Engaging Our Grounds: First International Conference on Schoolyard Transformation in United States

Announcing: Engaging Our Grounds

Conference: September 16–18, 2011, Berkeley & San Francisco, California

We want to recommend an inspiring, upcoming conference, a delightful colleague and the great book that she has written.  Sharon Gamson Danks is the author of the widely acclaimed book, Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Trans­for­mation (New Village Press, 2010).  Sharon is an environmental planner and founding partner of Bay Tree Design in Berkeley, CA.  As a researcher, writer and hands-on designer and planner, she has visited and documented over 200 green schoolyard and park projects in North America, Europe, Great Britain, and Japan and has helped over three dozen schools transform their grounds into vibrant ecosystems for learning and play.

Ashley and I met Sharon a number of years ago when my sister-in-law, Susan Boyd, of Sustainable Communities online introduced us.  Sharon guided the three of us on an extensive tour of public school gardens in Berkeley, California and we were inspired by the work of students, teachers and parents all over the city.  Sharon's beautiful and practical book was published last year and we recommend it to every school and all teachers with whom we work.  It is a terrific resource no matter what stage of this process you are involved in.

In two weeks, Sharon and a host of other international experts are offering the first international conference on this subject to take place in the United States.  This conference is co-hosted by Bay Tree Design, inc., the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, and Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility.  We have told everyone we know about it.

Invited visionary leaders of the school ground movement from Canada, England, Germany, Japan and Sweden will share their experiences, case studies, and best practices. Speakers include:

-  Dr. Petter Åkerblom, Movium & Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Uppsala, Sweden)

-  Cam Collyer, Evergreen (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

-  Manfred Dietzen, Grün macht Schule (Berlin, Germany)

-  Mary Jackson and Julie Mountain, Learning through Landscapes (Winchester, England)

-  Dr. Ko Senda, Environment Design Institute (Tokyo, Japan)

-  Bernard Spiegal, Playlink (London, England)

-  Birgit Teichmann, Teichmann Landschafts Architekten (Berlin, Germany)

The conference’s schoolyard tours include four schoolyards in San Francisco where during the last decade schools have transformed their traditional, paved, urban schoolyards into a vibrant outdoor learning and play spaces.  Also included are three inspiring sites in Berkeley: The Edible Schoolyard; the City of Berkeley’s Adventure Playground; and an elementary school with a green schoolyard created by the school community.

To learn more about the conference visit the conference website.  We imagine that attending this conference will feel as though you have walked right into Sharon's book and it has come alive!

Middlebury College Solar Decathlon Home

We are lucky to be in Middlebury, Vermont in the summers.  We are especially lucky this summer as we are able to witness an amazing happening...a team of 70 Middlebury College students working around the clock to design and build a solar house on campus that will travel to Washington D.C. in the fall for a huge international competition.  We are proud Middlebury alumni and we are following the progress closely.  We have written about this event in our summer newsletter.  In our newsletter we feature exemplary student work and helpful resources.  If you would like to receive several Cadwell Collaborative newsletters a year, you can sign up here. To learn more about the Solar Decathlon and the Middlebury College Solar Home visit their student designed and managed website and blog.  Every two years, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition illuminates the National Mall with a working display of energy innovation in action.  One of the most ambitious and inspiring events in the country, it challenges 20 collegiate teams to demonstrate inventive, clean-energy solutions by building solar-powered houses that feature cost-effective, energy-efficient construction and incorporate energy-saving appliances and renewable energy systems.

The Solar Decathlon has grown into one of the most highly anticipated design competitions ever held.  Thousands of people visit the National Mall to see and experience the practical housing solutions developed by competing teams: real-world solutions that are available today.  To tour the Middlebury team's solar home and the other 19 entries, plan a trip to the National Mall in Washington D.C. between September 13-Oct 2.   Find out more about the competition by visiting the Solar Decathlon website.

Middlebury is the first ever liberal arts college to enter the U.S. Solar Decathlon alone.  By combining past paradigms with current technologies, they are designing and building a home that exemplifies a truly comprehensive view of sustainability...a New England farmhouse for the 21st century.  Students hold all leadership positions, and are assisted by two faculty advisors who specialize in architecture and construction.  Along with designing and building the home, the Middlebury team strives to spread the spirit of environmental innovation.  Their outreach mission is to engage people of all ages in interactive activities about green building, clean energy, and sustainability.  They hope that their project will inspire others to be as excited as they are about creatively confronting the environmental challenges of this generation. We recommend this news story featured on WCAX.