Brad Collett, assistant professor of landscape architecture and plant sciences, University of Tennessee, was recently named a 2014 research fellow of the Case Study Investigation program of the Landscape Architecture Foundation.

Brad Collett, assistant professor of landscape architecture and plant sciences at the University of Tennessee has received a research fellowship to develop performance evaluation methods for regional landscape projects. The program is a collaboration-based initiative that pairs student-faculty teams with leading design professionals to document the benefits of "high-performance landscapes."

Collett and a team of graduate students in the UT Landscape Architecture program will work with design firms Hargreaves and Perkins + Will. Together they will develop landscape performance evaluation methods, metrics and case studies for Chattanooga's Renaissance Park, the Atlanta Beltline's Eastside Trail and Perkins + Will's Atlanta office.

"Performance-based design represents a relatively new genre of landscape architectural practice, and we are excited to have the opportunity to further this important research," said Gale Fulton, chair of the UT Landscape Architecture program. "Professor Collett and his students will also be engaging in an emerging model of collaboration between leading design firms and our graduate landscape architecture program that will further strengthen our ability to educate future leaders in the field."

The research projects will be published by the Landscape Architecture Foundation https://www.lafoundation.org as part of its Landscape Performance Series, an online interactive set of resources for designers, agencies and advocates to evaluate the performance of landscapes and to argue for sustainable landscape solutions. The series is designed to estimate specific landscape benefits for completed projects when actual measurements are not available, or to compare projected benefits among various options.

Collett and landscape architecture students have a history of researching and designing for regional planning efforts, mainly those of the Plan East Tennessee (PlanET) Consortium, an initiative supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. For several years, they have studied low-impact development in watershed planning, community design and site development for East Tennessee communities.

The U.T. Landscape Architecture program is the only accredited landscape architecture program in Tennessee. To learn more about the program and its research, visit https://archdesign.utk.edu.