Reining in: applying the sustainable sites initiative to equestrian facility design

Abstract

The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SSI) put forth by the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is a set of standards which promotes sustainable land development and management practices. The SSI allows the role of the landscape architect to become increasingly important with society’s push to be sustainable. This has become evident with the involvement of landscape architects in projects not traditionally associated with the profession. Equestrian facilities that were once designed solely by “horse people” are now being designed by architects and landscape architects. Equestrian facilities are complex developments that have multiple functions and needs, most importantly being the safety of the horse and rider. Kansas State University has determined a need for a new facility to host the equestrian needs of the campus and has chosen a site located near the corner of Kimball Avenue and Denison Avenue, north of the main campus. Using the location chosen by K-State as a hypothetical site, a program for the EquiCenter was developed to meet the needs of the Animal Science Program, the equestrian and rodeo teams and the Equine Assisted Human Development and Rehabilitation Program. Precedent studies informed the early stages of this project and a thorough review of the SSI led to a selection of credits for application in this project. The selected credits were then applied to the equestrian facility program and the site in a design process. Evaluation of the design concepts yielded a determination regarding the ability of this facility to receive a sustainability rating. Due to constraints of the site and the SSI, it has been determined that the K-State EquiCenter will not be eligible to be rated sustainable under the Sustainable Sites Initiative. The SSI presented unique challenges in developing the equestrian facility. These challenges presented opportunities to discuss limitations and recommend changes to the SSI that may allow equestrian facilities to receive a sustainability rating in the future.