Conway School of Landscape Design-Link to home map of Conway, MA Graduate Program in Sustainable Landscape Planning and Design
I wish you knew how many times we refer to the wonderful study prepared by the CSLD team …about our “Lavan Center” property. The study was a great guide for us in our renovations and has informed us at every step.

—Kate McGuire, Executive Director, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge, MA

 Spring Term Projects

Design Practice II — Spring Term

Following a two-week break in classes, the spring term begins. With consideration of students’ interest and educational goals, expressed preference for projects or teammates, and team members’ complementary abilities relative to project goals, the faculty assigns students to team projects in April.

Typically, the second community projects are smaller in scale and more detailed in design than the winter projects. They often require specific knowledge of issues such as stormwater management, erosion control, road alignment, long-term management techniques, ecological restoration, barrier-free access, planting plans based on native plant communities, and the preparation of construction details. Most design plans include cost estimates and a phased plan for implementation. A brief summary document may be requested by a client, but a set of drafted documents with extensive explanatory notes on the drawings is the typical product.

By the spring term, students have become increasingly familiar with the design process and dynamics of working as part of a team. Weekly presentations demonstrate a more rapid development of site assessment and design alternatives, which enables teams to achieve a greater level of detail on these projects. Students are increasingly effective in their critique of each other’s project work, regularly adding to suggestions that faculty make. Classes continue to supplement the project work, increasing in complexity and detail to match that required of the designs.

Since its inception in 1972, students at the Conway School of Landscape Design have provided design and planning services to more than 340 community clients. In addition to providing students with living laboratories and hands-on experience, the community projects offer valuable design and planning services to municipalities and regional agencies under contract and at cost. The wide range of projects undertaken each year ensures that students are introduced to a comprehensive scope of planning and design work.

  • The study of an intensively used fishing area on the Quabbin Reservoir resulted in a plan to reduce erosion and screen the parking area by allowing native plants to revegetate the sandy shore; construction details included the design of a universally accessible fishing pier.

  • Developing a plan to convert a bleak 69 unit, 15 building residential development in Springfield, VT into a seven-acre neighborhood involved exploring options for revised roadway, parking, open space, and specific details to enhance the design of the landscape.

  • In Hudson, NY, design of an experiential trail system and related signs for a 175 –acre park will serve as an educational center and demonstration trail for the region.

  • The redesign of an inner-city schoolyard in Holyoke, MA, provides more shade, greenspace, and learning ground for the children, while still accommodating safe bus drop-off and parking for a neighboring church.

  • The design for a park for non-profit community group from the Pleasant Street neighborhood of Worcester, Massachusetts.  The group, Women Together, plan to buy the vacant half-acre Winslow Street property and create a public park.  Students from the class of 2005 created a workable plan for the park. Their final report can be downloaded (pdf, 4 mb).