Preston Montague
“Common Ground: Building a Model for Biophilic Urban Infrastructure”
On February 17, we welcome Preston Montague to Hughes Main Library for a presentation on South Carolina’s rare flora.
As part of his artist residency at Dix Park, a sprawling 308-acre central park in Raleigh, NC, landscape architect Preston Montague worked with the city and a range of partners to create constructed grasslands as an integral component of the urban green infrastructure.
This presentation offers a behind-the-scenes look at the mechanics that made the project successful, including cross-disciplinary collaborations with government agencies, non-profits, and private businesses, and the development of innovative horticultural products and design specifications.
Preston will share how lessons from the Dix Park grasslands informed updates to best practices in land management, erosion control, and stormwater management. These innovations demonstrated that constructed grasslands are vital tools for environmental protection, habitat development, and cultural expression that support a city’s biophilic aspirations, which aim to integrate natural elements such as plants, water, natural light into the environment.
All are welcome at this free event.
For information on how to attend this meeting, please visit the Meeting Event Page.
BIO:
Preston is a landscape architect and artist working to strengthen relationships between people and the natural world. His environmental design studio deploys art, horticulture and landscape architecture in the service of building places that have meaning and ecological depth. When not in the studio, Preston enjoys teaching landscape architecture at North Carolina A&T State University and hiking the wilder places. www.prestonmontague.com
