Metropolis magazine online has just posted an interview with Mia Lehrer, ASLA, on her work on turning the abandoned El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine, California into the Orange County Great Park. Lehrer is working with Ken Smith, ASLA, on the very large project. Here Lehrer discusses the sustainable aspects of the park:
“And what about ecological sustainability?
There are several sustainable features—energy, water, people, soil, plants—a tremendous opportunity exists for restoration. We’re going to be way out in terms of our sustainability goals—everything from permeability to materials recycling, to wood trusses on a lot of the buildings being used to build bridges, the irrigation systems, the plant material that’s all friendly to Southern California. We’re going to be considering ways of harnessing solar power so that we can largely be independent, the buildings are embedded in landscape so they have huge planted roofs, and we lease 60 acres to a company that does composting. Clippings from park operations get used for mulch and the old concrete is crushed so that it can be used as road base.”
Check out the whole article, “Completely Grounded,” here.
