| Central South Carolina Home Will Test Sustainable Landscape Rating System |
Seneca, SC May 25, 2010 — The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) announced the selection of the Julia Frugoli and Harry Kurtz Platinum Certified
LEED® Home in Central, SC as one of the first landscapes to participate in a new program testing the nation’s first rating system for green landscape
design, construction and maintenance.
The Frugoli-Kurtz home will join 174 other pilot projects from 34 states as well as from Canada, Iceland and Spain as part of an international pilot project
program to evaluate the new SITES rating system for sustainable landscapes, with and without buildings. Sustainable landscapes can clean water, reduce
pollution and restore habitats, while providing significant economic and social benefits to land owners and municipalities.
SITES, a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and
the United States Botanic Garden, selected Fugoli-Kurtz home based on its extensive environmentally friendly elements. These sustainable practices
include: a totally enclosed rainwater collection and usage system, which will provide adequate water for irrigation of the entire landscape throughout the year
without utilizing any potable water sources. The system will also provide the opportunity to convert what is now existing lawn area into a wooded wildlife
habitat area adjoining the collection pond.
Frugoli-Kurtz home joins the Flight 93 National Memorial, the Smithsonian Institution’s African American History & Culture museum and other projects that
include academic and corporate campuses, public parks with hundreds of acres, transportation corridors and private residences of less than one acre.
The Frugoli-Kurtz home landscape plan was designed by SC Landscape Architect Nat Bradford of Eco-Art LLC in Seneca, SC; and was coincidentally
awarded all of the LEED® innovation project bonus points available for all categories – a first for landscape architecture in the United States. The site was
developed with a theme of sustainable water and energy use. Like the other pilot projects, the site will test the point system for achieving different levels of
site sustainability on a 250-point scale, and the performance benchmarks associated with specific credits within the Guidelines and Performance
Benchmarks 2009.
SITES will use feedback from this and the other selected projects during the pilot phase, which runs through June 2012, to revise the final rating system and
reference guide by early 2013. The U.S. Green Building Council, a stakeholder in the Sustainable Sites Initiative, anticipates incorporating the guidelines
and performance benchmarks into future iterations of its LEED® Green Building Rating System™.
More information is available at: http://www.sustainablesites.org. For general media queries about SITES, go to: http://www.sustainablesites.org/news/.
About the Sustainable Sites Initiative
The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) is an interdisciplinary partnership led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to transform land development and management practices
with the nation's first voluntary rating system for sustainable landscapes, with or without buildings. As these guidelines become the accepted practices by
professionals and non-professionals alike, they will transform the ways we design and build on the land, creating landscapes that nourish life for generations
to come. For more information, visit www.sustainablesites.org.
LEED® Home in Central, SC as one of the first landscapes to participate in a new program testing the nation’s first rating system for green landscape
design, construction and maintenance.
The Frugoli-Kurtz home will join 174 other pilot projects from 34 states as well as from Canada, Iceland and Spain as part of an international pilot project
program to evaluate the new SITES rating system for sustainable landscapes, with and without buildings. Sustainable landscapes can clean water, reduce
pollution and restore habitats, while providing significant economic and social benefits to land owners and municipalities.
SITES, a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and
the United States Botanic Garden, selected Fugoli-Kurtz home based on its extensive environmentally friendly elements. These sustainable practices
include: a totally enclosed rainwater collection and usage system, which will provide adequate water for irrigation of the entire landscape throughout the year
without utilizing any potable water sources. The system will also provide the opportunity to convert what is now existing lawn area into a wooded wildlife
habitat area adjoining the collection pond.
Frugoli-Kurtz home joins the Flight 93 National Memorial, the Smithsonian Institution’s African American History & Culture museum and other projects that
include academic and corporate campuses, public parks with hundreds of acres, transportation corridors and private residences of less than one acre.
The Frugoli-Kurtz home landscape plan was designed by SC Landscape Architect Nat Bradford of Eco-Art LLC in Seneca, SC; and was coincidentally
awarded all of the LEED® innovation project bonus points available for all categories – a first for landscape architecture in the United States. The site was
developed with a theme of sustainable water and energy use. Like the other pilot projects, the site will test the point system for achieving different levels of
site sustainability on a 250-point scale, and the performance benchmarks associated with specific credits within the Guidelines and Performance
Benchmarks 2009.
SITES will use feedback from this and the other selected projects during the pilot phase, which runs through June 2012, to revise the final rating system and
reference guide by early 2013. The U.S. Green Building Council, a stakeholder in the Sustainable Sites Initiative, anticipates incorporating the guidelines
and performance benchmarks into future iterations of its LEED® Green Building Rating System™.
More information is available at: http://www.sustainablesites.org. For general media queries about SITES, go to: http://www.sustainablesites.org/news/.
About the Sustainable Sites Initiative
The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) is an interdisciplinary partnership led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to transform land development and management practices
with the nation's first voluntary rating system for sustainable landscapes, with or without buildings. As these guidelines become the accepted practices by
professionals and non-professionals alike, they will transform the ways we design and build on the land, creating landscapes that nourish life for generations
to come. For more information, visit www.sustainablesites.org.
| ECO-ART, LLC LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Design, Build, Garden Care |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
