Vibrant New Neighborhood Energizes a Suburban Campus 
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"8000","speed":"1000","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"8000","speed":"1000","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}

DETAILS

LocationRochester, New York, United States
ClientARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, Inc.
Size30 acres

Global Village, a pedestrian-only infill neighborhood adjacent to Rochester Institute of Technology’s academic core, and its mixed-use centerpiece, Global Plaza, create a social heart for 17,200 students and 3,600 faculty and staff. The landscape architects and architects collaborated on an urban design that establishes multiple “crossroads” to foster walking between classes and previously isolated campus buildings and parking. Also integrated are earlier “floating” buildings, including a one-story campus café/cafeteria, a cluster of Greek houses, and the new glass Innovation Center. Multiple portals and entrances, two grand stairs—popular for people watching—and an outdoor space network on two levels enmesh the neighborhood into the campus’ hilliest area and make walking there enjoyable. In all, Global Village provides housing for over 400 students in the initial phase and is planned for 800-1200 additional students, tripling the number that can live amidst a sophisticated, active zone. Global Plaza provides a mosaic of dining, studying, and socializing spaces, including a permeable café region and restaurant terrace with seating for over 300, a central outdoor lounge with resort-style deep seating, fire pit and trellis-framed performance area, and a south-facing, conical lawn “beach.” An internally-lit, faceted, patterned glass fountain located at the intersection of the plaza’s pedestrian flows serves as a meeting place year round.

The plaza remains in use during Rochester’s cool weather thanks to user-operated timed gas heaters in the café seating zone, umbrellas for hot or drizzling days, and a fire pit in the central lounge. In the coldest months, the lounge may be cleared, lined, and flooded to transform into a small skating rink. During warmer months, the University programs the plaza with almost daily events including performances, festivals, and other student gatherings. Large canopy tree species, generally absent on campus, will over time reinforce Global Plaza as a landmark for RIT. The project’s compact layout, pedestrian orientation, bicycle facilities, planted roof, distributed rain gardens and provision for summer shade contributed to the project’s LEED Gold rating. Sustainable materials include ungrouted pavers, mostly manufactured within 500 miles, and plantation-grown 2x lumber for the trellises and bike parking canopies. Global Plaza instantly became the campus social hub and Global Village its most popular housing when completed in Fall 2010. “It’s been a great gathering place, the kind of common square you see in great cities” noted Mary-Beth Cooper, RIT’s Senior Vice President for Student Affairs. Dr James Watters, RIT’s Senior Vice President for Finance & Administration, says, “The plaza is a huge success. We had kids sitting out deep into the fall, which, given our weather, is exceptional.”

Related Projects

East Quarter Mixed-Use

Two neighborhoods that abut the Downtown Dallas Central Business District have been disconnected for years by derelict blocks and buildings. The East Quarter Mixed-Use development establishes a walkable retail, dining, and entertainment connection between the thriving Deep Ellum Farmer’s Market and highly programmed Arts District. The project included the pres...

Santana Row

SWA provided full landscape architectural services for the development of a neo-traditional town center near downtown San Jose. The client’s vision called for a variety of design styles to create a town center with an impression of growth over time. This theme is expressed in building elevations as well as landscape design. The restaurants and boutique r...

Cañada College Kinesiology & Wellness

In collaboration with ELS, SWA designed a new landmark for Canada College, the Kinesiology & Wellness Center.  The project replaced a windowless 1960s-era gym building and outdoor asphalt yard with the glassy new building and infinity pool deck on this hilltop campus with fantastic views.  The project also created a new campus arrival and ceremonial overlo...

La Plaza Cultura Village

Located within El Pueblo, the birthplace of Los Angeles, La Plaza Cultura Village is a mixed-use, transit-oriented development totaling 425,000 square feet of retail, apartments (20 percent of which are low income units), cultural facilities, and public open space. Two large, surface parking lots have been transformed into a vibrant community that builds upon ...

La Plaza Cultura Village

Located within El Pueblo, the birthplace of Los Angeles, La Plaza Cultura Village is a mixed-use, transit-oriented development totaling 425,000 square feet of retail, apartments (20 percent of which are low income units), cultural facilities, and public open space. Two large, surface parking lots have been transformed into a vibrant community that builds upon ...

MKT Mixed-Use Development

The MKT mixed-use development is a truly Houstonian take on adaptive reuse, with a tilt wall industrial office park. Located in the chic and rapidly upscaling neighborhood of Houston Heights, this industrial, 1970s-era industrial remnant is being transformed: the buildings’ concrete shells remain, but are bisected by pathways that seem to surgically remove the...

City Creek Center

In the heart of Salt Lake City, City Creek Center is the retail centerpiece of one of the nation’s largest mixed-use downtown redevelopment projects. This unique fashion and dining destination includes a new two-story retail center and over 500 residential rental units over four levels of underground parking, all within a downtown setting that features s...

Poly Future City

As the first phase of a large development along a new subway line in Beijing, Poly Future City suggests what’s to come. A sleek sales center features an interactive landscape with water features punctuating its pavilions, which boast WiFi, heated seating, and power outlets, all solar-powered. For this temporary building and landscape, SWA took care to invest i...