School symbology is surprisingly uniform from campus to campus: Sweaters and diplomas are typically emblazoned with images of the main library, the dining hall, or the administrative offices. Occasionally, a slogan takes the place of a logo; "veritas", "carpe diem", or other such Latin verbiage are very popular. Yet, if you were to ask a student what element they thought best expressed their experience of the school, you might find that, oddly enough, they don't identify readily with the office of the dean or the math/sciences building. Many students find their most profound attachment to a volleyball court, a playing field, a verdant stand of trees, innumerable landscapes where students escape walls of concrete to find tranquility in the "cathedral of nature."

The icon of my alma mater is the imposing Central Library at the University of California, San Diego. A large diamond-shaped edifice that rests significantly upon a narrow pedestal that resembles a launch pad. The overall impression is of a large spacecraft about to hurl itself into orbit. Though impressive in its monumental scale, my fondest memory of the campus is the small plot of land affectionately know as "the hump."

The centrally-located hump was a popular place to study, relax, or enjoy coffee between classes. Students would lounge in the grass, sometimes drifting off to sleep in the warm afternoons. There was something intrinsically fun about the hump that invited students to roll and play on its gently sloping lawn. Behavior that would have seemed inappropriate anywhere else was a natural extension of the terrain.

But how do you put the "hump" on a baseball cap or a t-shirt?

This V-shaped courtyard at Johns Hopkins University provides a comfortable outdoor environment for art, dance, and music students from nearby studios.

Mahan Rykiel Associates creates identifiable landscapes that encourage student interaction on college campuses throughout Maryland. The Mount Washington-based architectural firm recently received a Merit Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects Potomac and Maryland Chapter for designing the Commons, a dormitory at the oldest degree-granting art college in the country, the Maryland Institute of Art.

The site plan for the new facility recalls the University of Virginia, where an expansive lawn area and a common walkway terrace down to a smaller plaza between dormitories. Careful consideration was given to blending new architecture and streetscape with the existing residential community. The landscape development of the Commons involved a main lawn with large trees linking four buildings with a series of courtyards. The complex affords much needed living space for the students to gather and circulate. The designers created the space as a showcase for displaying students' original artwork. In contrast to this space, Wilson Court was designed to provide a more intimate garden setting for smaller numbers of students. Mahan Rykiel was recognized for the way in which the Commons fits into the historic Bolton Hall neighborhood and for the clearly defined courtyards, each with its own different character.

These are not passive landscapes of the kind familiar in business parks or the type surrounding municipal buildings, which are intended to fill the open space between points of destination. Instead, this is a vibrant, active environment in which students walk, chat, and play frisbee. A university campus is a destination as such.

Landscape Architect Catherine Mahan described the three fundamentals (or pillars) of campus design with regard to some of her company's recent projects including the award-winning Commons landscape.

I. Plan For The Future

While this pathway leads from the Baltimore Museum of Art Sculpture Garden to the Johns Hopkins University Student Arts Center.

University campuses can be disorderly creations. Germinating from a compact nucleus of lecture halls, many campuses break free from their moorings and rapidly overtake the existing boundaries while acquiring and assimilating surrounding communities. The key to keeping this chain reaction self-contained is to have a well- developed and coherent master plan that takes account of both present needs and future potential.

At Hollins University in Roanoke, Va., Mahan Rykiel Associates provided support for the Hillier Group in a combined effort to update the Master Plan for this historic women's college. MRA provided a graphic and narrative report describing the current status of the campus, making recommendations to improve the campus layout, and defining priorities for long range planning.

The principal and director of design for the Hillier Group, Alan Chimacoff, was particularly concerned with the historical relevance of campus design in developing the master plan for Hollins University. Beyond the obvious qualifications of experience, intelligence, and knowledge of campus design, what Chimacoff looks for in a Landscape Architect is an appreciation of the history and discipline of landscape architecture. He believes the seeds of future development lay rooted in the history of campus design. He is also weary of LA's who "throw plants and trees around to be decorative." More important for Chimacoff is a plan that is structured and organized, while taking into account the environmental concerns.

In the case of Hollins University, the central green area had been permitted to grow without consideration for the outside world. Chimacoff's plan sought to control the passage of the automobile through the green space and in the process restore the flow of pedestrian traffic.

Mahan Rykiel set out to create a "vibrant, active environment" that would encourage student interaction, such as this entry area at the Commons Residence Hall at John Hopkins University.

Two phases of service were involved. The first phase involved a comprehensive survey of the existing conditions on the campus including visual analysis, landscape inventory, analysis of vehicular and pedestrian circulation patterns, open space utilization patterns, and viewsheds. MRA coordinated with the grounds staff, student representatives, administration, and the Board of Trustees to develop an understanding of the current and future needs of the college community.

The final master plan includes recommendations for new courtyards, pedestrian and vehicular routes and a series of landscape projects for the campus. According to Mahan, the projects are well envisioned in terms of the research, budget, documentation, and conditions that are agreed upon. She also explained that universities are very forgiving when it comes to leaving undeveloped areas.

Campus landscapes are very susceptible to change from the standpoint of receiving alumnus donations or class gifts. Landscape Architects have to be willing to work with donors who may contribute site amenities that may not be appropriate to the overall vision of the space. It takes a creative and supple mind to be able to adapt nonconforming and even competing elements in a unified landscape. The rejection of a statue or fountain, no matter how audacious, reflects poorly on the university.

II. Create A Sense Of Permanence

This rendering of the new Student Arts Center at John Hopkins University shows how designers nestled the structure into the hillside and created a V-shaped layout to embrace the surrounding wooded landscape.

The second pillar of campus design is creating a landscape concept that will instill a feeling of permanence. People like to return to their schools for reunions or graduation ceremonies in order to remember and reminisce on times past. They like to see that some things haven't changed, that the image they have of their campus is fully intact and preserved much as they had left it.

Mahan makes the point beautifully: "We don't want a signature (landscape). If it's done right, it looks like it has always been there." The whole point of the university is to lose one's notion and identity of self and become a part of the intellectual tradition of western culture. The university is a participation in an unbroken stream of thought from the beginning of recorded history. The role of the Landscape Architect is to affirm the connection with the past and establish the university setting as the seat of wisdom.

The U.M.E.S. Center For Food Science And Technology in Princess Anne, Maryland is a Mahan Rykiel design that attempts just such a connection. Located on the outer edge of the current University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus, the new Food and Technology building will house laboratories, administrative offices, and exhibition space. Drawing on the strong visual relationship to surrounding farmland, the building design will evoke the character of traditional farm buildings, while also relating to the campus-wide architecture.

The proposed landscape design for the site will blend the character of traditional campus plantings with the rural character of the surrounding farmland. An existing specimen tree will be preserved to serve as a focal point for the new building. Emphasizing trees, low plantings, and ground cover, the landscape plan features naturalized material consistent with plantings elsewhere on campus. Required bio-retention areas, designed to control stormwater run-off, will be incorporated into the landscape as aesthetic site features.

Overall, the design will respect the legacy of the Lower Eastern Shore and the campus while establishing an identity and character for the new facility.

III. Adapt To Changing Needs

Working to integrate and preserve natural features, such as this stream running through Hollins University, is a prime concern in developing a comfortable, appealing campus environment.

The third pillar of good campus design is creating an environment that is aesthetically and socially attractive to both faculty and students. Universities must compete for a limited number of highly qualified candidates who are being courted by institutions across the country. Designing a compelling atmosphere where people want to live and work for a minimum of four years is an important challenge. For students living on campus, the scenery doesn't change much in those four years. Dedicated students may spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week on a patch of land less than one square mile. Landscape Architects must consider the needs of students, who virtually become a part of the landscape themselves.

The latest generation of students are accustomed to sophisticated shopping attractions with outlet malls, amusement parks, food courts, entertainment centers, and theater complexes. In order to satisfy the demand for these services, universities, for better or worse, are gradually shifting the focal point of the campus away from the library to include multipurpose activity centers.

"The needs and expectations for campus landscapes are changing," said Mahan. "With bookstores, health clubs, and movie theaters, some of these campuses are beginning to resemble neighborhood commercial districts."

In order to stay in tune with the changing needs of students Johns Hopkins University acquired the services of Tod Williams, Billie Tsien & Associates and Mahan Rykiel for the purpose of building its new university arts center. Located on the Homewood campus, this site occupies a transitional area between the Baltimore Museum of Art and the campus itself. Designers nestled the structure into the hillside and created a large V-shaped footprint which embraces the surrounding wooded landscape. The two-story structure rests on a brick base and is capped with glass boxes. While enjoying views of mature beech trees and existing woodlands, the courtyard within this "V" also relates to the architecture with a formal bosque of flowering trees. This space provides a comfortable outdoor environment for art, dance, and music students in the adjacent studios.

Bench-lined open areas promote student interaction at the New Wyndham Library at Hollins University.

According to William Vincent of Tod Williams, Billie Tsien & Associates, the arts center resides in an area that was formerly dark and heavily wooded. During construction much of the existing flora had to be removed so repopulating the forest has been a major priority. As a result, a great variety of trees have been added to the areas surrounding the center including poplars, cherries, beeches, red oaks, willow oaks, green ash, dogwoods, and hemlocks. An equally diverse assortment of shrubs were also added to the environment such as clump bamboo, cherry laurels, weeping ewes, and rabenium. The integration of the architectural planters with the surrounding foliage was an important consideration in the planning and design of the facility. The arts center is the centerpiece of a campus-wide renovation.

A Lasting First Impression

By approaching campus design with these three pillars in mind, Landscape Architects can create functional, adaptable and timeless environments that enhance the quality of higher education. A well-designed campus will leave a lasting impression in the minds of the students long after they have entered the working world, while new students will often judge a prospective university by the quality and beauty of its campus environment.

Given these factors, it's easy to see why an impressive yet functional landscape can be as important as the teaching and learning that takes place on campus. LASN