Vectorworks Landmark firm, Behnke Nurseries, Designs for ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Columbia, Maryland (September 25, 2008)—Nemetschek North America announced today that the designs from Vectorworks® Landmark firm, Behnke Nurseries, will be highlighted on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The two-hour season opener will feature a brand-new 4,800 square-foot house and landscaping for a single mother with four kids of her own, as well as ten nieces and nephews who were in danger of being forced into foster care, since the family had been living in a hotel.
The producers of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition approached Behnke Nurseries about participating in the Emmy® Award-winning reality show's seventh season premiere just two weeks before filming was scheduled to begin, and the family-owned nursery was honored to accept the challenge.
Using Vectorworks Landmark, Behnke landscape designer Andrea Becerril, CPH, very quickly put together a design that included front-yard plantings, a U-shaped driveway in the front, and a patio and outdoor fireplace in the back, with accompanying plantings. The plan also included a mature tree and accompanying brick seat wall to serve as a memorial for the sister of the new homeowner—who had died of cancer, leaving ten children in need of a new home.
"The only directive was to design something with a clean, classic style, with lots of pops of color and plenty of mature plants for the camera," explains Becerril. "So we had free rein. Classic Homes e-mailed me PDFs of the house plans and property lines, which I imported right into Vectorworks Landmark; then I began working immediately."
But the nursery's landscape design and installation department had only one week to design a plan for the one-acre lot. Even more extreme, it had to complete installation the following week in just three days—a third of the time it normally takes Behnke installation crews for a project of that size. With the tireless efforts of hundreds of volunteers working nearly around the clock, the generous support of several donors who contributed thousands of dollars in hardscaping and plant materials, and a little help from Vectorworks Landmark, Behnke Nurseries pulled it off.
The season opener for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition airs this Sunday, September 28, at 7pm EST.
Behnke Nurseries is a family and employee-owned Maryland corporation, founded in Beltsville, Maryland by Albert and Rose Behnke in 1930. Locations include a garden center and landscape department at Beltsville, and a garden center with landscape and florist departments at Potomac. Additionally, Behnke Nurseries grow many of the plants they sell at their nursery and greenhouse facility in Lothian, MD. For more information, visit
http://nemetschek.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f1ad5bcf6bf9606a6aade20a2&id=cd038af43f&e=DAlGevwTey and to get a behind the scenes view of the project, visit
http://nemetschek.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f1ad5bcf6bf9606a6aade20a2&id=bb13236d04&e=DAlGevwTey
Nemetschek North America is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Nemetschek Group. A global leader in design technologies, Nemetschek North America has been developing CAD software for the AEC, entertainment, landscape design, and manufacturing fields since 1985. For more information, visit
www.vectorworks.net