Designing for Maintenance Panel

Seminar Description:
A beautiful design means nothing if it can't be maintained. This candid panel brings together a landscape architect, a landscape maintenance professional, and the latest research for an honest conversation about what happens when design and maintenance align — and when they don't. Panelists will explore real-world successes and cautionary tales from various landscape projects, with a focus on designing within realistic maintenance budgets, identifying chronic pain points in the field, and building the cross-disciplinary communication habits that lead to spaces that truly last. Attendees will leave with practical tools for bridging the design-to-maintenance gap on their next project.

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify common landscape design decisions that create downstream maintenance challenges as well as early collaboration methods between designers and maintenance professionals that can prevent them.

2. Evaluate how client maintenance budgets should inform design choices from the onset, including plant selection, hardscape, irrigation, and long-term material durability.

3. Apply practical strategies for fostering ongoing dialogue between Landscape Architects and maintenance crews to improve project outcomes, reduce costly corrections, and build more sustainable, maintainable spaces.