I’m often asked what The Penland Studio is working on at the moment. Here’s a partial list:

• Several local Churches
• Several mid-sized hotels in the Southeastern US
• Plans for restoration of a damaged aquatic buffer
• A new Greenway along Neyland Drive
• A new riverfront park in South Knoxville
• Several residential Master Plans
• A new Chipotle restaurant
• Several residential improvements such as a custom potting shed, landscaping new homes, correcting drainage problems
• A new Fine Arts facility on the ETSU campus
• Various consulting

Yes, life gets a little crazy when working on projects at vastly different stages of development, summer vacations, scout camps and planning boards, but I LOVE IT!

I hope to find time to update photos and projects on this website soon. Besides showing new projects, it’s fun to see photos of sites and landscapes as they mature. One of my mentors once said, “Architecture looks the best it ever will on the day construction is completed, but Landscape Architecture looks the worst it ever will when construction is completed.” I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions, but it is true that well-designed plants and the landscape tend to improve as they mature.

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A lush, green lawn is a beautiful thing. Everyone has different standards and ideas when it comes to lawns. Some tolerate weeds while others bend over backwards for perfection. There are a variety of sustainable concepts which include landscapes with no lawns, use of native grass species, subterranean drip irrigation and MUCH more.

In my opinion, however, lawns are critical design components which allow vistas, carpet outdoor spaces, provide opportunities for passive and active recreation and enhance the beauty of planting beds and beautiful edges. In the mid-south and northeast, fescue is often the lawn species of choice. It tolerates a fair amount of shade and maintains it’s green color throughout winter, concealing many of the winter weeds. A thick, healthy lawn will choke out many weeds.

This is the best time of year in the Southeastern US to seed, patch, overseed or repair fescue lawns. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Fescue seed needs to germinate before the first frost. Ideal planting times are from mid-September to mid-October
2. Fescue can be planted in spring and will do fine, but the roots don’t have enough time to develop before summer, so lawns seeded in spring generally don’t establish well and look awful by mid summer. Sod is often used to avoid this, but costs much more than seed.
3. Personally, I’ve not had much success with seed mixes designed specifically for shade. My advice is to use a good quality blend of fescue cultivars selected for your area. Most garden centers carry such blends.Using a blend of 3 cultivars gives your lawn a better chance for success during season variations such as the heavy rainfall we experienced this summer.
4. Aeration is a good idea before overseeding. Grass seed must be in direct contact with damp soil to germinate. Aerating not only provides deeper water and oxygen for the entire lawn, but it provides some soil surface for the new seed.
5. De-thatching is a method of removing excess, dead clippings to expose more soil surface. Raking is great exercise, but can be daunting for large lawns. De-thatchers can be rented, but a simple, quick & inexpensive solution is to use a back-pack blower pointed close to the ground. 
6. Keep the soil and seed damp until it germinates. Germination generally takes about two weeks.
7. Once the lawn is 1.5-2″ tall, reduce water to more typical levels (deep watering 2 or 3 times per week or let nature do it’s thing.)
8. Wheat straw is not required, but does slow down the evaporation of water and gives the young seedlings some shade while building strength. I generally don’t recommend straw for overseeding, but prefer it for bare patches ore new planting areas which have no other vegetation.
9. Starter fertilizer is applied at the same time as seeding. The high nitrogen content helps the top, green part of the plants grow more quickly and deepen in color.
10. Fescue is a cool-season grass. It grows readily in temperatures from 40-75 degrees. In winter, it goes dormant, but retains it’s green color. In summer, it grows until becoming too stressed from drought at which point it goes dormant and often turns brown. Keep in mind that the roots are usually still alive and will produce new blades of grass in fall.

Best of luck with your lawn. Please do not hesitate to contact The Penland Studio or your lawn-care professional with questions or concerns.

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The Penland Studio was honored to participate in the Design Team, led by Architects Wright, in the 2011 renovation. One of the unique site features of this project includes outdoor fire pits located near the building’s entrance.

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Located on an extremely tight site nestled into a neighborhood park locally known as ‘Dragon Park’ (for it’s mosaic dragon playground), Ruby presented some interesting challenges. The large lawns of the park, shaded by mature hardwoods provide a wonderful sense of scale, however the property lines of the structure provide only a few feet on either side and space for courtyards in the front and back.  Plants were carefully selected t0 enhance outward views into the park, to respect the modern style of the architectural renovation and to require minimal water and maintenance.  The courtyards were designed with plants of special interest for the patrons and, again, to reflect the clean lines of the modern style.

The Nashville chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) honored Ruby with an Excellence in Development Award on May 3rd. We’re extremely proud and humbled to be part of this project and wish Ruby unprecedented success.

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I would like to congratulate CDM Smith  for winning the Grand Iris Award  from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee for their work on the John J. Duncan Jr. Knoxville Station Transit Center.  http://www.cityofknoxville.org/Press_Releases/Content/2012/0316b.asp  The Grand Iris is the highest level of engineering awards for the State!

The Penland Studio – Landscape Architecture has been busy with projects ranging from residential to institutional at various stages from design through construction administration. We’ve also been consulting with another local landscape architecture firm to assist with development of construction drawings for an exciting public park in Johnson City, TN.

The Min Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building at the University of Tennessee was dedicated in March.http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/mar/14/min-kao-haslam-dedicate-new-engineering-building/ The landscape installation is nearing completion and we’ll be posting photos soon.

We’re working on updates to our website, www.penlandstudio.com. Look for a freshened appearance in the upcoming months.

We’ve been interviewed for an article about formal backyard gardens by LandscapingNetwork.com. We’ll post a link when the article, featuring one of my favorite residential projects, is published.

Also keep an eye out for an upcoming blog about the recent improvements in landscape irrigation technology.  We’ll talk about how the new generation of inexpensive controllers can offer truly automated watering, giving each plant no more and no less water than needed while reducing your water bills!

Thank you for your continued support and happy gardening!

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The Penland Studio might be able help.  How about giving that special person a gift certificate for a Landscape Master Plan?  As we’ve discussed in other posts, Master Plans are individually customized tools which homeowners can use to improve the aesthetics, function, personalization and value of their property.  For holiday gifts, we can arrange the details discretely and provide you with a Certificate to present as the gift, with the design and documents to be provided throughout the following year.

In sincere appreciation of the growth we’ve experienced during the sluggish economy, The Penland Studio is offering a 10% discount on Professional Services  for the first five (5) Residential Master Plans under contract prior to January 1, 2012.  For reference, fees for Master Plans of single-family homes on less than 2 acres are typically between $1500 and $2500.  For this promotion, a signed agreement and a deposit of $250 will be required, with the remaining fees due after services have been rendered.  Simply call or email Ben Pethel (bpethel@penlandstudio.com / 865-335-3584) and mention this post to receive your discount!

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http://www.pitchengine.com/bullocksmithpartners/knoxville-transit-center-design-honored–again

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Design Professionals, such as Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers, produce Construction Documents.  These documents typically include drawings and written specifications which describe the materials, components and assemblies which a Contractor will construct, install and/or provide for the client (Owner).

The Design Professional has a contract (agreement) with the Owner to provide the Construction Documents.  The Contractor has a separate agreement with the Owner to provide, construct and install what is described in the Construction Documents.

Each agreement describes the scope of what will be provided.  The Design Professional will obviously be providing the drawings, but we may also offer “Construction Administration.”  This service relates to the construction phase of a project.  In summary, it states that the Designer will visit the project site during construction and observe the Contractor’s work to make sure it complies with the Construction Documents and report any discrepancies.  In addition, the Designer will be available to answer questions or provide clarifications about the Construction Documents.

Because the time required for the site visits, reports, questions and submittals may equal or exceed the time required to produce the Construction Documents, this service may result in fees which are more than double the cost of the drawings alone.

The Penland Studio considers Construction Administration to be essential and we include it for all Construction Documents we provide.  From our point of view, it is critical to ensure that projects are constructed as designed, without shortcuts or unapproved changes, and that we are available to assist with the changes that inevitably occur during construction.

Owners concerned about the fees must keep in mind that our Agreement is completely separate for the Construction Agreement.  We are working FOR the Owner and working to ensure that they get what’s described in the Construction Documents.  Let’s face it, even great Contractors are seeking a profit and the Owner may not have the time or construction knowledge to recognize deviations from the documents.  Having the Design Professional who provided the Construction Documents provide Construction Administration ensures that Contractor is held accountable for providing what is specified and typically pays for itself several times over in cost savings during construction, while keeping the Owner informed throughout the construction process.

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A few months ago, I was doing some consulting work with another LA firm in downtown Knoxville.  After a busy morning in the office, I walked to Market Square and got an ice cream cone.  While enjoying the ice cream on a bench on a beautiful spring day, I watched children playing in the fountain, people enjoying lunches at cafes, friends running into each other and stopping to talk, a street musician playing a reggae version of ‘Brown-eyed Girl,’ city dwellers walking their dogs and a group of teenagers chatting on the lawn beneath the sawtooth oaks.  Although my role in redeveloping Market Square and the adjacent Krutch Park was limited to Design Development drawings, Construction Drawings and Construction Administration, it was wonderful to see people using and enjoying the space.  That HAS to be the best part about being a Landscape Architect!

A close second, however, would be the opportunity to work on so many different types of projects.  Yesterday, for example, I spent time working on an estate residence, a modest residence, a client’s dream back-yard, and a recently-completed corporate office.  Not only is every project unique, but the types vary in size and complexity.  A project might be a 100 SF area, an acre or two or my personal record of a 524 mile greenway/park system.  Similarly, the complexity varies. Whether the design is master planning, grading, detailing, paving, planting, lighting or irrigation,  it can be simple or complex.  Although it may sound boring to some, one of my favorite projects involved a high-security prison. I savored the process of  plotting potential escape routes as if I were an inmate and verifying that they were secure with fences, cameras, clear site lines, etc., making adjustments as necessary, all while respecting a protected wetland adjacent to the site!

And finally, my third favorite thing about Landscape Architecture is getting to do something different EVERY day.  Some days are in the office and may involve design, drawing, research, contracts, proposals, or submittal review.  As a small business owner, there are invoices and accounting.  Other days might involve site visits, meeting with clients, meeting with other professionals or visiting nurseries.  And occasionally, I get to spend time enjoying the spaces I helped create!

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