Edible Landscape

The landscape surrounding The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design must navigate competing performance demands for rain water management, passive building cooling, tree protection, healthy ecology, and urban agriculture, while providing adequate space for human occupancy and year-round seasonal character.

Given The Kendeda Building’s anticipated building density or floor-to-area-ratio (FAR), 20 percent of the project area, or approximately 12,600 square feet, will be dedicated to fostering a healthy, accessible food system.

The bulk of the urban agriculture area requirement will be met with a 5,350 square foot shade-to-partial shade edible ground landscape. Trees, shrubs, and groundcovers that produce edibles, accompanied by informative signage, will encourage students, staff, and visitors to pick and eat tree fruit and berries year-round. This landscape will also work seamlessly with the landscape’s adjacent, proposed mesic woodland and seepage wetland zones to manage stormwater runoff from the site’s pavement. Additionally, this type of production requires far less sunlight and maintenance than intensive agriculture and can thrive within a sloped, shaded landscape.