Campus landscape design and planning requires a landscape architect to think on many different levels.  It requires a higher-level understanding of how people use and move through the campus, and how different zones support different activities and potential experiences.  On a site level, the designer must also grasp the specific opportunities in each location and context.  A common challenge on a building level is how to infuse each new facility with its own identity while respecting the common styles and materials that reinforce the campus identity.  On another level, the connections between a campus and the surrounding community are critical, and a designer that comprehends this can elevate campus planning initiatives to the betterment of both.

Our landscape architects* have worked with Old Dominion University under an extended term contract for landscape design services during a period of intense campus growth and on multidisciplinary teams for specific campus buildings. Noteworthy projects include the Science Quad, Scholarship House, the Batten Arts and Letters Building renovation, the Goode Theater in the University Village, the Diehn Performing Arts expansion, the Systems Research and Analysis Building, the Darden College of Education, and Child Studies Building.  Our extended relationship with facilities management staff and clear understanding of administration goals and priorities was instrumental in helping drive campus transformation from a car oriented, commuter college to a dense, urban, green campus.

We* also applied the same multi-level approach to the transformation of another campus type at the Tidewater Community College Virginia Beach campus.  The original 1970’s era suburban campus consisted of one and two story buildings partially surrounding a stormwater pond, all of which is encompassed by a ring road and large parking lots.  As the programs grew and diversified, a new class of more specialized buildings began to be located further from the campus core.  Our landscape architects supported campus master plan updates and provided landscape design, construction document and construction contract administration services for projects within the original campus core and in the expanding campus areas.  

Our* landscape plan for the Bayside Building renovation project introduces a diversity of plant material to reflect new sustainability initiatives, while respecting the alignment of existing allees of large oak trees throughout campus. We* also developed the site and landscape design for the Learning Resource Center. This facility serves as the new main library on campus and as anchor branch for the City of Virginia Beach library system, one of the first campus/civic joint libraries in the country. Located on a strategic gateway site, the LEED Gold certified building helps integrate the campus and the surrounding community. The design team found inspiration in the existing system of farm ditches and hedgerows on the site and the building and site design both reflect the patterns that are indicative of the cultural landscape of Princess Anne County and the southeastern Virginia region. Significant hedgerow trees are preserved between parking bays, and influenced the alignment of the bays of the building. Through storm water management features, primary tree plantings, outdoor rooms and orientation of the building bays, the essence of the agrarian landscape has been updated in a way which is functional, sustainable and safe within the campus environment.

*This work was done by InSites prior to joining forces with VIA