Landscape Architect Articles

LASN 2010 Firms: Ayers Saint Gross Architects & Planners09-02-10 | News

Ayers Saint Gross Architects & Planners,
Baltimore, Md., Washington, D.C., and Tempe, Ariz.

Eighty-five percent of the work of Ayers Saint Gross Architects and Planners is devoted to campus plans, landscapes and buildings for colleges, universities and cultural organizations. Since the 1980s, the firm has undertaken more than 500 projects at more than 140 institutions. The firm employs 130 professionals, organized into several cross-disciplinary studios. The Landscape Architecture Studio focuses on the design of beautiful and functional outdoor spaces. Their work demonstrates an appreciation of regional distinctions through local materials, site-specific plant palettes and regional landscape typologies.

The firm collaborates with planners, architects and environmental graphic designers both inside and outside the firm. Environmental stewardship guides all the work with respect to natural resources and buildings. About 70 percent of the firm’s professionals are LEED-accredited.

Principals: Adam Gross, FAIA, principal-in-charge of design; Jim Wheeler, AIA, LEED AP, firm president; Jonathan Ceci, ASLA, LEED AP, senior associate and director of ASG’s Landscape Architecture Studio; William Skelsey, ASLA, LEED AP, landscape architect and principal of ASG’s DC office and Luanne Greene, AIA, LEED AP, principal and director of ASG’s Campus Planning Studio

Software: AutoCAD, SketchUp, Adobe Creative Suite, AutoCAD 2010, Revit, AutoDesk Map 3-D, a GIS program that dovetails planning analysis with familiar AutoCAD tools.

University of Delaware Campus Improvements, Newark, Delaware

Landscape Architecture and Student Life Studios at Ayers Saint Gross collaborated on the design of a 16-acre student residential village at the University of Delaware. Four, five-story buildings are arranged around courtyards and quadrangles. A central promenade leads over a newly constructed concrete and steel footbridge. From this pedestrian route, paved forecourts extend to the new residence halls. The design draws from the landscape of the central campus with brick paving and rows of canopy trees to transition from the main quad to the new student housing.
Flat areas adjacent to the residence halls are predominantly lawn. The gentle slopes falling away from these lawns are planted as meadows and the steep slopes of the ravine are covered in flowering shrubs.
Ayer Saint Gross is also developing a new science courtyard closer to the campus core, with a tiered stone terrace, native trees, shrubs and grasses to absorb stormwater run-off via runnels, pretreatment planters and bio-retention plantings.

Town Commons, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind.

Ayers Saint Gross created new green space for the University of Notre Dame to strengthen campus connections to nearby downtown South Bend. The 14.6-acre park, opened in 2008, features a simple palette of tree-lined paths and lawns framed by canopy trees. Within the park, carefully sited sculptures provide moments for gathering and reflection.

Nemours Visitor Center, Wilmington, Delaware

A new visitor reception area designed by Ayers Saint Gross welcomes the public to Nemours, the Delaware estate of late industrialist Alfred DuPont. The building and its landscape establish a new arrival and touring experience. The visitor center’s landscape reveals gravel walks, cut-stone borders and rows of London plane trees, a reference to the Versailles-inspired gardens without imitating their formal grandeur.