George Mason University’s Wilkins Plaza found an opportunity in a significant utility project to improve a tired campus space. Who is the university community? How does an institution build bridges with its neighbors? The Cleveland State University Campus Master Plan, covering 85 acres in a space constrained campus, provided an inspiring vision for creating urban campus spaces that invite the community in. Many institutions were engaged with questions of community. Grinnell College Kington Plaza and Learning Spaces demonstrated how universities can create a variety of outdoor spaces to support their educational mission. The Landscape Approach to Enhancing Student Life at Duke University showed how a series of smaller projects can unify a campus over time, with improvements to accessibility and visual cohesion. MIT’s Outfinite Corridor was one of several projects that converted vehicular streets into pedestrian focused landscapes with layered, sustainable performance improvements. Several projects were large investments in the landscape independent of buildings. Throughout the categories, jurors were impressed with projects that demonstrated the importance of the landscape. Grinnell College Kington Plaza and Learning Spaces / image: © David Sundberg/Esto These services include dining, student services, recreation, nutrition, physical therapy, and event spaces. The Universidad de Lima Recreation, Wellness, and Student Life Center is a LEED Gold complex which packs a variety of student-center programs into a stunning building and rich landscape. These spaces support a range of activities, from academic to recreational. The North Campus Housing and Denny Field project at University of Washington was full of meaningful spaces for students that extend beyond the building to the landscapes. Projects included places for learning, socializing, recreation, and wellness. Many submissions demonstrated a broader and more holistic approach to student spaces. The park includes a layered landscape that supports native ecosystems, spaces for research, spaces for recreation and play, and even spaces of memory. This produced strong principles, which are still guiding projects like the EcoCommons park almost 20 years later. It was first envisioned in the 2004 campus landscape master plan. Jurors noted the Georgia Tech EcoCommons was an exemplary landscape project embodying integrated planning. In the best projects, crafting the planning process was an act of design itself. There was a wide recognition from designers and institutions of the value of an integrated planning process. Georgia Institute of Technology EcoCommons / image: Nick Hubbard Though our presentation was balanced across the disciplines, in this article I will highlight jury observations specifically regarding contributions that landscape projects made in these categories. Marilia and I presented the awards at the conference and spoke about seven trends jurors observed across the entries. Together, we reviewed over 130 awards across categories including Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Architecture. This year, I had the opportunity to serve on the SCUP Excellence Awards jury along with Jason Forney, Thomas Fortier, and Marilia Rodrigues. There were many great sessions including keynotes focusing on leading institutional change and addressing threats to inclusivity. Over three days in late July, attendees gathered to discuss a wide array of issues at the Society for Campus and University Planning (SCUP) Conference in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. By James Moore, ASLA MIT Outfinite Corridor / image: courtesy of Hao Liang for Reed Hilderbrand
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