Brad's design approach begins with a philosophy that public landscapes should be functional and self sustaining. In project work, Brad has cultivated a wide range of programme opportunities designed to involve the client and user with the landscape to encourage community members to take ownership of each site.
Brad’s methodology brings a strong commitment to public participation and post construction evaluation in design and focuses on the interrelationship between public and private space. Based on a comprehensive critique of Erskine's Byker Housing Redevelopment in Newcastle, G.B, this approach involves revisiting each site after occupation in order to evaluate the success of the design. Specific areas of study include urban plant material, pedestrian movement patterns and the dynamics of social interaction.
Inspired by his ongoing involvement with urban park and open space planning projects over the past forty years, Brad is exploring a New Urban Ecology for our public open spaces. By combining the fundamental principles of self sustaining qualities within the natural environment and indigenous plant associations with the technical realities of harsh urban microclimates, the new urban ecology process yields pragmatic landscape solutions within the context of environmental stewardship and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design based criteria.
