The University of Sacramento Design of New Campus

Sacramento, CaliforniaDesign Concept Award

Projects in the Design PhaseHolabird & Root

2009 Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture

University of Sacramento Design of New Campus

University of Sacramento Sustainable VisionCommunity Environment

The master plan strives to create a campus “for the ages”and sets high sustainability standards.

The campus/community infrastructure and University architecture utilize both the site topography and local environment to optimize sustainable features. The university and community development are partnering with utility companies to generate electricity locally through solar farming and cogeneration from local biomass waste resources.

Cordova Hills Site Development PlanCommunity Environment

Designing a campus to be an integral part of a future community required close collaboration with the developers of the larger, 3,300-acre, master-planned sustainable community. As we have been developing the campus design, we have been working with the developer, county officials and University leaders to identify opportunities for connecting the university to the surrounding development. Currently we are planning a shared infrastructure; an interconnected roadway system to give adjacent neighborhoods access to cultural and recreational events; a shared parkway/wetlands system; and a mixed-use University Town.

Districts and LandmarksLearning Environment

The university campus is organized around the concept of districts and landmarks. These districts are mainly comprised of major programmatic functions: academic, athletic, and residential. There are multiple landmarks within any district, creating smaller spaces and way-finding visual corridors. The planning of the individual buildings and their organization within the districts is a direct reflection of the university’s pedagogical mission, with the central quad of the academic district devoted to classics and core studies and flanking quads organized around advanced specialties.

Learning SpacesLearning Environment

The region inspired architecture and open spaces are designed to support the district and landmark planning principle at a finer scale. The buildings are arranged and connected by arcades, thus creating shaded quadrangles and lushly planted courtyards. These spaces are planned to promote the concept of “learning anywhere anytime”.

Design PrinciplesPhysical Environment

The client wanted the master plan to express five points that are embodied in their philosophy and culture. First, they wanted the campus to have an enduring quality throughout the ages. Second, they wanted the campus to reflect its regional and local context. Third, they wanted the campus to establish an overall vision that would be made stronger by each subsequent phase. Fourth, they wanted to create an academic community that promotes active debate and inquiry. Finally, they wanted to create a spirit that respects both the individual and the community.

Sustainable architecturePhysical Environment

Sustainability is universal to all components of the campus design ranging in scale from energy delivery systems to passive architecture. The master plan is designed to minimize impacts on existing topography: to control erosion, to conserve existing habitats and to preserve view corridors. Landscape design and site planning will feature indigenous, no-irrigation plant species. The architecture will highlight local and regional building materials and climate-responsive techniques such as solar shading, daylight harvesting, natural ventilation and the use of thermal mass.

CollaborationPlanning Process

We developed the master plan in close collaboration with the institution through a series of planning charettes. The process began by defining the facilities required to create an academic community that could support an initial enrollment of 600 students and incrementally grow to an enrollment of 7,000 students.

Academic StandardsPlanning Process

We worked with our client to establish the design criteria that would ultimately position them in their desired caliber of universities. This was achieved by identifying universities, in order to benchmark data for comparable goals.We combined the benchmark data with their outline academic plan and created a design metric that we used throughout the planning and design process.

Programming the FuturePlanning Process

A critical component of the design is the requirement that the campus evolves over multiple phases of development.From first phase to full build out, each step is carefully planned and envisioned to meet the program and design vision.

Submitting Firm : Holabird & RootProject Role ArchitectProject Contact Rusty WalkerTitle Project DesignerAddress 140 South DearbornCity, State or Province, Country Chicago, IllinoisPhone 312.357.1771

Joint Partner Firm: N/AProject RoleProject ContactTitleAddressCity, State or Province, CountryPhone

Other Firm: N/AProject RoleProject ContactTitleAddressCity, State or Province, CountryPhone

Construction Firm: N/AProject RoleProject ContactTitleAddressCity, State or Province, CountryPhone

Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture 2008 Project Details

Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture 2008 Project Details

Project Name  University of Sacramento Design of New Campus

City  Sacramento

State  California

District Name  

Supt/President  Father Robert Prescutti

Occupancy Date  2013

Grades Housed  Undergraduate and Graduate

 

Capacity(Students)  600 - &,000

Site Size (acres)  240 acres

Gross Area (sq. ft.)  4.2 million gsf

Per Occupant(pupil)  NA

gross/net please indicate  

 

Design and Build?  

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If no,  

Site Development:  

Building Construction:  

Fixed Equipment:  

Other:  

 

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