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    Coming Events:

    - We are excited to announce that April will be one of the 8 virtual speakers for CSU's 28th annual LA Days spring lecture series! Her talk, EAT-PLANT-DRAWDOWN, will feature APDW's climate positive projects on the west coast on March 3. Talks are free- register here: https://scasla.agsci.colostate.edu/

    - We are so honored that April Phillips Design Works has been awarded the 2020 Small Green Business of the year! Thank you San Rafael Chamber of Commerce.

    - April to speak on Eat Plant Drawdown: Why Designing for Climate Matters at the 2020 ASLA Oregon Annual Design Symposium at Oregon Zoo: Saturday, September 12th

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Are Autonomous Robots Taking Over the Garden?

April 15, 2019 by Gina Yang

in:

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APDW was happy to host Professor Corry Gallo from the Department of Landscape Architecture at Mississippi State University (MSU) as he tours the United States studying urban agriculture. April and Corry shared experiences on the implementation and impact of urban farms and discussed several of the case studies from April’s book – Designing Urban Agriculture. Professor Gallo was eager to share how April’s book has added to current student activities at MSU. Recently the MSU Landscape Architecture Department’s Design + Build course engaged in a hands-on design-to-construction class project that created a working community garden on the MSU Campus.

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The MSU Community Garden includes 30 raised beds and a fruit orchard which are all being utilized as an outdoor classroom, a community garden for students, and an active hub of community food systems research. Sustainable and innovative approaches include rain water collection from adjacent structures and two autonomous robots named “Farmbots”. This approach to testing new technology and monitoring the system’s productivity, coupled with it’s beautiful design is what makes this space unique. Demonstrating how design principles combined with research needs can create a meaningful outdoor space.

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This project was submitted to this year’s National ASLA Student Awards. APDW would like to offer a round of applause to Professor Gallo, along with the landscape architecture students and faculty of MSU for their inspiring design and creative work!