项目陈述

PROJECT STATEMENT

为了庆祝百年校庆，德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校委托Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, Inc为校园进行了改造，将以沥青路面、草坡、以及修剪后的树篱为主的汽车导向型校园重新塑造成一座普遍可达的、以行人为导向的校园，并将校园与沙漠生态系统联系在一起。1.5英亩的校园在改造后，变身成为一处促进生物多样性并彰显了沙漠之美的地方。项目为校园引入了人行道网络、种植了本地植物的干河谷，以及大量的绿色空间，以促进校园内的连通性，激发人们户外探索的欲望，并为生态系统提供了支持。该项目获得了世界上第一个可持续SITES v2认证，为沙漠环境中的城市景观建立了新的设计标准。

In celebration of its centennial, the University of Texas El Paso commissioned a Campus Transformation Project to reimagine the car-oriented campus dominated by asphalt, sloped lawns, and clipped hedges into a universally accessible, pedestrian-oriented campus linked to its desert ecosystem. This project transformed the 11.5-acre campus into a place that fosters biodiversity and celebrates the beauty of the desert. The project introduces a network of walkways, natively planted arroyos, and green spaces to promote connectivity, inspire outdoor exploration, and provide ecosystem services. The project earned the world’s first Sustainable SITES v2 certification, establishing a new standard of design for civic landscapes in desert environments.

项目说明
PROJECT NARRATIVE

德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校（UTEP）是公立高等教育进程的重要节点。然而，它的校园长期以来一直以环境表现不佳，以及和当地环境极不协调的沥青路面、草坪和修剪过的树篱组合为特征，广阔崎岖的沙漠地形，以及被称为干河谷的临时性排水渠，危及了敏感的沙漠生态，并在雨季造成了洪涝的危险。

为了创造一个更具可持续性、弹性和步行友好的校园环境，UTEP委托Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, Inc对18英亩的核心校园区域进行总体规划，并最终对11.5英亩的校园区域进行实际改造。落成后的项目重新建立了良性循环的自然系统，将校园与该地区的遗产重新联系起来，并创造了一个以行人为导向的校园环境，让学生沉浸在Chihuahuan沙漠的美景中。

校园的原始地形呈现出了60英尺的坡度变化，这对行人可达性以及雨水管理提出了挑战。百年广场（Centennial Plaza）和百年绿地（Centennial Green）两处开放空间的引入，正应对了这两项挑战。广场周围环绕着宽阔的长廊和弧形的本地豆科树，为校园提供阴凉，作为绿地的前景，欢迎游客来到校园的中心。通过对斜坡进行体量的切割，草坡变身为具有耐旱草坪的阶梯式圆形剧场。长廊连接了两条新的林荫道、楼梯、坡道和其他走道，将这些核心空间的精神延伸到更广泛的校园环境中。

该设计将开放空间与原生植被、水体和野生动物联系起来。两条新干河谷在视觉上和水文上与山麓和分水岭相连，起到引导、减缓和过滤雨水的作用，曾经雨水只能流过不透水的沥青路面形成积水。因此，新的干河谷减少了地面的雨水径流，增加了对含水层的宝贵补给，减少了侵蚀，防止了对场地有威胁的洪水的产生，并通过拦截流向Rio Grande河的污染物，改善了校园内外流域的生态健康。

为了支持大学社区的户外环境，遮阳是必不可少的。因此，本项目新种植了650多棵耐旱遮荫树，减少了地面吸收的热量，而人工水景则进一步增强了这一效果。透水的铺路石和稳定的高度风化花岗岩减少了不透水路面的面积和热岛效应，而新的户外空间电力设施和Wi-Fi覆盖，让学生们在户外也能够保持联系。

设计结合了当地和回收的材料，减少了浪费，并融入了场地的历史背景。拆除的建筑材料，以及那些在重新平整场地时挖掘出来的材料，在可能的情况下都被重新利用，从旧校园人行道上回收的混凝土被用来搭建防洪坝，以及广场上具有透水接缝的路面。

改造后的UTEP校园通过平衡使用者舒适度和对脆弱沙漠生态系统的管理，为埃尔帕索和其他干旱社区的开放空间设计树立了新的标准。该项目展示了协作团队的能力，将以汽车为导向的硬质场地转变为生活场所，以“会呼吸的”城市生态系统，创造出高质量的生活和与当地环境的联系，同时也展示了设计在社区中培养自豪感的能力。为了表彰该项目的成功，该项目荣获了世界首个可持续SITES v2认证。

PROJECT NARRATIVE

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is an important node of public higher education. Yet its campus had long been characterized by an underperforming and regionally dissonant assemblage of asphalt, lawn, and clipped hedges, smothering expanses of rugged desert terrain and ephemeral drainage ways, known as arroyos, compromising the sensitive desert ecology and creating hazardous runoff conditions during the rainy season.

To create a more sustainable, resilient, and pedestrian-friendly campus environment, UTEP commissioned our landscape architecture firm to lead an 18-acre Core Campus Master Plan and implement a 11.5-acre Campus Transformation Project. This project re-established natural systems, reconnected the campus to the region’s heritage, and created a pedestrian-oriented environment that immerses students in the beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert.

The campus topography includes 60 feet of grade change, creating a challenge to its pedestrian accessibility and stormwater mitigation. The introduction of two open spaces, Centennial Plaza and Centennial Green, answered both challenges. Encircled by a generous paseo and an arc of native mesquite trees that provide shade, the Plaza welcomes visitors to the heart of the campus, serving as the foreground to the Green. By cutting it into the hillside, this new feature creates a cascading amphitheater with a drought-tolerant lawn. The paseo links two new tree-shaded pedestrian promenades, stairs, ramps, and other walkways that extend the spirit of these core spaces to the greater campus.

The design connects open spaces with native vegetation, water, and wildlife. The two new arroyos connect visually and hydrologically to the mountain foothills and watershed beyond, channeling, slowing, and filtering stormwater, which had once run across impermeable asphalt. This mitigates stormwater runoff, increases valuable recharge to the aquifer, reduces erosion, prevents dangerous flood conditions on site, and improves the health of the watershed within and beyond the campus by reducing pollutants that reach the Rio Grande.

To support an outdoor environment for the university community, shade was imperative. Adding over 650 xeric shade trees mitigates heat, while irrigation-fed water features provide further cooling. Permeable pavers and stabilized decomposed granite reduce impervious paving and heat island effect, while new outdoor spaces provide power and Wi-Fi access so students can stay connected outdoors.

The design integrates local and salvaged materials, reducing waste and engaging the site’s historical context. Demolished construction materials, excavated in re-grading were repurposed whenever possible, and concrete salvaged from old campus sidewalks was used to form the check dams and to create paving with permeable joints in the Plaza.

The transformed UTEP campus demonstrates a new standard for open space design in El Paso and other arid communities by balancing human comfort with stewardship for the delicate desert ecosystem. This project demonstrates the ability for collaborative teams to transform over-paved, car-oriented sites into living, breathing urban ecologies that support a high quality of life and connection with native environments, but also the ability of design to foster a sense of pride within a community. In recognition of the project’s success, it became the first project in the world to earn Sustainable SITES v2 certification.

ProjectCredits
Lake｜Flato Architects, shade structures
Quantum Civil Engineers, Civil Engineer
Architectural Engineers Collaborative, Structural engineer
EEA Consulting Engineers, MEP
Greenscape Pump, water feature mechanical engineers
Aqua Irrigation, Irrigation
Rider Levett Bucknall, Cost estimation
Altura Solutions, Accessibility Consultant
Biohabitats, watershed study
Regenerative Environmental Design, SITES Documentation
Yarnell Associates, Lighting
Jordan Foster Construction, General Contractor