The Cape Eleuthera Foundation, sponsor of the renowned Island School Semester Program and the Cape Eleuthera Institute, has contracted Whole Systems Design for master planning, site design and project communications. The Cape projects, located in the rural Bahamian archipelago, have become known over the past decade for leadership in sub-tropical sustainable island development. WSD is working with the Foundation to communicate the project's past accomplishments, plan the immediate and long-term developments of its dual-campus facility and communicate future endeavors of this sustainable development model. After conducting a planning charette in August, Whole Systems Design is currently designing new campus elements and planning the optimization of existing campus aspects in the formulation of a Master Plan. Visit www.islandschool.org and www.ceibahamas.org for more information on these inspirational organizations.  View Gallery

WSD outlines strategies for continuing the development of the Middlebury College Organic Garden into a leading model of ecological land use that addresses 21st century challenges in climate change, agriculture, ecology, & economics. The student organic garden site offers a unique opportunity to address these challenges through a learning landscape that sets new standards in education for sustainability and design for climate change.
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• Polyculture ponds
• Timber and stone bathhouse
• Polyculture orchards
• Green building timber framed studio and shop
• Understory gourmet mushroom cultivation
• Vernal pools, watercourses
• Integrated design for climate change

Set amid the northern hardwoods of Knoll Farm, the bathhouse serves as a communal bathing space for retreat participants. It was built to the highest ecological standards serving as an example of sustainable working landscape development for the conservation planners who attend the retreats. The structure includes a living roof, cob walls, local stone and a timber frame composed of trees from the site. This gallery covers some of the construction process from raw material to finished product.
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"Teal Farm represents a response to present conditions and the opportunity to not simply react but to redefine our presence on Earth. Teal Farm comprises a 1300-acre northern hardwood watershed, with streams, ponds, and high mountain pastures. The farm buildings are currently under construction to run on a state-of-the-art integrated renewable energy system and to express ecological design at its best. Agricultural activities will include extensive permaculture orchards, annual gardens, seed-saving, a small seasonal grass-based dairy, and on-site food processing, all powered by renewable energy. Teal Farm is a project of LivingFuture, a non-profit project collaborative whose mission is to create the conditions necessary to perpetually sustain life, and to expand human creative capacity."
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WSD planned the transformation of the existing dining center from an energy and cost intensive facility into an integrated dining and wellness center that yields food, energy, ecological restoration and learning opportunities.

The future site will serve as a living laboratory that extends course curricula beyond the indoor classroom walls. The site will be an example and testing ground for resource economics, applied ecology/agriculture, sustainable architecture, botany, soils and chemistry, hydrology, small business, and other studies. The construction and management of the site will engage students at many levels from sculpture and exterior art installation to researching soil chemistry, testing rain water before and after living roof treatment, researching crop yield improvements, collecting and starting seeds, growing foods from various cultures, harvesting, cooking, etc. The curricular uses of this working landscape are not limited to science however. The site can serve to ground abstract ideas encountered in history, art, language, music and philosophy and simply serve as a stimulating living outdoor classroom for many lessons that normally take place indoors.
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WSD conducted site analysis and outlined development challenges, opportunities and strategies for an innovative retreat center, natural healing facility, educational campus, summer camp, monastic setting, research and development center for Tibetan medicine, art gallery and art studio, and organic farm.
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Master plan, site design, watercourse installation with natural pools and waterfalls, fruit, nut and berry plantings, drainage work, stone sitting spaces.

Along with a team of summer campers, Whole Systems Design transformed an overgrown island of trees within a sports field into a playful, natural nook for campers to get out of the sun, gather in small groups and find quiet space away from the action. Elements include site-milled lumber, site-harvested stone, and blueberry border plantings. Whole Systems Design identified the overgrown grove and then facilitated a week-long program activity during which time campers designed the space, harvested the needed materials, and then planted and constructed the grove.

Master Plan and site design for new passive solar library addition, outdoor play space enhancement, drainage, pond classroom and edible learning landscape.