Fay Jones School Collaborates, Hosts Earth Day Project on Historic Site in Fayetteville

One of the completed components in the landscape installation. (Photos by Michelle Parks)

Students assess the parts for a component.

Students assemble a component.

Students fit together pieces of a component.

The project is installed in the landscape.

Photo by Michelle Parks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In honor of Earth Day last month, University of Arkansas students and professors designed and built a landscape installation at a private walnut grove off Drake Street in Fayetteville.

Several Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design landscape architecture students created this environmental sculpture to learn more about landscape architecture, design and the historical background of the site. They worked on site much of the day April 23 to install the piece, which consisted of several components.

Carl Smith, an associate professor of landscape architecture, and Angela Carpenter, a visiting assistant professor — both in the Fay Jones School — collaborated with Edmund Harriss, a clinical assistant professor of mathematics in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. The trio spent several months planning the design and installation event. The site was chosen because of its physical, historical and cultural properties, and the stories of the land, Smith said.

"I had worked on this particular piece of land last semester with a design studio, and I knew how beautiful it was. And so I thought Edmund and Angie would be interested in a collaboration with me where did something that was creative and fun," Smith said. "It is a remarkable place; it has a long history. It's not just an agricultural area. It's an area that has also been used for agricultural experimentation by Professor Noah Drake in the early part of the 20th century."

The site has agricultural ruins, and curiosities as well, Smith said. The family who lives there and takes care of the land is invested in its future not just as property but also as a beautiful space, he said.

Smith and Harriss had wanted to collaborate on a project together for several years, and they have been working on this design since last fall. Their inspiration for the project came from the setting of the site. After deciding to work within the walnut grove, the two professors applied for a grant to develop the project, Harriss said.  

The project came together mainly through collaboration between the three professors. Carpenter was co-teaching with Smith at the time the project was being developed, Smith said.

Though they all come from different backgrounds, the group was able to bring their own set of skills to the project. For example, Harriss made parametric computer models that would eventually determine the design and the placement of the pieces in the landscape installation.

"We started to get a general sense of what we wanted to achieve, how we wanted to explore the site, and then started to pick through some ideas," Harriss said. "Once we had some vague ideas, we then went to the hardware store and started pricing things out. And so it came out through discussion and exploring options."