Talking Stick - July/August 2015 - 28

FACILITIES
community. The site for the campus
was rich with old-growth oak trees.
No one wanted to cut them down, but
would the buildings fit into the space?
If so, could the trees be protected
during a major construction project?
As a member of the design team,
the landscape architect was involved
early and was able to address these
concerns. With the architect and
landscape architect collaborating to
preserve the trees, the effort created a
new housing community that appears
to have been there for years while the
trees appear to have grown up around
it.
Perhaps even more important,
landscape and open space
development should become part of
a school's master plan. At Rutgers
University in New Brunswick, for
instance, they created a master
plan that will eventually transform
the Livingston Campus by knitting

together future buildings and
open space. Their design team was
provided a valuable tool in the form
of a landscape master plan, which
influenced not only landscape
considerations but also architectural
ones, such as where the entrances
to those buildings will be and how
each new building would inform
the creation of future open space.
As a result, a new campus core
has emerged which includes a new
two-acre plaza. Without this upfront
planning, appropriate dollars would
not have been allocated to best
develop a space of this significance.
The consideration of landscape as
part of a building project typically
involves allocating only enough money
to landscape around a building's
foundation. In contrast, the Rutgers
master plan allocated specific funds
to create value-added open space that
could be appreciated not only by the

NEW

campus but also by the community.
Executing the best possible
landscaping plan is just as important
as rounding up the funding for it.
Unless monies allocated to landscape
spending are used carefully, the site
could end up looking as if nothing
much has happened. It is important
to follow a strategy that will add value
for the user of the space. For instance,
contemporary student housing
typically contains a large shared or
common space where everyone comes
together to do things such as pick up
mail, plug in and study, play pool, sit
around and chat, and so on. These
spaces are usually on the ground level
to coincide with the building's main
entrance and security, and they tend
to have large, tall windows to provide
ample natural light and to create a
connection to the exterior. Make that
 CONTINUES  66

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Talking Stick - July/August 2015

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