A Plandesign outdoor living space is featured in the July issue of Madison Magazine.
The Bergamini residence is featured in this month's Habitat section. See Posh Pizza Party on page 60 or view it online at www.madisonmagazine.com.
[posted 2011-07-01]
Dane County certifies Plandesign as a Emerging Small Business Enterprise
To learn more about the ESB and other targeted business programs, visit the Dane County website.
[posted 2010-03-16]
Andy Albright presents "Sustainable Sites" at AIA SW WI Lunch Meeting
As part of the continuing education program for the Wisconsin chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Andy Albright, Principal and Landscape Architect at Plandesign LLC, is co-presenting “Sustainable Sites” with Betsy Powers, Senior Civil Engineer at BT Squared Civil and Environmental Engineering. The discussion will be framed around the recent release of the Sustainable Sites Initiative: Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009 and how these relate to LEED’s criteria. See handout (download pdf).
[posted 2010-03-16]
Help Plandesign and the Madison Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® fight against breast cancer!
 Although National Breast Cancer Awareness Month will soon end, the fight against breast cancer continues. Plandesign is asking for your help in the fight. Plandesign will donate 5% of revenues generated by contracts signed between now and December 31, 2009 to the Madison Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Contact Plandesign today to learn more.
About Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Madison Affiliate
From komenmadison.org — In 1998, Susan G. Komen for the Cure®'s signature fundraising event Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® first came to Madison, and Susan G. Komen® Madison Affiliate was founded. With it came a hope to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment programs locally, throughout the country and worldwide.
[posted 2009-10-28]
Let's put Wisconsin on the Sustainable Sites map!
Next month the Sustainable Sites Initiative will begin accepting applications for pilot projects to test the first national rating system for sustainable landscapes. The pilot program will be launched in conjunction with the release of The Sustainable Sites Initiative: Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009, and will include between 75 and 150 projects. According to the Sustainable Sites Initiative, all types of designed landscape are eligible to participate, from academic and corporate campuses, parks and recreation areas, transportation corridors to single residences, so long as the total size exceeds 2,000 square feet. I certainly hope to see Wisconsin well represented in the mix.
Wisconsin residents appear to embrace sustainable land development as a new framework in which to voluntarily protect our highly coveted natural resources. Every home or business owner who has installed compact fluorescent light bulbs, high-efficiency appliances, pervious paving, rain gardens or rain barrels in the last few years is testament to this notion. If you have a project in mind that might qualify, visit sustainablesites.org to learn more.
About the Sustainable Sites Initiative
In 2005, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center joined forces and, joined in 2006 by the United States Botanical Garden (USBG), created the Sustainable Sites Initiative. The Initiative picks up on the momentum of such efforts as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System but aims to expand the focus of sustainable design, construction and maintenance to include all sites, with or without buildings. By equipping those who conceive, construct, manage and maintain landscapes with tools to not only create but also measure sustainable sites, the Initiative hopes to demonstrate that landscapes of all scales, from backyards to ball fields, schools to shopping centers, can enhance the benefits of healthy ecosystems.
As a local landscape architect, I have a particular interest in the progress this Initiative is making. Earlier in my career, communicating the concept of sustainable site development was often a daunting challenge, yet I have been fortunate to have worked with a number of clients and design partners who embrace the challenge themselves. In other cases, I have made small strides by introducing into projects some of the more easily adoptable best practices, such as using native plants to reduce water usage for irrigation or installing bike racks and making strong pedestrian connections to encourage alternatives to vehicular transportation.
Providing landscape architects and others with nationally-recognized, site-specific performance standards, this Initiative will make our projects collectively more successful. The Initiative aims to set benchmarks for sustainable practices in regards to soils, hydrology, vegetation, human health and well-being and materials selection. These guidelines are anticipated to be incorporated into future iterations of the LEED Green Building Rating System.
[posted 2009-10-27]
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