In collaboration with architects Group 4 and HMC, SWA transformed Chabot College’s predominantly paved Grand Court into an outdoor living room at the heart of the 14,000-student campus. The opportunity to reimagine the space came in conjunction with siting, massing, and designing the new iconic, three-story faceted library where the campus’ main walks intersect.
Alongside the library’s lobby and cafe, a series of long wood slat benches occupy Chochenyo Plaza, a space to study, dine, and socialize. Chabot College is located on the traditional lands of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, and within the plaza, phrases in the tribe’s Chochenyo language cast into the pavement embed cultural meaning into the everyday campus experience.
The site design also resculpted the upper edge of the original lawn amphitheater, adding a new row of trees and seating to frame both the amphitheater and provide foliage for the reading rooms above. Furthermore, the site design softened the Grand Court’s elliptical perimeter concrete arcade with a row of deciduous trees. An outdoor terrace on the third floor provides long views of the East Bay Hills.
RIT Global Village and Global Plaza
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” ...
Stanford Hoover Institution Traitel Building
The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is a public policy research organization promoting principles of individual, economic, and political freedom. CAW and SWA collaborated as a design team to create a building and site that helped promote research collaboration through open site connections and workspace.
SWA focused on a site design that exten...
University of North Texas Frisco
The University of North Texas (UNT) envisioned a transformative greenfield campus in Frisco to support the region’s rapid growth and diverse economic needs. The site’s challenges, including topographical variation, stormwater management, and integration with natural and urban contexts, required a master plan that fostered innovation and sustainabil...
Miwok Aquatic and Fitness Center
Nestled in Novato’s rolling Oak woodlands, the College of Marin’s Miwok Aquatic and Fitness Center provides Northern California with a new destination for aquatic training and competitions. Part of the College’s Indian Valley Campus, the center neighbors over 1,400 acres of open space preserves. ELS and SWA worked closely to lay out the site ...