Conservation Design Forum

Conservation Design Forum (CDF) is an award-winning multidisciplinary consulting firm that specializes in the creative integration of environmentally and culturally sustainable land planning, design and development. CDF combines research, innovative technologies and team-oriented problem solving to achieve cost-effective, sustainable solutions.

CDF planning and design is based on an understanding that every site is unique and believes the essential partnership of environmental stewardship and economic growth can be accomplished through “green” development by integrating human activities and built structures into sustainable landscapes.

In 1994, James Patchett founded CDF. He is president and has a professional team led by three directors: Dr. Gerould Wilhelm, ecological services; David Yocca, landscape architecture and planning; and Tom Price, water resource engineering.
The staff of 24 includes landscape architects, civil engineers, planners, environmental scientists, hydrologists and real estate professionals. Technology the firm uses: AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Suite, Master Spec, Sketch Up, Arc View, 3D Studio Max.

ASLA Headquarters Green Roof, Washington, D.C.

The ASLA replaced its 3,300 sq. ft. EPDM membrane roof with a green roof to demonstrate the environmental and aesthetic benefits of a living roof. Funded primarily by ASLA, sponsors and product donors, and grants from the Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the ASLA hired Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, who collaborated with Conservation Design Forum to design and develop specifications for the roof.

The design provided almost complete vegetative coverage for the roof. Two arches on either side of the roof, which screen rooftop HVAC units, supported two different green roof systems: extensive and semi-intensive. A walkable aluminum grate landing (inset) suspended above a roof of succulents protect the vegetation, allowing visitors to view the plants from above. An open pavilion housing an access stairwell supported a shade of vines on an overhead trellis structure. The ASLA monitors the roof's stormwater retention performance. Temperature readings will be compared with those from an adjacent non-green roof.

Evelyn P. Tyner Interpretive Center at Air Station Prairie, Glenview, Ill.

The remnant prairie at Glenview Naval Air Station has been restored and stewarded as a native landscape within a highly urban area. This area is maintained by restoring the natural ecological processes, including annual controlled burning. The restoration efforts enhance the remnant natural areas and those threatened or endangered by invasive species, thus retaining the locally unique genotypes of this site. These resources are now showcased within the Evelyn P. Tyner Interpretive Center.

The center includes a green roof, energy conservation techniques, and recycled products. It also helps modern Midwesterners develop a relationship with the native landscape of the region. As a meeting place for volunteers, tour groups, and school field trips, the building is a welcoming indoor and outdoor space. There is space for formal classroom-like learning. Interpretive displays and literature, including self-guided tours and signage along the trail system, are integral to the educational mission.

Queens Botanical Gardens Master Plan and Visitor Center and Gardens, Flushing, N.Y.C

The Queens Botanical Garden (QBG) owes its beginning to the 1939 World's Fair. QBG retained Conservation Design Forum and Atelier Dreiseitl to develop a master plan to honor the past, celebrate the present and welcome the future. Elements include the Visitor Center/Administration Building, gardens and water features. The building incorporates stormwater recycling, has a constructed wetland for gray water cleansing and recirculation into the building and a green roof. The green roof is accessible at grade. CDF is working with the QBG to implement the parking garden. The Visitor Center received LEED Platinum recognition from the USGBC in June 2008.