process, and landscape performance testing. It allowed landscape architecture students to go through the full process from sketch of design to actual installation. Further, it provided opportunities for students to find their own interest area and expertise, which is very helpful for their career planning and development. Since this project also provided a glimpse of the research process involved with landscape performance, students interested in landscape research were able to explore its potential. Despite the cost and time spent on this project, the students gained opportunities for their future, and better understanding of systematic green infrastructure and application of low impact development. In addition, the nature of this project, course organization, multi-disciplinary network, and performance monitoring methods were helpful for the future educational opportunities in the future.

Figure 1.

Selected plants and their associated characteristics.

Figure 2.

Installation of monitoring facilities and H-flumes for testing the pre-construction runoff condition and collecting rainwater into and out of the site.

Figure 3.

Texas Chapter ASLA Student Award for Excellence in Planning and Analysis.

Figure 4.

Revised planting plan after consultation with horticulture faculty.

Figure 5.

Monitoring devices influenced by hurricane event and the final installed design.