Loyola Water | Orchard | Mediation Garden

On February 21st, 2015  EcoVidalDesign, Inc. Principal, Carmen Vidal-Hallett participated on a design competition together with 9 undergraduate Loyola students. The team  designed a proposed  Water | Orchard | Meditation garden for the historic  lakefront  mansion  designed by architect George Maher  in 1916 and located on Loyola campus at 6330 North Sheridan. The design was inspired by the Maher's floral-theme details around and inside the mansion and the meditation area follows the proportions of nature's golden spiral found in shell animals.
The  proposed rain garden will collect the rain water from the house downspouts forming a delightful  perennial bird habitat including a bird "hotel" (miniature of the Maher house). The orchard and berries-garden will feed and please visitors and birds. A mural,  proposed to be designed by Loyola students, will be a pleasant background under the shade of the fruit trees creating several "outdoor rooms".  The permeable paths and plaza will provide gathering space and a promenade directing people to the meditation and lake overlook areas.
We are now waiting for the  competition results. We are competing with 6 other  teams with very good designers and Loyola students. See below our design concept and the students imagining the garden and putting into a plan during the design charrette. The floral plaza theme was designed by Emilia Vidal-Hallett and the 3D rendering by Gabriel Vidal-Hallett. Enjoy it!

Happy 2015 from EcoVidalDesign, Inc.

Dear friends of EcoVidalDesign, Inc.: We wish you all a very happy and productive 2015! During the last year we have been able to experiment several new ideas and projects. We are excited to share some of our company's high lights for 2014 including:

1) Working for the Chicago Park District  on more than 25 playground renovations  (mainly on the south side of Chicago) in  collaboration with Urban Works architecture,

2) The creation of the Sustainable Development Program for High School students with After School Matters  empowering  and teaching teens to demand green urban development in their homes and communities.

3) Several EVD public presentations of sustainable practices including the Americas' Latino  EcoFestival in Bolder Colorado and the Partners of the Americas 50th Anniversary in Florianopolis, Parana, Brazil. 

We are ready to continue  to make peoples' visions in to green realities and to empowering communities to save the world! 

Partners of the Americas 50th Anniversary

Carmen Vidal-Hallett, EVD President 

participated on the Partners of the Americas 50th  Anniversary 

celebration  in Florianopolis, Brazil on September 22-26th 2014.  She presented 10 years of exchanges in architecture and urban planning between Chicago and Brazil and received an award for her performance.  She met with other professional in the field of sustainable development to discuss the possibilities of developing similar projects in Pensilvania, USA and Manaus, Brazil. The conference was attended by more than 500 representatives of the Americas.

Americas Latino Eco-Festival Boulder-Weekly post about Carmen Vidal-Hallett and Leticia Almino

http://npaper-wehaa.com/boulder-weekly/#2014/09/04/?article=2323521

Americas Latino Eco-Festival

Heading to Bolder, Colorado to the Americas Latino Eco-Festival to present:
Best Practices of Sustainability in the Americas: Built environmental examples in Brazil, Colombia and Chicago. Join us!https://www.facebook.com/AmericasLatinoFestival

  YOU ARE INVITED TO:

THE GLOBAL CAFE series which aims at reflecting and engaging participants on important issues of our global city and society. For more information, please visit: www.weinstitute.org/globalcafe.

ECO VIDAL DESIGN WILL PRESENT:

Wednesday, April 30, 2014, 5:45 p.m.Neighborhood Design & Development: Lessons from South America Hosted by Dr. Marco Tavanti. Part of the School of Public Service, Global Café Series. Location: School of Public Service, Dublin Suite, 14 E. Jackson, Chicago, IL. Speakers include Carmen Vidal-Hallett (International Associate AIA, LEED AP Eco-Vidal Design Principal), Dr. Marco Tavanti (SPS) and Dr. Joe Schwieterman (SPS). This event is free, but space is limited. To RSVP, email: Chaddick@depaul.edu for details.

International Women's day

On Friday March 7th, 2014 I was invited to talk at International Trade Club of Chicago Union League Club of Chicago  http://www.chicagowomensday.org/speakers/ for  International Women's Day. I was asked to represent Brazil & Spain women in architecture. It was a wonderful honor to talk infront of 400 women representing Chicago and the world. I presented a bit of my professional experience and told a short story about a turning point in my professional life  and specially about professional Brazilian women in architecture and environmental urban design and planning. For those of you who wish to hear the speech, we will down load it soon. Thank you for your support! The most rewarding thing was to meet at the end a few young Fulbright  scholar women from Latin America and other women who approached me to talk and share ideas. I hope I encouraged a few of them to continue working for a better place for women in the world's workforce.