Experimental Design Competition 

 

The Experimental Design Competition (EXD), held on March 6th, 2015 was a collaborative venture of Mahan Rykiel Associates (MRA), Parks & People Foundation, Earth Stewardship Initiative, Yale University’s Urban Ecology and Design Laboratory, Baltimore Ecosystem Study, Bozzuto Group, War Horse LLC, Solstice Partners, and Francis Scott Key Elementary/Middle School. The initiative brought ecologists and design students together from universities around the region to develop a Designed Experiment at the Francis Scott Key School. The workshop challenged participants to transform an afforestation project into a living laboratory; exploring ideas about planting design (community composition, spatial arrangement), school greening (educational performance, social interaction), and landscape performance. There is now momentum building around engaging partners and evaluating ways to move the initiative forward towards implementation. Visit http://exdcompetition.weebly.com for more information.