2010 - The Community Design Collaborative and local nonprofits have benefited many times from the sustainability savvy of landscape architect Tavis Dockwiller. Tavis, principal of Viridian Landscape Studio, has volunteered on five Collaborative projects. For her, landscape architecture is not just about understanding biological processes but enhancing the spaces in which we live, “Design is important because it reveals the beauty in place and people need beauty.”
Tavis and her firm had a hand in developing a conceptual design for a sustainable master plan at the Cook-Wissahickon School in Roxborough and a neighborhood open space for the Mural Arts Advocates that will highlight local ecological diversity and help reunite adjudicated youth with their community. More recently, she lent her expertise as part of a design charrette organized by the Collaborative as part of Infill Philadelphia to explore the temporary use of former industrial sites.
Tavis says that Collaborative projects allow her to think innovatively about big picture solutions while providing community groups with implementable plans and long-term visions. “I think you should give back to the community and I enjoy doing this with the Collaborative because it is such a thoughtful and coordinated process.”
Each project has been unique, according to Tavis, but all the clients have been very thankful for the skilled work of the volunteers and excited about the work. The conceptual landscape design she helped craft for the Cook-Wissahickon School energized the school community and gave them a big dream for their schoolyard. “There is a hunger for these projects,” she observes.
The Collaborative has also led to consulting opportunities for Viridian Landscape Studio and a chance for meeting people who are thinking alternatively. After providing pro bono help transform a brownfields site into the Overbrook Environmental Education Center, Viridian was hired to help refine and implement the design. Viridian was also hired along with SMP Architects and Meliora Environmental Design to create a new sustainable schoolyard for Greenfield Elementary School, a project that was kickstarted through a Collaborative service grant.
Tavis was drawn to landscape architecture because it combined her interests in science and art as well as her love for the outdoors. In her practice, she has integrated these interests to think about sustainable design from a holistic and ecological systems perspective. She says, "My work is about putting ecology back on an appropriate trajectory, revealing the beauty in natural systems and finding ways to make the natural more accessible to people."
