pebl.design

Landscape Architecture and Construction

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The Founder of OR.CA on Curating Artful Exteriors

Molly Sedlacek of landscape design firm OR.CA shares her insight on the outdoors.

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Working With Wood

In the spring of 1983 my family’s Nebraska farm was struck by a tornado, I was four years old and most of my childhood memories are filled with pastures and forests littered with felled trees. My sisters and I would explore the tipped over root systems and pull the frail bark off to find miniscule worlds: roads and valleys carved out by the tree’s insect inhabitants. We were drawn to the knowledge revealed in our investigations, counting rings to approximate a tree’s age and learning to understand which species were valuable for re-use and which were best left to decay. When I was six, while playing in our front yard, a towering cottonwood was struck by lightning, severing a massive branch that narrowly missed our house. Within a week the debris was cleared and a nest of honeybees had formed within the tree’s cracked trunk. For years I watched the colony - so full of life - they had found a home as a result of an otherwise wholly destructive moment. I have witnessed the planting of small trees to protect farm fields and the clearing of forests to accommodate farm fields. In so many ways trees have stood (and fell) in my life as a representation of the persistence, adaptability, and resilience of nature.

As a maker of landscapes, it’s easy to be inspired by nature’s palette of materials, be it the seasonality of native plantings or the complexity of establishing habitat. Time and time again I am drawn to the challenge of utilizing wood for its warmth and ability to bring life into projects. The nuances of different species’ form and function provide a seemingly endless array of possibilities; wood is honest, it degrades, it warps, it fades, it expresses cracks, and it forces designers to think differently when planning for a project. In this section we want to highlight a small sampling of projects wherein wood was a driving force for design decisions.

From 2014 to 2017 (while employed at Coen + Partners) I was lucky to design and oversee the construction of five ecological art installations on a private 22-acre property adjacent to Lake Minnetonka. The project included a restoration of degraded wetlands, shoreline, and forests, along with the addition of a half-mile trail system. The art pieces work hand-in-hand with the path network, pulling visitors past what seems like a dead-end, providing thresholds, or marking the topographic shifts. Each “line” was constructed from different types of salvaged wood, a buckthorn bundle runs along a hillside deer-path while cedar branches overlay one another in a serpentine river. Over time the pieces will fall to ruin, decompose, and provide the echo of new life.

Beyond the art pieces, the project utilized thermally modified ash in two boardwalks that navigate the restored wetlands. This material is particularly special because it employs ash trees which will inevitably disappear from the Minnesota landscape due to the blight of the Emerald Ash Borer. Instead of allowing the trees to rot away, the wood is harvested and modified by a controlled pyrolysis process wherein it is heated in the absence of oxygen, thus preventing the wood from burning at temperatures that exceed 300F degrees. This heating process renders changes to the wood’s chemical structure and the result is a significant increase in the wood’s durability, providing a local material as an alternative to rainforest hardwoods such as ipe.

The versatility of wood should never be under-appreciated and as carbon conscious clients are challenging designers to innovate, sometimes it is best to look back-in-time for solutions. Intriguingly PEBL has worked on two vastly different projects in the last year who’s architects employed the time-tested technique of timber framing for its engineering qualities, aesthetics, and sustainability. In downtown Minneapolis we have been engaged by Dwyer Oglesbay Architects to work on the TMBR condominiums, a project that features an exposed mass timber frame structure and is poised to be the tallest structure of its kind in the United States. Significantly decreasing the amount of concrete essential for the tower, the construction methods considerably reduce the building’s carbon footprint. The PEBL designed streetscape and roof deck both focus on high-quality materials that are sustainable and local, utilizing reclaimed wood benches, recycled pavers, and native plantings. As a new addition to the North Loop neighborhood, TMBR hopes to highlight a model for sustainable construction and reinforce the collective character of the historic district. On the other side of the planet, PEBL was excited to work with MASS Design Group on the development of the Rwandan Institute for Conservation Agriculture. Structures on the huge campus employ timber framed roofs, with a portion of the material being harvested from the site itself. The choice of timber is part of a greater carbon offset plan for the entire project that will nullify the school’s carbon footprint within 50 years. This effort includes a massive reforestation initiative and implementation of a net-zero energy infrastructure.

Whether it’s saving a tree, installing an art-piece, or building a high-rise, the utilization of wood has the ability to add depth and relevance to any project. Beyond its advantages as a renewable and scalable construction resource, its beauty attracts generations of engaged users. (text by Jonathan Blaseg)

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The Subject of My Home

The profession of Landscape Architecture often gets hung up on whether our designed landscapes are with nature or not nature or mimicking nature or contextual nature or whatever… This debate is a disservice as it trivializes the topic, nature is not a sound-bite and it should not be a marketing platform; we must find a way to move on and accept that nature “is” and our work “is” simply part of it. I believe the root of this comes from our profession’s anxiety-ridden relationship with scale and perception, young designers are so often led to believe that big ideas are the crux to legibility and thus the key to un-tapping the holy grail of nature. Nevertheless the dilemma with this notion is two-fold, first-off the large projects are so few and far-between that their impact is questionable as trends shift and neighborhoods are turned over. Secondly, even the grandest gestures are obscured with time; neglected, unmanaged, or simply unused; this is not nature’s insidious trick, rather it is the gift we most often ignore. Our obsession with outcomes only serves to obfuscate the real opportunity to create platforms for our participation with nature and moreover the importance for education when working with clients and collaborators. Usually looking out one’s own front door provides a diverse palette of precedents for this quandary and a much more scalable opportunity. Why do our neighborhoods look the way they do? We live in a world of half-baked landscapes that are more about obscuring architecture than highlighting it and usually relegated to circulation corridors decorated by the current trends at Home Depot. Vegetation is selected on the merits of its constraints, not its ability to proliferate or contribute; while everyone has an innate and personal relationship with their cultural landscapes, it seldom feels that way when walking down the street. Why are we fighting over the next great urban park when, in a city such as Minneapolis, over half of our land area is consumed by residential properties? Is this not an opportunity for small ideas that cumulatively become massive? This critique does not imply a solution, rather it seeks to own the subjectification of nature and highlight our deference to the residential, it hopes to foreground the necessity for scrutiny, provocation, and discourse regarding all of our landscapes.

I recall sitting on my front porch - before there were kids involved - almost revelling in the messiness of our yards (front and back). We didn’t really have a lawn, unless a mat of creeping jenny counts, and I was oddly proud to not be able to identify the collection of ornamental shrubs that separated us from the sidewalk. At least we had a tall fence to shield the derelict status of our backyard where our decaying deck was providing excellent habitat for wasps and rabbits. I leaned on an adaptation of the old saying “if you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all” and thus my excuse to enjoy the intermittent hostas and daylilies; indeed I did nothing at all. I could share some blame with my wife, a fellow Landscape Architect, we filled out the stereotype of designers who live in un-designed spaces. That is not to say we did not discuss at length the potential for our space, just how great we could make it, if only we could settle on a plan. Of course this is ripe with irony since creating a “plan” is what I preach most to my clients; how a plan shields you from falling into the trap of picking up the blue hydrangea at Menards because “it was a good deal” and then plopping it down in the most random of spots only to plan (and plant) around it for years to come. I am equally susceptible to these whims as anyone else, case-in-point when I was 23 I bought a really great window at a garage sale and decided to add a second floor to my house just so I could utilize it appropriately. When our first child was born it was such a relief, I thought that now I could kick back and really let things fall apart because I didn’t need sham excuses anymore, I had a real one! Who’s going to fault the new parents? And so we learned to avoid the holes in the deck and enjoy our dog’s incessant search for our rascally rabbits. Nonetheless as the wasp stings mounted and time went on I realized that my children were the reason to make a plan, not an excuse to avoid one.

We didn’t need much, simplicity and function with a well-crafted frame would do the trick. For the back I proposed to my family a concept of five rectangles: wood, concrete, copper, turf, and meadow. The children countered with a pirate-ship treehouse connected to a princess-tower via a rollercoaster; in retrospect this made a lot of sense but I was worried about costs and hence we stuck with dad’s concept. As with most landscaping projects, our budget was tight, but I like to think that this constraint fit in perfectly with our goals: 1. Simple material palette 2. Highlight space with recycled elements and 3. Watch the space grow.

Starting with demolition, we removed everything so that we might have a clean slate. We needed to be efficient and thus built the cedar deck, followed by the concrete, turf, and meadow successively. The project was accented via the insertion of three recycled elements. The first was a collection of perforated copper screens, reclaimed from downtown Minneapolis’ Westminster Church. The screens had been designed by my former office and had been procured during a recent renovation that would have required their disposal. Next was the utilization of two precast benches, placed on the concrete patio as an invitation for informal gathering. Lastly, leftover pieces of wood from the deck construction were repurposed to build a dining table.

My wife thought I was ridiculous the day I showed up and started jabbing sticks into the “meadow” rectangle; I had harvested the tree whips from my cousin’s property in Frontenac. I relayed the absurdity to my children and they revelled in the quick growth all the more because of how crazy their father was. The beautiful scrim of sumac quickly established and replaced our tall fence, with the addition of grandpa’s bird feeders the trees were soon filled with wildlife. In the understory we sowed a variety of native seeds and each new summer has brought a surprise of color and texture.

In the following years we would move around our property, installing various adaptations of our design framework: an overflowing vegetable garden, grove of fruit trees, sycamore in the boulevard, and a sixth rectangle filled with little bluestem and more sticks (this time they were quaking aspen). All these would provide a testing ground for our children’s observation skills and budding green thumbs. I look forward to the day when my trees are overgrown and must be trimmed or removed, when someone is proven correct that my spacing was too close or sycamores don’t grow in Minnesota. I look forward to cleaning up sidewalk chalk and eventually removing the nameless shrubs that hide my foundation. Projects should echo their users, thus the formal organization and materiality is a direct reflection of our “style,” nevertheless the real success of the project will be measured by its ability to provide invitation and provocation to our family. I don’t really care anymore if our landscapes are contextual or fake or pristine or messy; I’ll be happy when our landscapes promote engagement and discourse, I’ll be happy when they own their subjectification of nature.

Jonathan Blaseg is a founding partner of PEBL Design and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota.

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Interview - Spaces Magazine (with Jonathan Blaseg)

What is your background and history? 

A year ago I was living in Rwanda with my wife and two children working as a Design Director for a large multi-disciplinary firm that had just won the National Design Award for Architecture.  Previous to that I was a Senior Associate at the Minneapolis firm, Coen + Partners, another winner of the National Design Award. While my experience at large firms was amazing, I have always been drawn to the construction and craftsmanship of projects, particularly as it relates to individuals; inspired by this sentiment I opened PEBL Design, a landscape design/build practice, with three partners at the beginning of 2019. 

Before Landscape Architecture I received a Physics degree from St. John’s University and spent several years as a High School Math/Science teacher. I have continued my passion for teaching as an Adjunct Professor with the University of Minnesota’s Graduate School, where I have taught since 2012. This spring semester I have the unique opportunity to co-teach a studio with graduate students of both architecture and landscape architecture.

What is your current role and how long have you been doing this?

As a Partner at PEBL Design I lead the firm’s creative direction, overseeing vision, design, and implementation for all of our projects. In name, PEBL is a brand new company, nevertheless my construction partners have 36 years of regional experience building landscapes of all scales. When forming the company we were all really attracted to the idea of a design/build model since it allows for creative problem solving and quality control throughout a project, ultimately providing a great value for our clients.

What is the difference between a landscape architect and a landscape designer? 

It’s kind of like the difference between an architect and a carpenter; while many carpenters can design and build a magnificent home, there are certain assurances that hiring a registered Architect affords. To legally call oneself a Landscape Architect (LA) you must have a degree from an accredited LA program, worked under a licensed LA for a minimum of three years, and have passed four levels of licensure exams (per their state of practice). 

What is a landscape architect? 

Similar to Architects, Lawyers, and Doctors, Landscape Architect (LA) is a legal title and to call oneself a LA you must have a degree from an accredited LA program (usually a Masters Degree), worked under a licensed LA for a minimum of three years, and have passed four levels of licensure exams (per the state of practice). LAs have the training to design a vast variety of spaces, from community master plans and public parks to residential gardens or sub-surface drainage systems. Honestly, just check out all the amazing projects in this magazine and you’ll get a feel for the diversity of work that we do.

Do you have a favorite project of yours?

A couple years ago I led a residential project named Lake Marion that won the LILA International Garden Design Award; a primary objective for the client was simply to access their land and enjoy the otherwise impassable natural terrain. We designed a series of interconnecting paths and gathering spaces that allowed the family to appreciate the 22-acre site. Passing through four unique ecological zones, the paths strategically minimized disturbance and a thorough restoration replaced invasives with a vibrant palette of native vegetation. Additionally, I designed five ecological art “lines” that stretched for several hundred feet, the ephemeral installations utilized wood removed from the site and serve to extend views and provide invitation. 

Who’s your favorite Landscape Architect?

I named my dog after Dan Kiley. He was a master of complementing a project’s architecture and no matter the scale of his work he maintained a balance and serenity in his projects; they always feel contextual and timeless.

You teach at the University of Minnesota, been a Design Director at an Architecture firm in Rwanda, and now run a Design/Build firm. How has your work been different in those areas, how are they the same?

Everyone has a personal connection to the Landscape and that dynamic ties into all of my work; it has always been my mission to tap into what makes a designed landscape appropriate and meaningful. Whether its a Conservation University in Rwanda or someone’s backyard, there are far more similarities than differences, they all start with similar questions, the answers just tend to vary: what’s the health of the soil, what’s supposed to grow here, who shares this place, what’s the climate, what are vernacular construction methods, how should you move through the space, what does it connect, and what’s the best use of the space?

What trends do you see today in landscape architecture? What do you applaud, what do you wish would go away?

I really love to see the trend toward more nature-based playgrounds and pollinator friendly lawns. I would love to see more creativity and less ubiquity in our landscapes, there are sooo many wonderful plants out there and yet designers tends to utilize the same species over and over and over again. 

How has a changing climate affected your work?

I think climate change has affected all of my projects, whether its addressing the loss of biodiversity in southern Rwanda, planning for shifting ecosystems in Northern Minnesota, developing walkable communities, utilizing sustainable materials, or selecting plants per new hardiness zones, like the Sycamore in my boulevard. Beyond responding to the climate crisis, I feel like LAs are well-positioned and have a great opportunity to make a significant impact on emissions; by most accounts half of the CO2 expelled into the atmosphere is related to the construction of buildings and therefore how we design and plan our sites can significantly affect the carbon footprint of our projects. 

What is something surprising about you only your close friends may know?

I won grand champion market lamb at the Central States Fair three years in a row. 

What would you like to add?

When you build a house it looks the best on day one, landscapes are different, they are a dynamic medium that's often unruly and complex. Landscapes take time to evolve and while they are often difficult to steward, I’d like to think they “give” a lot more than they “take.”

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NATURE PLAY: CREATING A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE

Throughout my life I have always been drawn to nature. I could play outside for hours, lost in the infinite potential of my natural playground. Now, in my burgeoning career as a landscape architect, I’ve found a place where I can bring the respect and admiration I have for the natural world into my work. However, while it’s great to know that my designs can contribute to a more sustainable system, is it enough to make a difference? To make a lasting impact and create the new beginnings our planet needs, our designs should inspire the next generation to take responsibility and become stewards for the world they live in. Creating a sense of wonder, respect, and love for the Earth is especially important for children, and with the support of a growing body of research, nature play has become a popular way to both naturalize urban spaces while providing much needed natural recreation space for kids.

For me, the beauty of being outdoors lies in the endless opportunities that natural environments afford to explore, relax, learn, and connect with the wider world. Fortunately, the appreciation for natural outdoor space is reflected in the built environment by the growing trend of nature play and children’s play spaces. The importance of allowing kids to play outside and cultivate a relationship with healthy ecosystems is widely recognized today as critical for developing robust sensory and motor skills and for stimulating imagination and creativity.

A true nature play area is defined as a  “designated, managed area in an existing or modified outdoor environment where children of all ages and abilities play and learn by engaging with and manipulating diverse natural elements, materials, organisms, and habitats, through sensory, fine motor and gross motor experiences.” An enriching and educational nature play area allows children to understand how the world works by actively engaging them in natural processes. Mainly containing natural materials like plants, stones, dirt or sand, logs, and water, these spaces encourage invaluable hands-on learning. Natural materials such as these do not have any given meaning, so children at play need to interpret and invent new functions for these natural toys.  Activities like running, climbing, and building are automatically incorporated into a child’s playtime, and since nature is always changing they have endless opportunity for discovery.

While inspiring our youth with the wonder of nature is important for promoting a more sustainable future, there are also ecological benefits to building nature play areas over conventional playgrounds. Instead of hot metal, sticky plastic, and hard concrete, natural materials are cool, malleable, and soft. When sourced locally, natural materials like stone, sand, and water can mitigate the carbon emissions typically associated with construction. Additionally, the recycled building materials popular in nature play areas provide a more ecologically friendly option to a conventional playground, and the growth of plants supplies dynamic and renewable fun.

With increasing popularity, institutions around the world are embracing nature play and are working to reintroduce children to the natural world around them. Schools, zoos, and museums are renovating playgrounds to increase engagement with nature, while cities and parks are including nature play spaces within restoration projects to ensure children will always have a designated natural play and learning space. By including nature play spaces within well-established institutions like children’s museums, public schools, and city zoos, we are investing in the future. By recognizing the importance of building a relationship between humans and nature from a young age we can promote more creative play, more sustainable construction, and inspire the next generation to view the world differently.

Article written by Marla Brown

(Photography by Chris Sticha)

1. Moore, Robin C., and Allen Cooper. Nature Play & Learning Places: Creating and Managing Places Where Children Engage with Nature. Raleigh, NC: Natural Learning Initiative, 2014. PDF.

2. Moore, Robin C., and Allen Cooper. Nature Play & Learning Places: Creating and Managing Places Where Children Engage with Nature. Raleigh, NC: Natural Learning Initiative, 2014. PDF.

3. Änggård, Eva. "How Matter Comes to Matter in Childrens Nature Play: Posthumanist Approaches and Childrens Geographies." Childrens Geographies 14, no. 1 (2015): 77-90. doi:10.1080/14733285.2015.1004523.

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STORIES STAY, LESSONS GO: DESIGN FUTURES 2019.

Earlier this month, a colleague and I had the privilege of attending the Design Futures Student Leadership Forum in Salt Lake City. Design Futures, a five-day interdisciplinary forum centered on Public Interest Design, brings student leaders together with some of the most important practitioners in community-driven and engaged design from across the country. Building leadership skills in the future leaders of the design world, the Design Futures forum is a tool for understanding and beginning the conversation about social equity and positive change in underserved communities. Discussing issues ranging from racism, privilege, intersectionality, and equity, I collaborated with fellow students from universities across the U.S. as we learned from experts in the field of Public Interest Design. Coming from a place of privilege in which topics centered on race, equity and diversity are often misunderstood, I began to appreciate the following concepts as crucial tools for engaging in meaningful discussions about equity in design.

Language Setting1

Equity– Equity revolves around systemic outcomes and exists when outcomes are no longer predicted by any aspect of an individual’s identity.2

Equality– Equality is the basic trait of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.3

I was introduced to the distinction between equity and equality during an introductory workshop on power and oppression. Put simply, equality can be described as “sameness” or equal access to resources, while equity strives to produce equal outcomes. Understanding this difference is important to more successfully equitable design approaches.

Intersectionality– “The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.”4 The term “intersectionality” was coined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1989 and is closely related to the concept of “simultaneity” — the simultaneous influences of race, class, gender, and sexuality on individual identity.

Each of us was asked to “map” our intersectional identities in a small group setting. For me this exercise was a helpful tool for reflecting on and understanding my own privilege.  

Diversity– A variety of identifiers and characteristics that reflects our individuality.5

Diversity is widely recognized as a desirable outcome in design. Working with professionals from the Creative Reaction Lab we discussed how “definitions of diversity are often limited and largely confined to visible aspects such as race, age, or gender rather than less visible aspects such as ability status, nationality, or mental well-being."6 Equity-centered community design, a more inclusive way to discuss diversity in design, aims to accommodate and include diverse backgrounds, perspectives and lived experiences in the conversation.  

Privilege– Special unearned rights and advantages given to a person or group.7

Workshop leaders and faculty asked us to think of privilege as a tool for advancing equity in design, rather than an instrument of shame or guilt. In the past, my privilege has felt like a barrier that prevented me from engaging in these important conversations. Learning to accept my privilege as a tool for promoting positive change helped me feel more comfortable approaching and participating in honest discussion.

Positionality– “The social and political context that creates your identity in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability status.”8 Positionality is closely tied to the issue of privilege in that it describes how your personal background or identity influences your understanding of the world. Learning how to leverage your privilege and positionality is a key skill to develop in order to advance equity in community design.

Learning to design for equity and the public interest is a life-long process where success is defined by and founded on meaningful relationships formed over time within diverse communities. For me, the Design Futures forum was the first step in this learning process. Opening my eyes to my own privilege and positionality, the forum helped me understand how I can move forward in my career to help advance equity in design with humility, empathy and understanding.

We gathered on the first morning of the forum for introductions and a program overview. Little did we know that by the end of the week we would have forged lifelong connections with this amazing group!

The students and faculty leaders of Design Futures 2019 commemorated the occasion with a group photo.

An example of a workshop brainstorming activity, these notes represent the various factors we saw influencing mattering and marginality. 

After sharing some of our most memorable and emotional moments of the week, we joined in a group hug!

1 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide, Creative Reaction Lab. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55737465e4b048703924b9b5/t/5a9eaec053450a4352677984/1520348865673/ECCD+FIELD+GUIDE+FINAL+-+2018+DOWNLOAD.pdf

2 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

3 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

4 Standard and widely-adopted definition from the Oxford English Dictionary.

5 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

6 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

7 Kiara Nagel, Oppression 101 Workshop, Design Futures 2019.

8 Online definition cited by workshop leaders.

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Excited to participate in the #cooperhewittdesignmuseum and #cubegallery #designtriennial opening today! #massdesigngroup (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxR8b6cB2p8/?igshid=u151fe5ey10m

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Dupont Avenue: A Long Time Coming...

Before there were kids involved we just sat on the front porch, ignoring the derelict status of our backyard. Our tall fence shielded the neighbors view and, in kind, hid our shame as Landscape Architects, filling out the stereotype of designers who live in un-designed spaces  We knew the potential for our space and yet time is and was always the challenge; when and how do you carve out the time to escape work and family priorities in order to redirect the effort necessary to “make” your own space.

We didn’t need much, simplicity and function, with a well-crafted frame would do the trick. I proposed to my family a concept of five rectangles: wood, concrete, copper, turf, and meadow. The children countered with a pirate tree house connected to a princess tower via a rollercoaster... Dad won!

Without a budget to support our vision, we made several decisions that kept costs down. 1. We did all the planning and had everything streamlined in order to ensure an efficient construction process. 2. We took on as much work as possible, from demo to planting. 3. We leveraged our friendships for help with the concrete and sod installation. 4. We recycled the copper screens from a project being demoed downtown. 5. We utilized seeds and propogation for nearly all plants. My wife thought I was crazy the day I showed up and started jabbing sticks into the “meadow” rectangle, I had harvested the “free” tree whips from my cousins property in Frontenac and they quickly established a beautiful scrim of sumac. 

The design provides subtle privacy and programmatic clarity...a fancy way to say that I can play catch with my kids and enjoy a glass of wine with my wife. The perforated copper screens were reclaimed from Minneapolis’ Westminster Church, via the demolition of a project that my former office (Coen + Partners) had designed.  The materiality and formal organization reflect our personal love for modern design and (we believe) complement the scale and craftsmanship of our classic Lowry Hill home. The resultant space is contemporary, tranquil, and provides the kids a stellar place to roast marshmallows or create their own art!

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Trying for a new look for Twin Cities condo buildings

Two Minneapolis condominium projects strive for a distinctive look

PEBL Design is excited to be working with D/O on TMBR and 800 Washington