As Yale University renovated and expanded its residential colleges, the landscapes, especially the iconic interior courtyards, were dismantled to accommodate building and construction. They were then re-constructed to appear timeless while accommodating 21st century requirements. The landscape designs of these eleven renovations are each specific to the architectural heritage and to the culture and traditions of each college.
Understanding the subtlety of the original designs was critical to recreate the special atmosphere realized in the 1930s by Beatrix Jones Farrand, one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The historic character of Yale was at stake along with the character of downtown New Haven's public landscape, largely defined by her treatments of entryways and sunken exterior courtyards.
Design decisions revolved around clarifying the pedestrian circulation, protecting the quality of open lawns, making through passages accessible, providing alternative routes, and separating pedestrian activity from service operations. The designs use site elements as subtle traffic controls, e.g. incorporating the historic Yale fence and positioning/extending custom designed bike racks as ‘fences’.
Other issues included protecting many 100+year-old trees, designing virtually invisible servicing, addressing innumerable accessibility barriers, and providing discrete security upgrades.
Environmental issues included remediation of toxic soils, dry-wells for recharge, and specification of native plants. Early intense requirements for tree protection, engaging the University's arborist, established the expectations for the quality of landscape implementation/preservation efforts.
The courtyard renovations refine the spatial hierarchy and expand the experience of pedestrian cross-campus movement, both defining elements of the University landscape heritage. The lost space of old alleys has been recaptured as mews-like spaces for social gatherings and through circulation. Intimate seating alcoves, suitable for conversation or teaching, have been created on the periphery of larger courts. Traditional materials have been used in new forms for more durable installations and for sympathetic but contemporary aesthetic expressions in new courtyards.
The jury said, This project has " . . . tremendous elegance of detail and materials . . . the decision to celebrate fantastic, human scale public spaces and recognize their significance and the way they elevate student space is great."
Project Team: Yale University with Towers|Golde LLC, Honoree, landscape architects; Kieran Timberlake Associates, Architects; Perry Dean Rogers Partners, Architects; Goody Clancy, Architects and Herbert S. Newman and Partners, Architects. |
