U.S. Courthouse’s Sustainable Landscape Among First SITES Certified Projects
Rios Clementi Hale Studios Raises Standard for Innovative Green Landscape Design

LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2014—The Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse’s landscape retrofit—designed by Los Angeles-based, multi-disciplinary design firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios—is among the first federal projects to earn a Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) certification, a new points-based rating system for sustainable landscapes.  In 2010, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) commissioned Rios Clementi Hale Studios to create a model of sustainable landscape renovation using innovative, cost-saving solutions.  The courthouse was part of a select group of pilot projects chosen for the SITES rating system.

      
  Each project was tested and assessed to achieve comprehensive site sustainability, per the SITES system’s 250-pointscale.  Rios Clementi Hale Studios’ design earned 129 points to receive its SITES two-star certification.  “Our goal was to create a cohesive exemplary landscape using existing site elements and innovative technologies, while resituating the exterior into a park-like setting rooted in rich ecological and cultural history,” said Samantha Harris, ASLA, LEED AP, SeniorAssociate at Rios Clementi Hale Studios.  “We wanted the new planting design to work in concert with the low garden walls, terraces, and pathways to gradually set the stage for the decorum, mission, and authority of the court and ideal of justice.”
 

  The Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse’s landscape, encompassing 3.3 acres (145,700 square feet), exemplifies the GSA’s “commitment to design excellence for the public spaces of existing federal buildings.”  Rios Clementi Hale Studios employed a diagonal arrangement of landscape features derived from contemporary abstractions of Pueblo patterning to create a bold, culturally based identity for the courthouse.  Visitors approach the main entrance by walking on orderly paths or by leisurely meandering through the landscape, which offers a beautiful environment to spend time among trees and native plants on a rejuvenated site in bustling downtown Albuquerque.
 

 “The SITES project has had an overall positive impact on operations and management,” said Stuart Blakely, SITES team member and GSA Property Manager for the Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse.  “Initial changes, such as reduced domestic water consumption, replacement of high-water use and fertilizer dependent plant species, and the switch to long life exterior fixtures such as LED, have significantly redirected the maintenance efforts at the GSA property.  The favorable reception from both tenants and visitors promotes pride in federal ownership.”
 

By replacing hardscape with a park-like setting, the landscape architects reduced potable water usage by 85% and decreased maintenance costs.  The economical and environmental elements enabling those savings include: installing a rainwater collection and reuse system; using solar panels atop pre-existing surfaces to supply 100% of the site’s energy needs; planting native vegetation in three zones to simplify landscape maintenance; and reusing some of the 21,000 square feet of hardscape that had been removed. 
 

 In addition, SITES guidelines consider how projects pertain to the culture of their surrounding communities.  It promotes sustainability awareness and education by offering a fold-out map and project website where citizens, community leaders, students, and other visitors can learn more about water and materials reuse, solar energy, habitat restoration, and site history. 
 

 SITES is a partnership of prestigious, proactive stakeholders in advanced sustainability: the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin, the United States Botanic Garden, and the U.S. Green Building Council, which envisions incorporating SITES guidelines into future versions of the council’s LEED green building rating system. 
 

For more information visit https://www.rchstudios.com/gsa-domenici-courthouse/