Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

University of Arizona

Sonoran Landscape Laboratory

  • 11/01/13
University of Arizona

PHOTOS © TEN EYCK LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS, INC. / PHOTOGRAPHER: BILL TIMMERMAN

To further its mission, the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (CALA) at the University of Arizona in Tucson built a new expansion facility that allows students from all three design disciplines (architecture, landscape architecture and planning) the opportunity to work side-by-side in an integrated studio environment.

The site also performs as an ongoing laboratory and demonstration facility for sustainable design in the arid southwest. The new building provided an opportunity for Ten Eyck Landscape Architects to create a high-performance landscape functioning as an outdoor classroom and an entry plaza gathering space. The Sonoran Landscape Laboratory exemplifies the sustainable strategies of water harvesting and reuse, climate regulation, air and water cleansing, all in a thriving desert habitat within an urban campus context.

At the entry plaza, a perforated metal bridge allows water to flow through the space. An accessible, sunken outdoor classroom of permeable stabilized granite provides a place for student study, building projects and gathering.

A vine-covered scrim helps to shade the southern exposure of CALA’s addition while an 11,000-gallon tank collects storm water, gray water and HVAC condensate to support the native garden, resulting in an annual water savings of 86 percent.

The project increased the biomass of the site by 50 percent. The resulting urban wildlife habitat has attracted many species of birds, including hawks searching for ground mammals and reptiles in the garden. The pond is home for endangered fish and is listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Safe Harbor urban site.

The project won a National ASLA Honor Award, an Arizona ASLA Award of Excellence and an Arizona ASLA President’s Award

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management November 2013 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Miami University Approves New $242M Multipurpose Arena

    Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, recently announced that its Board of Trustees has approved construction of a new multipurpose arena at Cook Field, according to university news. The $242-million project will serve as a new centralized hub for student life and create space for economic development on campus.

  • Image courtesy of Kahler Slater

    UW–Madison Announces Completion of Morgridge Hall

    The University of Wisconsin–Madison recently announced that construction is complete on Morgridge Hall, a new academic building, according to a news release. The facility opened September 3 at the start of the fall semester, consolidating the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences into a single facility for the first time.

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • Stanford Completes Construction on Graduate School of Education Facility

    Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., recently announced the end of construction on a new home for its Graduate School of Education, according to a news release. The university partnered with McCarthy Building Companies on the 160,000-square-foot project, which involved two major renovations and one new construction effort.