residential landscape design case study

Landscape Architecture Foundation: Sasaki Project Case Studies

• Landscape Architecture
• LAF Case Studies

The Landscape Performance Series Case Study Briefs are a searchable database of evaluations of over 180 exemplary built projects, produced by the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF).

Sasaki is proud to have multiple projects in the LAF case study collection. Since 2011, we have partnered with academic research teams from the University of Southern California, the University of Maryland, Texas A&M University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Illinois Institute of Technology, Auburn University, Tongji University, and North Carolina State University who have independently assessed the environmental, social, and economic benefits of various parks, plazas, streetscapes, and waterfronts designed by Sasaki. This pairing of academic researchers with practitioners is a critical opportunity to further our evidence-based approach to design, providing valuable lessons as we continue to advance the scientific rigor of our work.

Wilmington Waterfront Park

Chicago Riverwalk

Gulf State Park

Beijing Olympic Forest Park , schematic design by Sasaki, final design by THUPDI

Xuihui Runway Park

Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park

Moore Square Park

See more of our landscape architecture projects , people , and voices .

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UNITING THE BUILT & NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS

New case studies on sustainable landscape design.

A newly expanded and now mobile-friendly version of ASLA’s Designing Our Future: Sustainable Landscapes online exhibition highlights real-world examples of sustainable landscape design and its positive effects on the environment and quality of life. These spaces use natural systems to provide ecosystem services, transform untapped assets into vital community spaces, and create new economic opportunities — they ultimately provide significant environmental, social, and economic value.

Ten new case studies that range from a coastal ecological restoration project to a volunteer-run urban farm illustrate just what sustainable landscapes are and how they provide important benefits on a variety of scales. In the process, the case studies, written in clear, understandable language, also introduce users to what exactly landscape architects do.

The new case studies were carefully selected to show a diversity of landscape types and scales and reflect geographical diversity. There are now a total of 40 case studies.

New case studies include:

Burbank Water & Power Eco-campus , Burbank, California, a sustainable landscape for employees and visitors in the midst of a working power plant.

Drs. Julian and Raye Richardson Apartments , San Francisco, California, a safe and welcoming apartment complex, with beautiful design elements, for the chronically homeless.

Lafayette Greens , Detroit, Michigan, a volunteer-run urban farm in downtown Detroit where 800 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables are grown every year.

Living Breakwaters , New York, New York, an innovative coastal ecological restoration project that won $60 million in the Rebuild by Design competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse Sustainable Landscape Renovation , Albuquerque, New Mexico, an underused plaza that has become a model of sustainable landscape design in the desert.

Quarry Garden , Shanghai, China, a derelict, polluted quarry that was transformed into a garden visited by more than 3 million people in its first year.

Sherbourne Common , Toronto, Cananda, a multi-functional park and wastewater treatment plant that includes an underground Ultraviolet (UV) water purification system.

The Steel Yard , Providence, Rhode Island, an abandoned steel manufacturing facility that has become a beloved community arts space.

Sunnylands Center and Gardens , Rancho Mirage, California, an extension to the Annenberg Estate that captures every drop of stormwater, with some collected in underground cisterns for later use.

Woodland Discovery Playground , Memphis, Tennessee, an immersion in nature play for children that features surfaces made of recycled athletic shoes.

The Web site also 30 other case studies; 10 animations created by Daniel Tal, ASLA, using Google Sketchup; and companion sustainability education resources that enable users to explore sustainable design concepts in greater depth.

Designing Our Future: Sustainable Landscapes was originally made possible with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

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Professional Practice

Resilient design.

Biodiversity Loss Drought Extreme Heat Fire Flooding Landslides

Working with nature -- instead of in opposition to it -- helps communities become more resilient and come back stronger after disruptive natural events. Long-term resilience is about continuously bouncing back and regenerating. It's about learning how to cope with the ever-changing “new normal.” As events become more frequent and intense due to climate change, communities must adapt and redevelop to reduce risks and improve ecological and human health. It's also time to stop putting communities and infrastructure in high-risk places. And we need to reduce sprawl, which further exacerbates the risks. Resilient landscape planning and design offers a way forward for communities. We can now use multi-layered systems of protection, with diverse, scalable elements, any one of which can fail safely in the event of a catastrophe.

Many communities have attempted to find a single solution to disasters through heavy-handed infrastructure projects: walls to keep out water, power plants to cool cities. But working with nature to create multi-layered defenses provides several co-benefits. For example, constructed coastal buffers, made of reefs and sand, can also provide wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities; urban forests made up of diverse species clean the air while reducing the urban heat island effect; and green infrastructure designed to control flooding also provides needed community space and creates jobs. The goal of resilient landscape planning and design is to retrofit our communities to recover more quickly from extreme events, now and in the future. In an era when disasters can cause traditional, built systems to fail, adaptive, multi-layered systems can maintain their vital functions and are often the more cost-effective and practical solutions. In an age of rising waters and temperatures and diminishing budgets, the best defenses are adaptive, like nature.

This guide is organized around disruptive events that communities now experience: drought, extreme heat, fire, flooding, landslides, and, importantly, biodiversity loss, which subverts our ability to work with nature.

The guide includes numerous case studies and resources demonstrating multi-benefit systems as well as the small-scale solutions that fit within those. The guide also explains landscape architects’ role in the planning and design teams helping to make communities more resilient. Biodiversity Loss Drought Extreme Heat Fire Flooding Landslides

A special thanks to our expert reviewers for their guidance: Alexander Felson , ASLA, assistant professor, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Yale School of Architecture; Kristina Hill , Affiliate ASLA, associate professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning and urban design, University of California at Berkeley; Nina-Marie Lister , Hon. ASLA, graduate program director and associate professor, Ryerson University School of Urban and Regional Planning; Nate Wooten , Associate ASLA, landscape designer, OLIN; and Kongjian Yu , FASLA, founder and dean, Peking University College of Architecture and Landscape.   This guide was written by Aaron King and Jared Green. 

This guide is a living resource so we invite you to submit research studies, news articles, and case studies you’d like to see included. Please e-mail them to ASLA at [email protected]

Biodiversity Loss >>

K31 Courtyard by UN Studio: An Architectural Affair

The residential complex at 31 Krzhizhanovskogo Street in Moscow by UN Studio has an award-winning design that attempts to make the most of the location’s best features in order to meet the problem of fostering community in a congested urban environment. Moscow is presently undergoing a surge in residential development as a result of the city’s new masterplan, which was approved in 2012 and permits residential construction on the former industrial regions. With a surface area of around 118,000 m2 and height 145 m, it stands out as a magnificent structure.

A design that blends the area’s historical legacy and fosters the development of a local community was requested by project developer Glavstroy, who in turn asked Citymakers to create and organize the worldwide competition. The K31 Courtyard plan aims to develop a model of future living that prioritizes the welfare of the inhabitants, promotes indoor-outdoor living , fosters a sense of security and home, and offers a variety of sustainable social possibilities in this quickly changing urban environment.

Design Principles

The city of Moscow has recently experienced the conversion of former industrial sites into residential districts following the approval of a new masterplan, and the rise in density came with issues in developing a feeling of community. This problem is addressed by the architecture, which fosters a sense of security and belonging, promotes indoor-outdoor life, and offers a variety of social activities.

A stepped pedestal that surrounds a private courtyard and two towers that face each other diagonally to provide every tenant the best view corridors and allow for more light to enter the apartments make up the design of K31 Courtyard, which combines two common residential building typologies.

The podium’s stepped terraces are intended to provide extra amenities for the neighbouring units, such as verandas, greenhouses, and orangeries, while also ensuring that the courtyard-facing apartments receive a sufficient amount of natural light. The development includes a variety of apartment types, as well as a park, a fitness centre , a kindergarten, and commercial spaces. It also has underground parking. Each tower also has a separate community space with co-working areas, sports facilities, and a clubhouse for residents on top of the podium.The apartments facing the inner courtyard are intended to receive enough sunshine thanks to the podium’s raised terraces. Due to their potential usage as extra facilities for the nearby units, these sloped terraces also lend a distinctive element to this residential building. In order to meet the needs of various inhabitants, the development also provides a variety of apartment types and layouts. While common areas and entrances are shared by everybody, the typology split is made to minimize the separation of various social groups.

In combination with the possibility to use of the outdoor terraces on the stepped podium, the design for K31 Courtyard encourages residents to enjoy outdoor living throughout the year and to create an open neighborhood in the sky and a lively new addition to the Moscow skyline.

Community Block

The concept of “a neighborhood” has several dimensions for K31 Courtyard. The expansion is intended to spread horizontally and link to the city, drawing inspiration from the old-style Moscow courtyard, which was peaceful and private yet open and secure. The courtyard’s playgrounds and green areas for amusement are also visibly connected to the blocks outside perimeter pedestrian paths.

Through the use of common intermediate amenity areas, neighborhoods can also grow vertically to foster ties between residents who live next to the same stairs. At the base of each tower, there are two additional designated public areas that can hold co-working spaces, athletic facilities, and a clubhouse for residents.

By adding curated terrace units like verandas, orangeries, or greenhouses, the roof apartments on the podium in the diagonal neighborhood created by the stepping roof terraces can be made more unique.

Façade Design

A modular method with parametric modelling is used to create sophisticated facade diversity. We add a random arrangement of modules with windows, bay windows, French balconies, and conventional loggias into a strong grid, resulting in a greater variety of apartment types with overt indoor-outdoor variances.

We encourage the new K31 Courtyard residents to live outside all year long and build an open neighborhood in the sky that will become a new landmark for the Moscow skyline, along with the potential usage of the outdoor terraces on the tiered platform.

Façade styles:

Brick and black metal are used in the podium facade’s outside perimeter to match the nearby structures and maintain the area’s history as an old industrial area.

The podium’s two towers include loggias and panoramic windows. When viewed from the courtyard, it is particularly crucial for the towers’ light materialization and color to appear less ominous so that their volumes appear to visibly dissolve into the sky.

Similar to the lightness of the tower volumes, the courtyard’s interior facade uses natural wood to create a cozy and welcoming ambiance for the occupants while forging a strong link to the lush, tree-lined courtyard.

References: 

• K31 Courtyard

Moscow, Russia, 2021

https://www.unstudio.com/en/page/15783/k31-courtyard

• UNStudio Designs Community-Oriented Residential Development in Moscow Written by Andreea Cutieru November 16, 2021 

https://www.archdaily.com/971952/unstudio-designs-community-oriented-residential-development-in-moscow

An Architect/Designer who stands utmost to facilitate success and break the stereotypes that have been followed for a very long time in architecture. He believes every design must be conceived to add charm and enhance the surrounding's innate beauty with energy and resource efficiency as key driving factors.

Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology by BIG: A forest of columns

Youtube for Architect: Tallest Buildings and Constructions in the World by Free Documentary

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Urban greening as a response to societal challenges. Towards biophilic megacities (case studies of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, Russia)

• Discipline of Landscape Architecture
• UWA Design School

Research output : Chapter in Book/Conference paper › Chapter › peer-review

Publication series

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

• 10.1007/978-3-030-37716-8_6

Other files and links

• About the book and Contents
• Front matter
• Making Green Cities - Bibliography and Contents, About the book

Fingerprint

• Urban Green Earth and Planetary Sciences 100%
• Megacity Earth and Planetary Sciences 100%
• Russia Earth and Planetary Sciences 100%
• Moscow Earth and Planetary Sciences 100%
• Landscape Design Agricultural and Biological Sciences 100%
• Case Study Agricultural and Biological Sciences 100%
• Residential Area Agricultural and Biological Sciences 100%
• Deterioration Medicine and Dentistry 100%

Research output

Research output per year

Urban Greening as a Response to Societal Challenges. Toward Biophilic Megacities (Case Studies of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, Russia)

• Urban Green 100%
• Megacity 100%
• Russia 100%
• Moscow 100%
• Landscape Design 100%

T1 - Urban greening as a response to societal challenges. Towards biophilic megacities (case studies of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, Russia)

AU - Ignatieva, Maria

AU - Dushkova, Diana

AU - Melnichuk, Irina

N2 - The density of the population in megacities is continuously increasing, resulting in a marked reduction in “living” and associated green spaces and a deterioration in the quality of the urban environment. Urban green spaces are often being replaced by carparks, shopping centers, and service enterprises. Residential courtyards are getting compacted and crammed with cars, forcing pedestrians to weave their way through parked cars. This chapter examines the efforts of two megacities in Russia — Moscow and Saint Petersburg — to organize sustainable greening solutions for their residential areas using new achievements in landscape design theory and practice, such as the concept of the biophilic city. It starts by analyzing the history of the two cities’ greening strategies during major historical periods (pre–Peter the Great, Peter the Great, the nineteenth century, post–Russian Revolution, early Soviet period, after the Second World War, and the current post-Soviet time), and discusses the concept of urban green infrastructure and its implementation in both Russian megacities. Traditions and specific peculiarities in the organization of the urban green spaces in each city, as well as their respective urban green policies, are highlighted. Special attention is given to urban biodiversity within the context of urban green infrastructure. The chapter presents an assessment of the current state of urban green spaces and the most recent master plans and how these cities are facing and responding to modern societal (e.g. social, economic, and environmental) challenges. The article also contains the results of an analytical review of the most successful urban greening projects in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. At the same time, the economic and climatic features of the urban green areas, their architectural and planning features are considered, along with strategies for further development of the urban green spaces in both cities, aiming to address the new principles of biophilic cities.

AB - The density of the population in megacities is continuously increasing, resulting in a marked reduction in “living” and associated green spaces and a deterioration in the quality of the urban environment. Urban green spaces are often being replaced by carparks, shopping centers, and service enterprises. Residential courtyards are getting compacted and crammed with cars, forcing pedestrians to weave their way through parked cars. This chapter examines the efforts of two megacities in Russia — Moscow and Saint Petersburg — to organize sustainable greening solutions for their residential areas using new achievements in landscape design theory and practice, such as the concept of the biophilic city. It starts by analyzing the history of the two cities’ greening strategies during major historical periods (pre–Peter the Great, Peter the Great, the nineteenth century, post–Russian Revolution, early Soviet period, after the Second World War, and the current post-Soviet time), and discusses the concept of urban green infrastructure and its implementation in both Russian megacities. Traditions and specific peculiarities in the organization of the urban green spaces in each city, as well as their respective urban green policies, are highlighted. Special attention is given to urban biodiversity within the context of urban green infrastructure. The chapter presents an assessment of the current state of urban green spaces and the most recent master plans and how these cities are facing and responding to modern societal (e.g. social, economic, and environmental) challenges. The article also contains the results of an analytical review of the most successful urban greening projects in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. At the same time, the economic and climatic features of the urban green areas, their architectural and planning features are considered, along with strategies for further development of the urban green spaces in both cities, aiming to address the new principles of biophilic cities.

KW - urban green spaces, greening strategies, biophilic cities, societal challenges, Saint Petersburg and Moscow, Russia

UR - https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030377151

UR - https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm%3A978-3-030-37716-8%2F1.pdf

UR - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-37716-8

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-37716-8_6

DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-37716-8_6

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-3-030-37715-1

T3 - Cities and Nature

BT - Making green cities

A2 - Breuste, Jürgen

A2 - Artmann, Martina

A2 - Ioja, Cristian

A2 - Qureshi, Salman

PB - Springer Nature Switzerland AG