Our work is rooted in ecological design. In keeping with the threefold ethic of permaculture design, our designs serve to care for and rehabilitate the earth’s ecosystems, create productive agricultural ecologies that benefit individuals, families, communities and the wider world, and in turn, work to re-invest and share the surplus that we create.
Three primary participants inform our design and consulting work -
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The client -
The site
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The designer
We work with clients to help them clearly articulate their goals and vision for their lives and the landscape that nurtures them. Without an intimate and thorough exploration of the needs of the client, it is impossible to create thriving agricultural ecologies that reflect the spirit of the inhabitants and are in turn, natured by their maintenance. To download a brief document on the process of client ‘goals articulation, click here.
This is a crucial component of the design process and is in many ways the most challenging.
The landscape is a critical active participant in the design process. True ecological design is based on a thorough site analysis and assessment in which we take into account climate, water and topography, vegetation, buildings and infrastructure, access routes, microclimates, zones of use, legal constraints, soil and aesthetics. Using a design method known as ‘data overlay’, we create graphical layers that represent these site characteristics which are overlain onto a scale base map of the site. From this, we distill the predominant ecological characteristics and patterns that characterize the site, providing an invaluable resource with which to begin the design process.
And finally, the designer -
Our role as much as anything is to act as a facilitator and guide. While we bring years of experience and research into ecological systems to every project, we actually work to build connections between the goals and needs of the client and the ecological character of the site, ultimately creating a design that responds to both. This is true ecological design.
Depending on the situation, the depth and degree to which we carry out this process may vary, but the participants and processes always remain the same.
Design & Consultation
