Commercial Architecture June 2019 - 11

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FEATURE

| landscaping

Above. The High Line is a 1.45-mi.-long elevated linear park, green way, and rail trail created on a former railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan.
The defunct rail line created an opportunity for new public space where there wasn't any. BuroHappold Engineering, James Corner Field Operations, and
Diller Scofidio+Renfro created a masterplan for the reuse and reintegration of the railroad. Photo: Eric Soltan, courtesy BuroHappold
Below. The 12-acre Clippership Wharf, designed by The Architectural Team (TAT), sits along the Boston Inner Harbor, offering sweeping views of the
Boston skyline from Charlestown to South Boston. The plan calls for outdoor amenities, including a Harborwalk, beachfront area, and floating dock where
pedestrians can launch kayaks-and where neighbors can be reintroduced to a natural shoreline. Illustration: courtesy The Architectural Team

Meredith Management, Beverly, MA), we created key
outdoor program elements including roof decks on both
of the buildings in Phase 1, with spaces for swimming,
cooking, dog walking, and general gathering. On one of
the buildings, we also found a way to pull the exterior
into the top-floor indoor amenity space by creating a
glass-enclosed atrium," Szymanski said.
"Interacting with the landscape reduces stress and
increases productivity," according to David Fowler of
three. "When people are inhabiting a building, what they
see looking out onto a landscape is as important as traveling through the landscape to get in the building. Whether it's looking into courtyards or taking a break and going

Additionally, there are meaningful health benefits

mixed-use development, offer connections to the existing

outside, or just the ability to see the landscape and the

that come from open, green spaces. "The British author

Schuylkill River Trail, and tie this new campus to the

connection to sunlight outside, all of that plays a big fac-

and neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote that he saw the mental

adjacent historic South Philadelphia neighborhood.

tor in how people experience places."

health benefits of nature be the only truly effective envi-

Design features such as flexible seating and children's

From a practical perspective, landscaping and plant-

ronmental therapy, and this is something we think about

play areas flank an open plaza that can host special

ings can be used to hide the parts of buildings that we

in all urban-design projects," Cooper Robertson's Don-

events. The result is an uplifting environment where

don't want to highlight, back-of-house elements such as

ald Clinton remarked.

linked public spaces provide amenities for the campus

utilities, loading docks, and the like. In these zones, land-

"Landscaping and a welcoming public realm are espe-

scape offers a practical use in screening and softening the

cially important in the healthcare sector, where green

"From the perspective of ecological and environmen-

appearance," he said.

users as well as the community at large.

space is proven to have a positive impact on patient health

tal impact, we see a whole new level of design opportuni-

"From a zoning standpoint, there are almost always

and wellbeing," he elaborated. "Cooper Robertson's

ty for urban spaces. From a growing awareness of urban

requirements associated with landscape in a city environ-

research campus plan for the Children's Hospital of Phil-

heat-island effects on energy consumption, to greater

ment. Most cities now require a certain number of trees,

adelphia, for example, takes advantage of a unique river-

understanding of the cost and environmental tradeoffs

and caliber of trees, and list minimum streetscape

front site to create nearly three acres of landscaped open

for how storm water is managed, well-designed open spac-

requirements," Fowler added.

spaces that support approximately 2-million sq. ft. of

es offer tremendous environmental benefits for urban
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Commercial Architecture June 2019

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