Qualifications
We have helped many schools, churches, and historic sites in the Chesapeake Bay region move to the next step in their quest for sustainability.
We have developed sustainability guidelines, created campus matter plans, and designed sustainable landscapes at great schools in our area. PlaceMatters engages first-hand in the implementation of environmentally-based design initiatives at schools with a vision for greener futures, including:
- Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
- The Potomac School
- St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School: Three Campuses
- Maret School
- Springdale Montessori School
- District of Columbia Public Schools
- Arlington County Public Schools
To see how GREEN or GREY your school is, please take our free “Grey or Green” quiz and get feedback on your institution’s current standing – and more importantly, what steps to take to move to the goals of environmental sustainability.
PlaceMatters in the Classroom
PlaceMatters is committed to students learning through knowing their own campus environments.
We teach from your school site by studying its natural and cultural context. A student who understands the relationships between the trees, streams, soil, and occupants of her own school grounds is ready to comprehend regional, national, and global environmental concerns.
We lead students to problem-solve how to improve the relationships between people and the environment. Our topics range from “Stormwater on Your Roof” to “City Design with Nature in Mind” to “Cultural Heritage Gardens – Bring your Ancestors to the Garden.” We lead site design workshops, where the students study sun, water, wind, and surrounding influences before they propose a new project for their own school grounds. See projects page for more information.
PlaceMatters has 12 years of teaching experience in universities as well as in independent and public schools. Brian Kane’s leadership of University of Maryland’s Community Design Studio earned him accolades from several Prince George’s County communities.
Leadership
Brian Kane is passionate about making campuses greener and using them as models for sustainable development beyond their boundaries.
At PlaceMatters, he continues to spread the mission of greener and more sustainable campus settings, and to teach students through example.
As the father of four “future land stewards,” Brian knows the results of teaching — and living — green. From encouraging his children to carry “gross buckets” to the compost pile, to giving slide-shows to Girl Scouts on stormwater and streams, he is an ardent environmental educator.
An experienced landscape architect and planner, Brian enjoys creating a community of active green campus advocates through PlaceMatters and allied environmental groups. He is a Registered Landscape Architect in Virginia and Maryland, a LEED Green Associate of the United States Green Building Council, and a full member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
He holds master’s degrees in environmental planning and landscape architecture from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree from the College of the Holy Cross.
