Environmental Design Lab
UT’s Environmental Design Lab builds on the interdisciplinary partnership at the heart of the School of Landscape Architecture to extend our reach beyond the classroom into the community and region.
Faculty, facilities and resources from across UT converge in this adaptive 21st century design organization to work with students on projects from large-scale site planning to detailed site design and from long-term project management to intensive brainstorming sessions. Students work with our external partners to identify issues and opportunities, develop compelling frameworks and project new alternatives.
Partners + Projects
The Environmental Design Lab is working with partners to tackle landscape projects across a wide variety of scales and situations. A primary goal of the EDL is to offer design and planning assistance to communities that may not have the infrastructure or funding in place to pursue design services in a more traditional manner.
The Great Schools Partnership
In collaboration with the Great Schools Partnership, we work with several Knox County Schools Community Schools, including Green Magnet, Lonsdale, Norwood, Pond Gap, Sarah Moore Greene, South Knoxville Elementary and Vine Middle. Long term, our research is analyzing school landscapes to better understand the educational, economical and ecological potentials of this decentralized landscape resource.
Legacy Parks Foundation
Legacy Parks Foundation works to ensure that our community enjoys exceptional recreational opportunities, natural beauty and open spaces, and that those assets exist for generations to come. We partner with Legacy Parks Foundation on broad planning and visioning for the community.
UT Smart Communities Initiative
The Smart Communities Initiative pairs UT with communities in our state, and by leveraging interdisciplinary research and scholarship, community dialogue, human capacity and innovation, SCI participants collaborate for smarter, more vibrant communities. Through SCI, our faculty and students from all three schools in the college worked with Cleveland, TN, to reimagine underutilized and abandoned properties and with Lenoir City, TN, to reinvigorate its downtown. We also worked with Southeast TN Development District on a water quality project that resulted, in part, in the student publication, HydroLIT.
Landscape Architecture Foundation: Case Study Investigation
For 50 years, the Landscape Architecture Foundation has supported the preservation, improvement and enhancement of the environment by investing in research and scholarships. Recently, faculty and students worked with design firms Hargreaves Associates and Perkins + Will to develop landscape performance evaluation methods, metrics and case studies for the city of Chattanooga’s Renaissance Park, the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail and Perkins + Will’s Atlanta office, which contributed to a national award.
Freedom Gardens
Check back for exciting details.
Interested in partnering with us?
The Environmental Design Lab is looking for more partners to work with faculty and students on creative landscape strategies. Please contact Gale Fulton for more information.