Native Edge Landscapes Leads Landscape Design Mini-Course at Friends Middle School in Boulder

Watching a child find passion in the natural environment is an amazing thing. Whether nurturing a garden, understanding local ecosystems on which we are so reliant, or discovering the “magic” in landscape design, we always cherish the opportunity to share with others our passion for the work we do. And this is especially true if they are children, whose engagement with the outdoors can be especially critical to their mental and physical health as they grow.

Recently, we had a wonderful opportunity to share our passion with local middle school children during a 6-week landscape design course led by Native Edge landscape architects. Our objective was for young students to experience first hand the value in landscape architecture by including them in our landscape design-build process of transforming their very own rundown school landscape into a healthy, functional, and vibrant outdoor experience.

From researching design precedents and drumming up grand ideas, to site mapping, development of scaled drawings and models, over the six week period three student design teams grew bright ideas into grand plans using many of the same tools that professional landscape designers use to organize and present landscape design concepts.

This short mini course provided real world experience for students to explore creative ideas using drawing and math skills in a fun team building environment. The course was completed when each of the three teams built and presented their plans and scale models to an audience comprised of parents and faculty.

For us, the course was a high energy, fun experience. During the time spent with this enthusiastic and creative group of six graders, our staff had just as much fun as the kids! If you know of an elementary or middle school in the Boulder area that may be interested in partnering with us in a similar way, please contact us!