Adapting Mid-Century Landscapes as Active, Functional Outdoor Classrooms
{"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

LocationLong Beach, California, United States
ClientCSU Long Beach
Size40,700 sf

CSU Long Beach is in the process of a series of major renovations as its mid-century buildings fall short in terms of capacity and technology. The Peterson Hall project extends the classroom experience to the outdoors, while also adding much-needed sustainability updates to the landscape. Terraced seating of composite wood invites students to lounge while awaiting the commencement of their class schedule or the arrival of companions. Outdoor “rooms,” enclosed by planting, feature movable tables, chairs, as well as modular benches. The planting palette emphasizes hardy native plants that thrive in both wet and dry conditions, while bioswales support the university’s ongoing commitment to sustainability. Designed to please the eye even when not in full use, the landscape’s seasonal features offer an ever-changing, enriching experience for both faculty and students.

Related Projects

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...

Foothill Community College

SWA’s design for Foothill College is an exemplary model of site, building, and landscape harmony. The 100-acre campus bridges two hilltops, with parking and roadways relegated to the surrounding valleys. Buildings and landscape together form a series of courts and terraces connected by a continuous campus greenway. Overhanging wood eaves of the low profile bui...

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for the Visual Arts

The original Stanford campus museum was damaged in an earthquake in 1989. With help from major namesake donors to the museum, significant site improvements, expansion and seismic renovation improvements were accomplished. SWA provided master plan updates and full landscape architectural services including pedestrian pathways; two major terraces for displaying ...

Stanford Toyon Hall

Toyon Hall, a significant historic building originally designed by Bakewell and Brown Architects in 1922, is a three-story structure centered around a magnificent formal courtyard with arcades and arches. The purpose of the project was to preserve, maintain and enhance the building and site. SWA scope of work included evaluation of existing site conditions and...

University of Chicago Booth School of Business

This project regenerates a spectacular, historic cliff-side waterfront site by activating it with new purpose. Working carefully to interweave layers of preservation and natural beauty, the building and landscape work together to leave a light footprint. Today, a distinctive global campus honors the history of its earlier occupation while providing inspiration...

Westmark School

Westmark is a private, second-through-12th-grade school focused on providing quality education to students with learning differences. The project itself has been divided into five separate phases, which will include site renovations for classrooms, courtyards, playgrounds, etc. The school provides a unique student experience that re-envisions traditional educa...

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...

Shanghai International Dance Center

Inspired by the idea of movement, this collaboration with Studios Architecture achieves an artful harmony of building with landscape, program with site. The image of a dancer in grand jete kindled the designers’ imaginations and served as the project’s organizing idea. Asia’s first professional dance complex is tucked between a freeway, a subway station...