Farragut Outdoor Classroom Helps Promote Educational Opportunities Through Environmental Stewardship

Creating public spaces that bring a community together is one of the goals of the Land Planning and Recreation team at McGill Associates. The team strives to create sustainable public spaces that encourage cultural, environmental, and economic investment. Engaging the community in a project often generates the long-term support necessary for a public space to be properly utilized and cared for into the future. When the design of the space incorporates an interactive public education element, engagement levels rise.

The outdoor classroom in Farragut, Tennessee, is one such public space.

Located on Campbell Station Road in Farragut, Tennessee, the classroom is an interactive park on a 1.4-acre tract that has an emphasis on water quality and public education. But this is not a traditional park setting. The space demonstrates best management practices in order to reduce stormwater runoff. The use of multiple types of pervious surfaces for trails, pathways, and parking areas and the placement of rain gardens, bio-retention areas, adaptive landscaping, and rainwater harvesting demonstrate sustainable practices that integrate environmentally conscious concepts with low-impact development techniques. Best of all, the public is educated on the importance of reducing stormwater runoff and the sustainable features used in the process.

McGill Associates provided surveying, landscape architecture, and civil engineering services to develop the project from concept through the construction phase.

The interactive classroom was also created to provide a space for the community to generate projects that nurture a greater sense of community engagement and understanding of the natural world. The classroom has hosted planting, rain garden, and building projects by Boy Scout and Eagle Scout groups, high school and college students, and other local organizations. Groups and individuals can submit a proposal for a project or volunteer for a service project by contacting the Town of Farragut.