Regis University

By Bruce Kehr, LEED AP Fletemeyer & Lee Associates, Inc.

Regis University retained Fletemeyer & Lee Associates (FLA), to design development and construction documentation for four new student dormitories at the University's main campus in Denver, Colo. The commons area was developed using pergola above stone seat wall planters that are quickly being covered by meandering trumpet vine and serviceberry. PHOTOS By Bruce Kehr, LEED AP

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In 1921 Regis University changed its name to Regis College in honor of Saint John Francis Regis, a 17th century Jesuit missionary who worked in the mountains of France. Finally, in 1991 Regis College became Regis University, comprised of three different schools: Regis College, School for Professional Studies and Rueckert-Hartman School for Health Professions. In 1993, Regis University was the site for the first historic meeting of President William Clinton and Pope John Paul II.

Regis University, was founded in 1877 as College of the Sacred Heart. Construction began on the north Denver campus in 1887 with Main Hall, a majestic, four story sandstone and rhyolite-clad building and a the focal point of the campus. The bell tower is visible from virtually all areas on the campus.

The Jesuit University is a beautiful 92-acre facility with historic buildings and diverse well maintained landscape. The University campus is an arboretum with over 500 different tree and shrub species, including three championship trees. In 2000, the university identified and mapped the different species and tagged them, creating a walking tour with maps available at a kiosk on campus. Regis continues to expand its extensive collection with every new project or renovation and encourages the use of unique species for the area, many of which are selected from nurseries out of state.

Soderstrom Architects participated in the development of the site plan, including a large space at the front entry utilizing concrete and brick pavers with surrounding seat walls. The main entry to the chapel has steel pergolas that run east and west, with Chinese wisteria being trained up the columns.

Introduction

Fletemeyer & Lee Associates (FLA), located in Boulder, Colorado, has worked as landscape architect on several projects at Regis University in recent years that have helped shape the campus for future generations. FLA strives to create memorable spaces that blend the historic and the present so that future students can appreciate the campus as much as past generations.

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Campus design encompasses many disciplines of landscape architecture and creates opportunities for the designer. One important aspect of campus design is creating gathering areas of all types, areas for large groups like an outdoor class or concert, or places of solitude for individuals who need contemplation, or a place to study. Enhancing the pedestrian experience and minimizing the impact of vehicles is critical to creating safe and appealing grounds.

Hopkins's Garden was redesigned, a historic plaza adjoining Carroll Hall, in English garden style with a plaza area of mortared red sandstone in an ashlar pattern. A trellis with climbing rose invites you into the sunken plaza where orange California fuschia and creeping thyme mingle with a bronze statue by artist Rowan Gillaspie of Gerard Manley Hopkins, a Jesuit priest and prolific poet.

Utilizing time honored campus design standards or creating new ones will unify the campus feel and offer a sense of place to the university and its users. FLA works closely with the campus facilities management department on design issues, which helps create spaces that are easier to maintain and provides employees a sense of ownership.

 

Moss rocks were placed to help retain the slope on the left and create places to sit. Functionality is maintained in retaining soil, as well as directing traffic flow. The rocks also help prevent damage to plants and grass in the corridor. Several new tree species were added to the campus and the university's arboretum including chinkapin oak, sienna glen maple, weeping spruce and imported butternut.

Student Dormitories

Fletemeyer & Lee was retained by Regis University for landscape design and site design assistance for a development of new on-campus student dormitories. FLA worked with Portland-based Soderstrom Architects, who created the townhouse style student housing with a standard two-story living unit of three bedrooms, living room and kitchen. The buildings are laid out in a u-shaped configuration forming a central courtyard with all entry doors on the interior, which helps form a sense of community and safety. Drainage in the courtyard is collected on one side of the main walkway in a French drain covered by a dry creek bed composed of different sized cobbles and small boulders. A variety of ornamental grasses and perennials meander throughout the creek bed giving it a natural look. The complex has a centrally located shared gathering space called the commons that is used for leisure as well as study. Outside the commons, a pergola with trumpet vine extends out from the building and is supported on columns combined with a stone seat wall forming raised planters full of perennials, including moonbeam coreopsis and blue spike speedwell.

In Rueckert-Hartman Plaza a dead end road and parking were removed and replaced with a plaza and landscaped areas. The main plaza is in the background along with a statue area and main campus quadrangle. Due to the slickness of the road the area was shot blasted to maintain a certain level of coarseness for safe walking.

During the city approval process, the fire department required access to the south of the complex that was 20 feet wide with a turn around. To avoid a large expanse of concrete between the open grass field and the dormitory, a 10-foot concrete walkway was combined with GrassPave to meet the requirement without sacrificing green space.

Pedestrian Corridor

A main pedestrian corridor though the campus was redesigned to enhance the pedestrian experience of its users and to improve access for fire trucks and emergency vehicles. The original plain concrete walkway was replaced with a design using a combination of concrete and clay pavers strong enough to support a fire truck but scaled for pedestrian use. The 15 foot wide walkway has strategically placed bump-outs that are 27 feet wide to support a ladder truck with outriggers. The bump-outs act as small plaza areas that help break up the linear corridor and were positioned where walkways intersect the corridor and adjacent to structures for fire protection.

The university insignia featuring the year in which the school was founded was created from stained concrete. The pedestrian plaza, which had been previously used as road and staff parking, was designed to carry the weight load of a fire ladder truck with outriggers. The nine-inch thick concrete was reinforced and the clay pavers were set on a sand setting bed over a reinforced six-inch concrete slab.

Moss rocks were carefully positioned in groupings that resemble natural rock outcrops and act as retaining walls in several areas while creating informal seating areas for gathering and also help to discourage short cutting through landscape areas. FLA Principal Jim Fletemeyer has been setting boulders for over 20 years and is active in the selection and placement of every rock. By carefully placing the boulders so that joints fit tight and faces match from one boulder to the next, Jim is able to create natural looking rock groupings that blend into the landscape. Several species of spreading perennials including woolly thyme, purple rock cress and orange California fuchsia are planted in and around the joints to add interest and retain soil.

The corridor offers a system of autumn blend brick pavers placed on a sand bed over a concrete base. It was designed to match the brick within the surrounding buildings. A drainage system lines the entire span of walkway to prevent ice wedging, which can displace bricks during freezing temperatures.

The corridor uses clay pavers that sit on a sand setting bed with a concrete base below. A drainage system lines the entire span of the walkway to prevent ice-wedging, which can displace bricks through freeze thaw cycles and will deteriorate bricks over time. Clay pavers, laid in a herringbone pattern at a 45-degree angle outlined by a soldier row, use concrete edge restraints monolithically poured with the base. After several years of use, the brick have shown very little movement and maintain their beauty. Fletemeyer & Lee Associates utilized its construction management wing of the firm, FLA/CM, to manage the installation of the design, which allowed them to select contractors based on quality, not just low bid, which increased the value of the final product.

A dry creek bed runs through the main courtyard of the dormitory complex to collect water runoff. It also conceals a French drain that serves the interior of the courtyard. Perennials such as creeping phlox and ice plant line the area and serve as groundcover between the smooth stones.

Carroll Hall

Carroll Hall, which was constructed in 1920 as a student dormitory, is a landmark structure for Regis University, but was in need of restoration. Several site improvements were created along with an interior refurbishing project for Carroll Hall. In 2004, FLA worked with architect Pahl Pahl Pahl of Denver on exterior site design and landscape improvements for the historic structure.

The front plaza of the chapel used a combination of clay pavers and concrete pavers to form a series of crosses and squares. The bell tower, the large column near the center of the image, is in line with the seat wall. Fletemeyer & Lee is developing a matching plaza to the right of this image.

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The raised platform deck with a bronze statue of Saint Ignatius Loyola, the principal founder and first Superior General of the Jesuit Society of Jesus. Autumn brilliance serviceberry is in bloom in the foreground and sage, along with pink and English blue lavender are also present in the groundcover.

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FLA also created the landscape and irrigation plans, including this contemplative garden between the chapel and the Jesuit residence with views to the mountains. The garden features several square pavers cut in half at an angle to form the stepping stones, which are lined with creeping thyme and lead up to the red sandstone table and bench set.

Rueckert-Hartman Plaza adjacent Carroll Hall

As a part of an interior renovation of Carroll Hall, constructed in 1923, came an opportunity to eliminate a dead end internal campus road and small parking area and convert it into plaza and landscape areas while extending the pedestrian corridor completed the previous year. Three main areas were designed as part of this project: a main plaza with a compass, a statue area on a raised platform, and a secondary plaza to the east that is located where the existing road ended in a turn-around.

This raised semi-circular seating area is surrounded by Kentucky bluegrass and centered on a statue mounted on the building face to the right of the picture. A sloping walk was incorporated so that the plaza would be universally accessible. The sitting areas were also created in the garden and along the walkways surrounding the building.

The plaza, with a compass focal point, sits north of Carroll Hall and has a statue area on its main south axis. The compass was created with stained concrete surrounded by clay pavers, and moss rock to the north, which acts as a retaining wall. Inside the compass are five different Jesuit inscriptions on diamond-shaped Brickstone inlaid in the stained concrete. Two crimson sentry maples in tree grates are set in the plaza at the northeast and northwest points of the compass.

The statue area at the south end of the plaza has a slightly raised platform deck with two symmetrical entry ramps. Benches line the outside of the platform and, in the center, a bronze statue of Saint Ignatius Loyola is situated on a custom pre-cast concrete base with built in up-lights and inlaid bronze tablatures. The statue is a focal point for the campus; it overlooks the main quadrangle and is adjacent to the main pedestrian corridor. The statue area is centered between two weeping European beeches and shrub and perennial beds surround the deck including autumn brilliant serviceberry.

The bronze statue of Saint Ignatius Loyola is mounted in top a custom pre-cast concrete base with built in up-lights and bronze entablatures. Customized benches are blended into the edge of the statue base and were custom fit to meet at an angle near the inscriptions surrounding the base of the statue.

A stained concrete university insignia is located in a plaza east of Carroll Hall that once was a circular turn-around. The original space did not allow for fire trucks to turn around so the space was redesigned as a plaza that doubles as a hammerhead turn-around accommodating fire trucks and improving handicap accessibility. This plaza is bordered by many moss rock forming several outcroppings, one tall pinnacle shaped boulder acting as a focal point, and others creating informal seating surrounding a small water feature in the rocks with ornamental grasses and perennials adding seasonal interest.

Fletemeyer & Lee Associates used its construction management wing of the firm, FLA/CM, to manage the installation of the design, which allowed them to monitor the quality of installation and integrity of the design.

The plaza serves as a gathering area and a statue viewing area, as well as a major thoroughfare for students at Regis University's main campus. A narrow concrete walk was removed and replaced with a concrete and clay paved walk. From this angle one of five different diamond-shaped Brickstone inlaid cutouts are visible. Each cutout houses several Jesuit-based inscriptions.

Saint John Francis Regis Chapel

The Saint John Francis Regis chapel, built in 2005, replaces a former chapel constructed in 1949 of the same name, which was much smaller and no longer fit the needs of the growing university.

Fletemeyer & Lee worked with Soderstrom Architects on site design and landscape design. The chapel, located to the north and centered on historic Main Hall is situated on the edge of a large slope that has views to the Rocky Mountains. On either side of the main entry of the chapel, steel pergolas run east and west. Chinese wisteria, which has aromatic lavender flowers throughout the summer, is growing up the columns and should cover the pergola within five years. There is a large plaza space at the front of the chapel that is used for formal and informal gatherings. The plaza was designed with a mixture of concrete, clay pavers and concrete pavers that form a series of crosses and squares. The plaza is surrounded on the south side by seat walls with a sandstone cap and planting bed bordered by an ornamental fence that defines the space with a large bell tower to the east, which acts as a focal point for people coming from the north up a grand staircase that starts at the basement level of the chapel. A series of steps and ramps allow access into the plaza and chapel from the south where a future plaza and connection to Main Hall is planned. A large ramp with removable bollards, east of the bell tower, allows access for snow clearing and deliveries.

A contemplative garden is situated between the chapel and Jesuit residence with a sunken seating area carefully positioned to take advantage of views to the peaks of the Rocky Mountains front range. The sunken garden has a round sandstone table and curved benches for seating surrounded by custom cut sandstone pavers in a circle that radiate out leading to a red crusher fines path surrounding the garden space. Woolly thyme was planted in the joints of the pathway and moss rock that were positioned around the seating area acting as a retaining wall.

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