The School & Corporate Campus Issue of Landscape Architect and Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. The Northwest Science Quad at the University of Connecticut is one of several great projects we are excited to showcase on LandscapeArchitect.com.

From the project outset, the standard notion of a university quadrangle was intentionally questioned by the designers. Through the integration of a truly performative landscape into the design, a new paradigm for major campus destination spaces that showcases the university's commitment to sustainability was developed. Implementing the first stage of the orderly physical expansion of its STEM disciplines, a key goal of the UConn 2015 campus master plan, the designers of this new quadrangle were charged with creating a unique campus place that provides an appropriate setting for its new science building while at the same time, significantly addressing longstanding campuswide stormwater runoff issues.

Early in the conceptual planning of this new campus precinct, an approach that prioritized the quality and scale of open space over specific building locations was employed. Topography and a new pedestrian gateway linking an outlying neighborhood to the campus core informed the general arrangement of the open space. However, the design that evolved used the story of stormwater to tie the site plan together. The major landscape feature for the quad is a sinuous series of interconnected naturalistic bioswales that intertwine with major pedestrian circulation and fully engage with key public spaces within the new science building as they functionally collect, cool, detain, treat, and infiltrate stormwater runoff. These garden swales were enhanced with carefully placed boulders unearthed during building excavation and together with a native plant palette, completed the naturalistic aesthetic. The project has achieved SITES certification.

Landscape architects uniquely have the ability (and responsibility), to raise public awareness of critical environmental issues through intentional design. The designers of this project rose to that challenge and re-imagined the traditional notion of just what a college quadrangle is. The result is a new model for major outdoor spaces on university campuses that places a strong emphasis on performative landscapes. The Northwest Science Quad was designed to be firmly rooted in New England's natural landscape aesthetic, and at the same time appears to flow from the interior of a cutting-edge science building with the intent of exposing students to the value of environmental services provided by the natural world through the stormwater bioswale gardens at the heart of this unique space.

Other significant objectives achieved by this project are:
• Planned from the outset to favor meaningful open space over maximizing building square footage.
• Achieved master plan objectives of providing a new campus gateway via a continuous woodland pedestrian corridor connecting outlying neighborhoods to the core of the campus.

 
• Addressed longstanding campuswide stormwater discharge issues through a collaborative design effort with the civil engineer.
• Interpretive signage employed along walkways intertwined with bioswales engage quad users with the performative features of landscape.
• Collaborated with building architect to develop a floor plan that responds to sloping topography and allows for vertical zoning of programmatic spaces.
• Furthered sustainability goals through aesthetic re-use of boulders from on-site excavation, detailed soils management and native plant palette.
• Landscape Architect led/coordinated SITES certification process.

Design Team
• Owner: University of Connecticut
• Architect: Payette
• Landscape Architect: Towers|Golde
• Civil Engineer: BVH Integrated Services
• Geotechnical Engineer: GZA
• Mechanical Electrical Engineer: Van Zelm Engineers
• Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
• LEED Consultant: A10
• SITES Consultant: Hunter S. Beckham

Construction Team
• Construction Manager: Dimeo Construction Company
• Landscape and boulders: All Seasons Landscaping
• Masonry: Summit Masonry and Building Restoration
• Site Metal Work: Shepard Steel Co., Inc.
• Sitework: CJ Fucci Construction Inc.

To see more School & Corporate Campus projects, go to: https://landscapearchitect.com/landscape-articles/sneak-preview-of-the-school-and-campus-issue

For more information about submitting a project, go to: https://landscapearchitect.com/research/editorial/editorial-submissions.php