ML+A was the landscape design consultant for the renovation of a 3 acre area of the TreePeople Center for Community Forestry. Located at the top of Coldwater Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, TreePeople is one of Southern California’s most notable grass-roots environmental organizations. The 45-acre Coldwater Canyon Park is the home of TreePeople who’s mission is to inspire the people of southern California to take personal responsibility and participate in making the region a healthy and sustainable urban environment.
The landscape improvements provide interactive educational elements and passive recreation features which embody the organization’s vision. The project includes a rainwater harvest parking grove with a 216,000-gallon underground cistern, an environmental education and learning center, an urban watershed demonstration garden, TreePeople nursery operations facility and donor gardens. Bioswales collect run-off and rainwater through a streambed in the watershed demonstration garden showing how water traverses through the city fabric. This exhibit allows children and adults to interact close-up in this non-static watershed display. The new nursery cares for trees and native plants for planting restoration programs. The parking grove is sloped to direct rainwater into drains and gravel-filled trenches that is networked to the cistern for irrigation. The light-colored paving reduces the urban heat island effect by reflecting solar energy. A planting palette of drought tolerant shrubs and trees were selected and designed in a garden planned for long term growth. The hilltop center is also anchored by an existing conference center completed in 2003 that demonstrates principles of sustainable design, recycled and natural building materials, and energy efficiencies.
