Instagram story viewer> @dept.__> Posts

Dept.

@dept.__

2.1K

followers

633

following

from the swamp to the city—landscape architecture

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

gardens are for monsters too... by @dept.__

3

0

a month ago

Remnant Nursery / 2022 for the League Prize @archleague with Photographer @jake.eshelman taken in Houston, Texas by @dept.__

3

1

a month ago

Prairie Plots by Dept.

"Prairie Plots is an ongoing, living installation on the Rice University campus created in collaboration with the School of Architecture and Rice Facilities, Engineering, and Planning.

The project sits at the intersection of visual art, ecology, and community engagement, conceptualizing an alternative to a fixture of American culture: the ubiquitous mowed lawn. Maintaining the appearance of the highly sought-after cropped, homogenous, green grass, can harm both people and the environment. From water-intensive irrigation systems, toxic pesticides and fertilizers, and noxious fumes from gas-powered lawnmowers (which are responsible for 24% to 45% of all non-road related gasoline emissions), the cost of achieving this classic aesthetic extends far past the financial."

https://landezine.com/prairie-plots-by-dept/

@dept.__ @ricearch

#LandscapeArchitecture #LandscapeArchitects #landscapearchitect #PublicSpace #LandscapeDesign #ArchitectesPaysagistes #ArchitectureDePaysage #ArchitettiDelPaesaggio #ArchitetturaDelPaesaggio #ArquitectosPaisajistas #ArquitecturaDelPaisaje #ArquitecturaPaisajista #ArquitetosPaisagistas #ArquiteturaDePaisagem #DiseñoDePaisaje #DiseñoUrbano #EnvironmentalDesign #EspacesPublics #EspacesVerts #EspaciosPúblicos #EspaciosVerdes #GreenInfrastructure #InfraestructuraVerde #Landschaftsarchitekten #Landschaftsarchitektur #OutdoorSpaces by @dept.__

410

3

2 months ago

The swamp is all around us. One of our favorite Houston details: when the streets don’t drain, tadpoles abound. taken in Houston, Texas by @dept.__

3

1

3 months ago

The “Bayou Porch” at The Gravel Silos is designed for degradation. Instead of an intensive engineering solution, the design proposal takes a restrained approach that works with the bayou rather than against it.

The two drawings show how the bank is designed to change over time. The trail is relocated to the upper bank of Buffalo Bayou, out of the floodplain, giving the bayou space to find its course in an evolving watershed. The abandoned bulkhead wall is left to gradually degrade in place, providing the structure and space for willows, cottonwoods, and cypress to grow.

The Gravel Silos are part of the larger plan for the South Bank Trail @buffalobayou, designed by Dept. with @swagroup. taken in Houston, Texas by @dept.__

282

1

3 months ago

A construction shot from our work in Houston’s East End for @buffalobayou where we're turning four concrete silos and a gravel yard into a new waterfront park - old industrial bones become civic monuments.

The Gravel Silos are part of the larger plan for the South Bank Trail, designed by Dept. @dept.__ with @swagroup. taken in Houston, Texas by @dept.__

72

0

4 months ago

Revisiting our Odum-inspired diagram that imagines an alternate stormwater commons for Houston’s wet, swampy ecology. What if the city had more frog ponds and gullies and ephemeral pools instead of pipes and concrete channels and underground storage tanks? by @dept.__

49

2

6 months ago

Some planting details from a recently completed garden growing in after a rainy summer in Houston.
.
.
.
.
#gulfcoast #garden #houstongarden #landscape taken in Houston, Texas by @dept.__

96

1

a year ago

Working drawings for a streetscape project in Houston - obsessing over expansion joints, microclimate planting, and material reuse.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#landscape #landscapearchitecture #streetscape #houston #planting #urbanism #design #drawing taken in Houston, Texas by @dept.__

189

0

a year ago

Dept. is honored to announce that Prairie Plots received a Texas ASLA Award of Excellence in Research. We started with just a small grant in 2022. From sharing seeds to prescribed burns, today, the plots continue to be an incredible experimental and educational landscape. Thanks @texasasla for recognizing our ongoing work @riceuniversity and thanks to all of the volunteers, students, and dedicated grounds team for the continued care.

For more news and summer work days visit prairie-plots.com

---

Prairie Plots is an experimental research garden at Rice University that transforms 10,000 square feet of campus lawn into a dynamic ecological zone through the cultivation and care of a tall-grass prairie. The project is an ongoing effort to change the paradigm around campus landscapes, demonstrating how open space can be reimagined, not simply as homogenous, resource-intensive lawns, but as living lands that increase biodiversity, improve soil health, and manage stormwater. Prairie Plots engages students, faculty, groundskeepers, and community members in ongoing stewardship and research and establishes a model for alternative ecological land care.

Credits: @ricearch, Rice University Office for Research, Rice FE&P Grounds, Rice Arboretum Committee, and @coastalprairieconservancy by @dept.__

299

7

a year ago

Some recent construction drawings. What can we say…we are obsessed with drawing rocks. 🪨
.
.
.
#landscape #rocks by @dept.__

217

4

2 years ago

We recently installed new planting at Thomas Phifer’s Brochstein Pavilion at @riceuniversity. A fun project bringing more biodiversity to the plant palette and lots of texture to the renovation by @benrosenblumstudio for @localfoodstexas. More photos to come in the spring/summer as it grows in 🌱 taken in Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavillion by @dept.__

230

3

2 years ago