SCUP Excellence in Planning for an Established Campus, Merit Award

Landscape Master Plan at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA and Robinson Fisher Associates, Inc., Athens, GA

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The goals of a 2004 Campus Master Plan Update focused on education, ecology and economy. A seed had been planted to create a Landscape Master Plan (LMP) to transform Georgia Tech into a sustainable campus; to establish a template for developing a landscape to tie the campus together physically and functionally in an ecological sense; to create a landscape that enhances the living, working and learning environment of Georgia Tech; and to imbue the campus with an identity and sense of place. 

The plan responded to campus heritage and developed a landscape that unifies the campus. A one-year planning process collected physical, programmatic, operational impacts and requirements. Projects are now reviewed as part of a larger ecological and cultural context. 

The plan encourages innovation in technology and ecology and designates an 80-acre open space, called the Eco-Commons, for recreation and stormwater management. Sustainable development over time is ensured using ecological performance requirements for the whole campus. 

The plan recommends that stormwater be managed as “the conservation of a valuable resource,” instead of as “the elimination of a problem.” The design and engineering of stormwater becomes one of husbandry and stewardship. The negative approach leads to storm sewers and detention ponds, while the positive approach leads to a sustainable landscape that does not require material and energy subsidy. The plan reinstates the importance of the campus’ historical street pattern as social corridors and connection to the city and enhances pedestrian movement to reclaim a sense of place. Metrics will measure the effect of the plan over time. Every project is vetted for compliance with ecological performance standards prior to construction.

The landscape plan allows the campus master plan to meet sustainability goals, while potentially adding 3 million square feet of buildings. It is a template for landscape planning on any campus. Each one may be different, but ecological principles remain constant. As gravity governs architecture, ecology governs the landscape.

The lesson is that the campus landscape can achieve sustainability, if ecologically and comprehensively defined. It can be integrative, unifying, and placemaking. By using ecology and the dynamics of natural processes, and integrating them with man-made design, landscape master planning can create a sustainable campus.

The jury said, “an exceptional plan . . . .”

Project Team: Georgia Institute of Technology and Robinson Fisher Associates, Inc.