Courtesy images | Kaleb Samuelson
Illustrations by Kaleb Samuelson were included in the students’ presentation to University of Nebraska Technology Park staff. These illustrations were used to demonstrate Samuelson and Dusty Jonas’s vision for the Park’s landscape.
The landscape architecture program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln took the challenge of creating a plan to update the landscape surroundings at the University of Nebraska Technology Park. The project was a final assignment for their senior landscape design class. Kaleb Samuelson and Dusty Jonas, both senior horticulture-agriculture sciences and natural resources majors, chose the Technology Park project for the class.
“We saw areas in need of improvements,” said Samuelson. “It is a great area, but there is some soil erosion from water, and we decided to add prairie to control the erosion.”
“I actually live near the Technology Park,” said Jonas. “I drive by the Park every day and thought it would be a great challenge, because it is such a big space.”
Samuelson and Jonas’s project aimed to create a landscape that was inviting and sustainable for development in the future. In the students’ presentation, they suggested putting planting areas next to the Technology Development Center to help unify landscapes with other buildings and projects at the Park.
Suggestions included using plant material to bring attention to signs, remove unwanted trees and elevate soil. The students provided a list of plant material to use based on what would grow well in the environment. Low maintenance, low water and low input plants are best for the Park, according to Jonas.
Jackie Swanson, operations manager at the University of Nebraska Technology Park, said ideas used in the students’ presentation will be used in the future. After approval, Swanson hopes to begin the first of three phases by planting grass seed.
The landscape design class was one of the last classes Jonas needed to graduate in May. He enjoyed the real-life experience of working with actual clients rather than “arbitrary assignments.” “The employees at the Technology Park knew what they wanted and were open to our ideas,” he said.
“The project taught me how to look at the whole picture yet pay attention to smaller details,” said Samuelson. “I learned more about different chemicals, the instillation of prairie and research in general.”