News

Private Residence: From concept to construction

Origin4Design, LLC — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:19:00 +0000

Origin 4 Design has been working with a private residential client during the past year to compliment their new home construction with an environmentally sensitive and naturalized landscape. We designed many custom features for the property and continue to assist refining design and construction.

One of the unique features conceived by O4d is a single-pour set of concrete steps that provides infiltration and planting areas within the stair treds. Below is the concept sketch and study model.

O4d has continued to work closely with the residential client and the construction contractor. We were on-site during layout, framing and pouring to assist in any necessary adjustments.

As the project continues to move forward, we will update the post.

Slack Plaza is an Award Winner!

Origin4Design, LLC — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:50:02 +0000

Origin 4 Design is pleased to announce the receipt of the Pennsylvania-Delaware ASLA Professional Merit Award in Planning & Analysis for Greening Slack Plaza.

The award will be presented at the upcoming PA–DE ASLA Annual Meeting at the Lancaster County Convention Center and Marriott at Penn Square in Lancaster, PA. The annual meeting will take place on April 14, 2012. Please visit www.padeasla.org for more information about the meeting.

O4D & EPA to Present at ASLA Annual Meeting in Phoenix!

Origin4Design, LLC — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:25:00 +0000

Origin 4 Design is pleased to announce that Rebecca Mizikar and Clark Wilson of the EPA will be speaking at the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Annual Meeting in Phoenix in September. Rebecca will be highlighting O4D's work on Slack Plaza in Charleston, West Virginia as part of the EPA's Greening the Nation's Capital's Program. In additon to the quality of the overall design, Slack Plaza is highlighted in the program due to its considerations for implementation and partnership strategies.

The presentation is scheduled for Monday, October 1st at 3:30pm and is entitled Greening America's Capitals: Landscape Architects Take Charge! For more information or to register for the Conference and Expo, please click here.

Please check back as Origin 4 Design prepares for Phoenix!

Laura Patterson-Santore Appionted to RTC Board

Origin4Design, LLC — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:21:00 +0000

Origin 4 Design would like to congratulate Laura Patterson-Santore on being appointed as the Fayette County Representative to the Regional Trail Corporation Board of Directors.

The Regional Trail Corporation is a non-profit partnership whose mission is to acquire, develop, and manage appropriate trail corridors in southwestern Pennsylvania and to create and promote opportunities for recreation, tourism, economic development and historic and environment conservation. The trail network is part of the Great Allegheny Passage and extends over 43 miles throughout southwestern Pennsylvania connecting urban and rural communities, historic areas, and natural areas by utilizing rail corridors and share-the-road initiatives.

To learn more about the RTC, please click here.

To learn more about the Great Allegheny Passage, please click here.

A New Streetscape for Abby's Gold & Gems.

Origin4Design, LLC — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:20:28 +0000

Origin 4 Design recently completed a new streetscape concept for Abby's Gold & Gems in Uniontown, PA. Abby's is located along Morgantown Road, near the heart of Downtown Uniontown. The location is a mix of business, and residential, with many of the businessnes located in victorian-era homes.

The goal of the transformation is to utilize some of the mature plantings while introducing others for a more complete plantscaping. We also aimed to make Abby's more friendly to the neighborhood, including pedestrians and vehicular traffic.

The above rendering illustrates Abby's storefront as envisioned by O4D. The photograph below is the existing streetscape.

Origin 4 Design looks forward to spring, so that we can further assist Abby's streetscape transformation.

Happy New Year!

Origin4Design, LLC — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:57:59 +0000

Eco-Designers Guild UPDATE: From Design to Build

Origin4Design, LLC — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:30:00 +0000

We posted earlier about my (Rebecca's) work with the Penn Avenue Green + Screen project. Here's an update...

The Spaks Lot group has made lots of progress on the site and benches are in production. Yea! We plan to keep chugging through the winter and install the benches in the spring.

The bench is very closely resembling the early renderings that Matt Zambelli did. Now that we're in fabrication, there have been many details that are requiring lots of time and play. It's safe to say that we kinda underestimated the complexity of creating this design with re-used and off-the-shelf materials. Good news is that we're still enjoying it and learning as we go.

Due to the carpentry and metal-working tools required, we moved some of the finer production to my parent's basement, where my dad has been amassing his tool and equipment collection for the last 40+ years (I think he built the house around some of this stuff). Dad has also saved-the-day by bringing his know-how to several of the details.

Last week, a five foot section of the bench made its debut on Penn Ave. for our volunteer appreciation night at Most Wanted Fine Art (and remains on display at MW through December). "Wow, it's actually kinda comfortable", was good to hear. Stay tuned!

Hot off the Presses! Slack Plaza Redesign News Articles

Origin4Design, LLC — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:56:48 +0000

The redesign of Slack Plaza is featured in Smart Growth America Online. Read the artcile here.

The Charleston Gazette also featured the redesign efforts in a recent article. Read the coverage here.

Slack Plaza Redesign Unveiled

Origin4Design, LLC — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:56:26 +0000

The Environmental Protection Agency along with Origin 4 Design released the final report this week on the Greening the Nation's Capitals program in Charleston, West Virginia. Charleston was one of five cities to pilot the national program. The program emphasied sustainable strategies for improved infrastructure and community while enhancing economic benefits to the areas served. The final report can be viewed on the EPA's offical program website.

The above photo illustrates the existing conditions of Slack Plaza: a barren, concrete expanse in the heart of Downtown Charleston. The current plaza has little activity or visual interest and is often criticized for its undesirable elements of crime, uninviting seating, and conflicting uses as transportation hub and pedestrian thoroughfare.

The proposed design concept, below, illustrates the potential for a vibrant civic space filled with art, activity, interest, and clear seperation of active and passive uses, including improved (and relocated) transportation and a more defined thoroughfare.

Origin 4 Design is excited to have participated in a nationally recognized revitalization effort. We would like to thank the individuals at the EPA and in Charleston who helped make the conceptual project a success. We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with the City of Charleston to advance implementation efforts.

Going green in Larimer

Origin4Design, LLC — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 16:30:48 +0000

Origin 4 Design, along with Paragon Land Development and PVE Scheffler, is working toward giving Larimer a new, green identity! We are working to bring the Larimer Environment and Energy Community Outreach (EECO) Center to life. Originally conceived by EDGE Studio and Fukui Architects, we are part of the design-build team working to make construction and operations affordable. The finsihed building and site is slated for completion in the fall.

The community center is to be located at the corner of Larimer Avenue and East Liberty Boulevard and will function as an energy efficiency education and resource center. The goal of the center is to connect the residents of Larimer to money saving green building technologies and programs while providing a community gathering place and resource for ongiong vacant lot stabilization and greening initiatives. The project is supported by the Urband Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Senator Jim Ferlo.

Origin 4 Design is currently working on the site sustainability features, including the relationship between the building and the site. The site will demonstrate several sustainable features for individual homeowners including a complimenting native plant pallette. Our concept rendering for this relationship is below.