What are the true benefits of landscape design projects?
An important question…and one that LFA is helping to answer through its Landscape Performance Case Studies Program.
LFA’s Landscape Performance Case Studies (LPCS) Program provides funding and guidance to teams comprising academics and student research assistants for up to $10,000 to collaborate with a design practice in assessing the performance of one the practice’s projects. Eligible projects will have been completed and operating for at least two years.
Teams representing the range of disciplines and professions that shape urban landscapes and natural environments—including landscape architects, urban ecologists, planners and civil/environmental engineers—are all eligible to apply. LFA can assist with connecting practices and academic researchers.
The LPCS Program will help bridge the gap between academic research and design practice. The research outputs from the project case studies will provide new knowledge for evaluating landscape performance and build the case for sustainable landscape planning, design and management.
Background to the Program
The LPCS Program is modelled on the award-winning Case Study Investigation (CSI) program created by the US-based Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) and initiated in 2010. Through a MOU between our organisations, LAF has provided generous encouragement, advice and assistance to LFA as we developed this new program. In formulating the LPCS Program, we have taken into account contextual and cultural factors specific to landscape-related academic research and professional practice in Australia.
Eight Australian projects have previously been assessed through LAF’s CSI program involving academic research teams from UTS, UNSW and RMIT, partnering with practices based in Sydney and Melbourne. In the 2022 CSI program, an RMIT research team including Senior Lecturer Bridget Keane and post-grad student, Peter Grant, worked with Claire Martin, Associate Director of Oculus Landscape Architects, to assess the Bendigo Hospital project. Both Bridget and Claire found that participating in the CSI program was a very valuable experience.
We gained valuable insights into developing a case study methodology, strengthened our relationship with researchers … (LAF CSI) provided a platform to share what we learned with our peers and the ability to more broadly communicate the value of landscape architecture.
Claire Martin, Oculus Landscape Architects
As the CSI program operates at a unique intersection between practice and academia, it creates a place for the exchange of knowledge…Most rewarding has been hearing that the case study has been used to advocate specific outcomes by other practices.
Bridget Keane, RMIT Landscape Architecture
Case studies produced by LPCS Program research teams will be considered for publication in LAF’s Landscape Performance Series. This searchable, freely available, online database now includes over 180 case studies and is widely used by designers, students, researchers, policy makers and advocates to identify project precedents that demonstrate value and make the case for sustainable landscape solutions. LFA will feature all LPCS Program case studies on our website.
Applications close on 27 November 2023 and the award will be announced in December 2023.