Image provided by Lafayette College Facilities Planning 

Over the course of the semester, the Greening Acopian team has developed various designs and has researched technological features in order to develop a strong plan for the Lafayette Gardens. But even with all of the time logged working on this project, one aspect remains unfamiliar to the members on the team: maintenance. In the hopes of gain a better understanding, the team met with the new director of Facilities Operations at Lafayette College, Mr. Scott Kennedy, on April 13 to hear his thoughts on the project.

Mr. Kennedy had been unable to attend the Midterm Update presentation in March. As a result, the team put together a brief presentation to summarize the project background as well as the economic, environmental, structural, and design aspects (slides can be viewed by following this link). Following the recapitulation, Mr. Kennedy and the Greening Acopian team immediately jumped into a discussion about the feasibility of developing and maintaining the space. Mr. Kennedy showed great enthusiasm and support for the project and was eager to provide insight and recommendations to help account for the maintenance aspects.

The first portion of the project that captured Mr. Kennedy’s attention was the technical and structural pieces of the living wall. Structural engineer, Major Jordan answered several of Mr. Kennedy’s questions and also directed the Facilities Operations Director to the Livewall website for more in-depth information. Being unfamiliar with the attachment mechanisms and materials used by LiveWall, Mr. Kennedy expressed some concern about the living wall’s durability and impact on Acopian but offered to research the details further. He also mentioned that one of the resources he would speak with is a group that works with the older buildings on campus. By sharing the current design with them, Mr. Kennedy hopes they will be able to help the team determine the overall feasibility of adding a living wall to the engineering building. In addition to offering to get in touch with the consultant group, Mr. Kennedy volunteered to look for the plant list produced by Lafayette College to see if it could help develop the final list for the project space.

Another concern addressed during the meeting was the timing of construction for the Lafayette Gardens. As Mr. Kennedy pointed out, Lafayette College is undergoing numerous structural changes in the next few years, all of which can be viewed in the Capital Projects Report linked here. He was worried that if the team planned to build the Lafayette Gardens within the next year, complications could result. However, there is not construction timeline set for the project. Instead, as the team explained during the meeting, their current expectation is to develop a detailed plan for the Lafayette Gardens and then hand it over to admissions for any future development. Even with this current plan, Mr. Kennedy brought up an important issue, with the renovations to the Markle Parking deck, the team should not only consider how the project appears from this new angle, but also how the changes to the surrounding area might impact the team’s final plan for the Lafayette Gardens. Additionally, Mr. Kennedy emphasized that, as with the developments portrayed in the Capital Projects Report, the Lafayette Gardens will need to be approved by the President’s cabinet, further proving the importance of understanding how the Greening Acopian project will fit into the Lafayette College atmosphere.

Upon receiving a question about the maintenance of the wall in the long term, Mr. Kennedy pointed out that with the current staffing available at the school, chances would slim that his employees would take care of the project space. He did however mention that hiring an additional grounds person could be a possibility but would take some preparation. As a result, maintenance costs, either to pay campus staff or an outside company, will be an important piece to consider in the project’s economic analysis.

To help Mr. Kennedy in his efforts to assist the team with the maintenance and construction requirements for the Lafayette Gardens, Nika Cinicola, the team’s Communication Director, sent an email to Mr. Kennedy following the meeting. This message included information about the current lists of plants for the space, the links to the LiveWall homepage and technical pages, as well as the contact for the LiveWall representative that the team’s Environmental Engineer, Diana De La Torre, spoke with earlier this semester. Hopefully, with the help of Mr. Kennedy, the team will be able to have a more comprehensive understanding of maintenance requirements for the project by May 11.

Image supplied by PRWeb

As the first week of Phase 3 comes to an end, it has become clear that the Greening Acopian project is starting to progress at a faster pace. Until recently, the majority of the team’s efforts have been dedicated to determining the general design for the designated space on the northeast side of Acopian. While this allowed the project to develop, attempts to determine specific details were hindered by the ongoing debate relating to the living wall’s support structure. As a result, essential tasks such as selecting plant types, developing a cost breakdown, and computing structural calculations, could not be finalized until this crucial aspect was determined. Fortunately, immediately following the March 11 Midterm Update presentation, the entire team came together to consider the merits of the two available options and decide between the planter-based design of LiveWall and the trellis alternative supplied by Tournesol. The discussion lasted an hour, but by the end it was determined that LiveWall, though the more expensive and complex option, would be best suited for the image Greening Acopian is aiming to create.

So, what does this mean for the project moving forward?

After the unexpected shift to virtual learning resulting from the rapid spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the team has had to adjust to working remotely while also trying to collaborate on the project’s final design and report.  Yet, even with the development of this new obstacle, the project is still progressing at a strong pace now that all efforts can be focused on the LiveWall alternative. This has made way for an updated cost estimate (as of March 25) that ranges between $137,000 and $230,000 for the wall, as well as an updated list of plants (as of March 25) that could be implemented into the design given the choice to use standard-sized planters. Calculations for the structure are in progress, based off of a document from the company itself that talks in detail about performing such forms of analyses. If, however, the team is able to work closer with LiveWall in the coming weeks, this step has the potential to be simplified.

With one design roadblock cleared, the team will be focusing its efforts on finalizing the concrete triangle area, as well as determining the border along the edge. This border might consist of spires or lamp posts lining the perimeter, or perhaps a hedge that could help with sound mitigation. Lastly, as the team looks into developing its report, there is hope to develop a virtual representation of the project area using software such as SketchUp or Revit. With half of a semester left and two phases down, the Greening Acopian team is well on its way to creating its final product.

Created by Lisa Sholtz – February 19, 2020

Over the past 5 weeks, the Greening Acopian team has been hard at work completing Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the semester-long project to redesign the east wall of Acopian. Since the first meeting, each team member has been researching information pertaining to their focus – looking at the structure and design of existing green walls, as well as talking to resources on campus. With the first major presentation fast approaching, everyone has been making an effort to narrow the focus of the project and decide on what ideas are best to apply to the engineering center.

One of the highest priority items has been to define our problem and determine the goal for our design. Much of this information can be found on the Why Acopian? page, including the most updated project goal as written by Chief Economist, Bryce Currie. It states that by altering the space on the east side of Acopian, the team hopes to create “a multidimensional collaborative space…that facilitates interaction between students of all different areas” on Lafayette College’s campus. Using this definition, the team has developed several design concepts that incorporate art, technology, and the environment into the available space.  The featured image displayed above was one of the first sketches created by Artistic Design Director, Lisa Sholtz. It includes a green wall moving vertically between windows with chords that connect the wall to poles. When first drawn, it was thought that these chords could have greenery moving along them to extend the effects of the green wall into the surrounding area, creating a space for student use, whether it be to study or to take a study break.  This concept has since been altered and developed into several possibilities which will be available on the Design and Layout page.

Additionally, as the design of the space has developed, so have the technical aspects.  Structural Engineer, Major Jordan, has been looking into methods to support the structure and completing calculations for the key areas of stress. In an effort to determine the type of greenery that will be grown, Environmental Director, Diana De La Torre, has been speaking with members in the Biology Department about the advantages and disadvantages of various plant species. Through this collective effort, there has been significant progress in a short span of time. As week 6 begins, the team will start to decide on the full area that will be impacted by the project, specifically through the selection of wall and ground space. The midterm update will serve as the ending of Phase 2 at which point the team will begin taking the steps needed to create the final product.