by Elliot Rhodeside, Faye B. Harwell, Kirsten Heasley, & Mark Mastalerz

	This residential unit view overlooks a stormwater management pond. Rhodeside & Harwell carefully placed rocks and plant material along the edges of the ponds to resemble a stream-valley park. In addition, a walkway and seating areas were developed to encourage residents' use of the park.
	A typical reforestation planting showing a cross-section of the different layers of build-up from the road. For this "highwayscape," the Landscape Architect focused on preserving valuable landscape material, and creating an ecologically sound and sustainable landscape through native plantings and bold wildflower masses.
	Intersection treatments, including arches and extensive plantings, along the main street of the development were integral in establishing an image for the community. Throughout the development, mature trees were saved and relocated from construction zones to new development areas. Woodland areas featuring native oak, tulip poplar, and beech trees were also preserved.
	The overall site plan for Random Hills, a 60-acre mixed use development in Fairfax County, VA, features Random Hills Road-- a main street that serves as a major image-maker for the community. The team respected the area's designation as an environmental quality corridor with wetlands, flood plains, and steep slopes.

Random Hills was originally planned in the late 1980s as an upscale residential, commercial and retail development on sixty acres in a high density sector of Fairfax County, Virginia. Landscape Architects worked closely with the Friendswood Development Company, a Houston-based planning firm known for their signature streetscapes, to incorporate the streetscape concept into the development as an integral part of the image of Random Hills. The team created a site development plan that retained the site's significant natural areas while incorporating dramatic new open spaces throughout the community. After approval of this plan, Winchester Homes, Inc. replaced Friendswood as the developer, and made minor, cost-effective changes to the plan. The resulting community is a true collaboration between the developers, Landscape Architect, engineer, and architect involved in all phases of the project.

Random Hills Road, the main street that bisects the development, serves as the entrance to all of its components, including 800 residential units in five distinct land bays; a 30,000 square foot retail complex; and 300,000 square feet of office space located in two buildings. Along the road, the major entries feature special signage, plantings and paving treatments; and the intersections are punctuated by vine-clad arches, flowering trees, and evergreen edges. Special street tree plantings and lighting emphasize the importance of the road within the community. Median plantings enhance the romantic appearance of the landscape with their drifts of perennial flowers and shrubs.

Although Random Hills Road serves as the major artery of the development, the team also created an extensive trail system that accommodates bikers and pedestrians, linking a series of public use areas to the rest of the development. These areas include two stormwater management ponds that were transformed from potentially negative sites into amenities through the addition of boardwalks and walkways bordering the ponds, and carefully placed plants and rocks, which create a natural, park-like setting for the enjoyment of residents.

In contrast to this suburban naturalism, the streetscape created for The World Bank Headquarters complex in Washington, DC, is remarkable in its simplicity and innovation. A 13-story superblock surrounding a covered courtyard, the complex was designed by the architectural firms of Kohn Pederson Fox and KressCox Associates. Rhodeside & Harwell was responsible for the design of overall streetscape improvements, including the selection of special paving materials, lighting, street trees, and the underground street tree life support system.

One of the most innovative aspects of the design is the development of continuous earth panels under the sidewalks containing high quality, uncompacted, irrigated and underdrained soil. Instead of boxing the trees into traditional individual containers surrounded by concrete, Landscape Architects designed long, contiguous panels to house the trees, so that the roots could grow freely within this underground zone. At the sidewalk level, smooth, pre-cast concrete paving blocks serve as an aesthetic respite from the intricate geometry of the building.

In addition to incorporating sustainable design into this urban context, the firm also appreciates the importance of sustainable design in work with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). Retained by VDOT after the citizens requested landscape improvements for six urban interstate highway interchanges in Norfolk, the firm created an ecologically sustainable design to alleviate the landscape losses caused by recent construction of highway lanes, soundwall barriers, and other highway improvements that resulted in the loss of significant vegetation in the Interstate 64/Interstate 264 highway corridor. Problematically, although VDOT agreed to provide the necessary landscape improvements, the department was facing long-term maintenance budget shortfalls. To address both concerns, the team designed a low maintenance reforestation/meadow program to improve the visual character of the highway while minimizing VDOT's long-term maintenance costs.

To this firm, the Landscape Architect's ability to fuse technical knowledge with creative design approaches definitely results in streetscapes that can easily be sustained for the future. lasn