Ecological design: An oxymoron

Ecological design suggests many things to many people.  To some it is “design about nature” where concepts of natural processes (typically ecological forms) are fore-fronted for educational or artistic purposes independently of ecological function.  To others the principle appears to be “design trumps nature” under the premise that ecological design imposes undesirable constraints on aesthetic form or other elements of the designed landscape.  Even to those where “design with nature” has been the guiding principle, its interpretation has taken on many forms.  These comparisons, it appears, are driven in some part by the idea that “ecology” and “design” – that is, purposeful transformation of space and material – are mutually exclusive: that any design activity transforms ecologic structure and function and therefore is undesirable.  We find these arguments to not be productive and instead suggest that design produces two transformations: a material transformation, but also a conceptual transformation, that is, a change in understanding and values.  The interface between these provides rich areas for experimentation.
The Emiquon Preserve is a backwater lake restoration project being undertaken by the Nature Conservancy along the Illinois River.  The restored environment replaces row crop agriculture with approximately 7,000 acres of wetland, bottomland and upland forest and prairie.  The restoration project requires a substantial visitor development component to explain to diverse audiences the purpose and outcomes of this major project.  Design of the visitor development facilities provides an example of a plan that merges restoration with landscape and structural design to achieve a complex set of desired outcomes.