SE Group Wins Three Vermont Public Places Awards

Creating public spaces that enrich communities through connections to the outdoors is the foundation of SE Group’s work. That’s why we are particularly proud of these awards, which recognize a wide variety of project-types that promote public uses and benefits here in the backyard of our Burlington office. The VT Public Spaces Awards are hosted every other year by the Vermont Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Vermont Planners Association, the Vermont Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and the Vermont Urban and Community Forest Program.

This year’s honorees included:

• Missisquoi Valley Rail Trails Marketing, Branding, & Wayfinding Project (Honor Award), which aimed to increase trail awareness for both local residents and potential visitors, enhance wayfinding and trail information, and better connect trail activity to local businesses for the popular MVRT trail. Key project deliverables included new a logo/branding guide, a redesigned website, a signage master plan, trail maps, and an interactive mobile app. The Path Less Pedaled also produced a video to explain the project and highlight this excellent recreational resource – be sure to check it out!

• The Kingdom Trails Network Capacity Study (Honor Award), a year-long planning process intended to address issues surrounding the capacity of the internationally renowned Kingdom Trails network and enhance the network’s positive impact on host communities and private landowners.

• Founder’s Hall and Rowland Courtyard at Burr & Burton Academy (Merit Award), which transforms the school campus by creating a new academic center and a central outdoor courtyard for the school community. The courtyard successfully ties the knot amongst the upper campus buildings, celebrates the local history using marble from the Dorset Quarry as a key design element, and emphasizes green infrastructure for stormwater treatment as an educational opportunity. The courtyard was designed to create spaces for large events and more intimately scaled spaces for smaller gatherings and outdoor lectures. The project is a win-win as it delivers great awareness to the school community about prioritizing “green” public space over a parking lot. This project was designed in collaboration with KATO and ZGF Architects.