The Jacobs Medical Center addition to Thornton Hospital at the University of California, San Diego Health Campus took over a decade of planning and construction to complete. The technically advanced Medical Center - with its streamlined façade oriented toward ocean views - is paired with a landscape grounded in the region's natural systems. Santa Monica-based firm Pamela Burton & Company served as the lead Landscape Architect. The project feature broad campus walks, meditative paths, a canyon landscape, a large olive grove, an event lawn, multiple rooftop terraces, and protected courtyards that create a layered outdoor environment serving staff, patients, donors, and visitors. Sustainability is integrated throughout the site through permeable surfaces, stormwater retention, native plant habitats, rooftop gardens, bicycle parking, and reclaimed irrigation water.

The firm led the landscape vision and implementation across the site, coordinating closely with the broader design and construction team to ensure the landscape integrated seamlessly with the architecture and campus infrastructure.


Courtyard plantings, including Western Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum), provide garden views for patients, staff, and visitors from multiple building levels.

Landscape Context
The fifteen-acre site sits on a mesa between two naturally occurring canyons filled with California Sycamores (Platanus racemosa), Toyons (Heteromeles arbutifolia), and coastal chaparral. Prior to development and the planting of exotic Eucalyptus, the hilltop was likely native grassland. Campus-wide master planning established key objectives: unify and clarify Medical Center Drive; create an open space system that reestablishes meadow lands; connect the two canyons across the site with a Canyon Walk; and strengthen connections to the existing Health Sciences Walk. A future bridge over Interstate 5 will further connect the Health Campus to the University's main campus.

The landscape responds to both the canyon-mesa typology of the San Diego region and the organizing axes of the Health Campus. Existing Eucalyptus trees along Medical Center Drive were replaced with native California Sycamores (Platanus racemosa) and Coast Live Oaks (Quercus agrifolia) to establish a cohesive campus identity and wayfinding structure. The site is organized around four primary elements: a meadow defined by a grid of fruitless Olive trees; an armature of canyon habitat gardens and walks that create an ecological corridor between the two canyons; a centrally located Great Lawn for campus events and fundraising; and an extension of the tree-lined Health Sciences Walk as the main east-west pedestrian spine.


The central lawn includes multiple seating areas for patients and visitors. Curvilinear FSC hardwood benches reflect the building's geometry while a fin wall integrated into the architecture screens an adjacent outdoor dining terrace from the lawn.

Campus Circulation
A variety of outdoor functions are integrated within this framework, including campus entries, circulation routes, contemplative paths, roof terraces, courtyards, fire access, bicycle parking, stormwater basins, and gardens surrounding the Central Utility Plant. Entries from all sides of the site incorporate vehicular drop-off areas, shaded seating, and clear pedestrian access. At the north façade, a garden tucked beneath the building overhang creates a quiet threshold space for patients and visitors.

 

The Canyon Walk forms the primary north-south circulation route and establishes continuity between the natural canyons on either side of the mesa. Plantings reference the adjacent canyon ecology, gathering against the building's curved façade and visually anchoring it to the land. Sycamores help mitigate the scale of the ten-story tower while providing views of foliage from patient rooms.


The Health Sciences Walk uses an easily recognizable DNA paving pattern to link several campus buildings.

In contrast to the organic canyon armature, the Olive Grove Meadow establishes a more ordered field condition. Fruitless Olives (Olea europaea 'Wilsonii') planted in a grid form a textured canopy visible from upper hospital floors. A wheelchair-accessible gravel Wellness Walk winds through meadow grasses and aromatic shrubs, creating a sensory experience that supports rest and contemplation. Benches along the path provide opportunities for pause and quiet reflection.

The Health Sciences Walk leads west from the building, extending the existing pedestrian spine that originates on the east side of Thornton Hospital. This primary axis links medical and research buildings along an east-west axis and accommodates large volumes of pedestrian movement. Planted with an allée of trees, the walk frames views toward the Great Lawn, which functions as a flexible gathering space for campus events.


The Health Sciences Walk is bordered by the Wellness Walk to the north and the Great Lawn to the south. Decomposed granite paths support accessible circulation through meadow plantings. Seating includes 8-foot-long backless concrete benches manufactured by Wausau Tile.

Rooftop terraces on multiple floors provide patients, staff, and visitors with direct access to planted outdoor environments. Structural and weight constraints informed the shaping of planting beds and soil depths, while plant selections respond to high winds and sun exposure typical of the coastal setting. Interior courtyards extend this strategy, providing protected spaces that reflect the building's curvilinear geometry.

Challenges
Several challenges that were encountered during design and construction required close coordination with the design team and the contractors. High salts were discovered in the soils, prompting an adjustment to the plant palette to ensure survivability. The university requested that all plants on the terraces outside the patient rooms be non-toxic and non-allergenic, leading to removal of specific species. Lastly, the planting areas on the terraces were designed to provide privacy from interior rooms by creating berms. Structural foam was used to create the berms to minimize the depth of soil and stay within acceptable weights on the terraces.


An Olive Grove, featuring fruitless Olive trees, Rosemary and other shrubs, provides a dedicated garden space for quiet use with Neoromantico benches manufactured by Landscape Forms.

The 40,000-square-foot Central Utility Plant to the south of the campus was designed to sit quietly within its canyon setting. Integrated planting softens its scale and visually connects it to the broader landscape.

Sustainable systems are embedded throughout the site. Permeable surfaces support groundwater recharge, while stormwater settling and retention ponds at the low end of the site collect and treat runoff before recharging the groundwater basin. Planted terraces help blend built elements into the surrounding meadow and grove landscapes. Plant palettes were selected to emphasize low water use, and irrigation complies with state and local conservation standards. The overall project achieved LEED Silver certification.

Project Outcome
The Jacobs Medical Center is set within a curative landscape grounded in nature. Broad campus walks, intimate meditative paths, and the Olive Grove serve the populace by providing healing gardens along important pedestrian connectors. The rooftop sky terraces and protected central courtyards offer verdant respite within the 10-story bed tower. These design elements have significant positive impacts on the environment, patients, and staff, while contributing to the artistic merit of the Jacobs Medical Center landscape.

TEAM
Landscape Architect: Pamela Burton & Company
Architect: CannonDesign
Acoustical Engineer: Newson Brown Acoustics
Owner: UCSD
Irrigation Consultant: Sweeney & Associates
Civil Engineer: Burkett & Wong Engineers
Lighting: HLB (Horton Lees Brogden lighting design)
General Contractor: Kitchell Contractors
Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Landscape Contractor: 3-D Landscape

As seen in LASN magazine, June 2026.