A Walk in the Woods: Re-Wilding, Experimentation and Pedagogy at UMass

Honor Award

General Design

Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
STIMSON
Client: University of Massachusetts Amherst

Landscape Laboratory

Founded in 1903 as the second oldest landscape architecture program in the U.S., site history inspired a concept of horticultural experimentation.

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Landscape Concept

The site reinterprets the regional, familiar and nostalgic ecologies of the Connecticut River Valley.

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Site Plan

The landscape is a series of gardens that interpret ecologies from the north slope ravine to the alpine summit rooftop garden.

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Intervale Meadows

The stormwater gardens provide a seasonal laboratory for landscape architecture courses and alleviate the conventional campus drainage infrastructure.

Image Credit: Ngoc Doan
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Landscape Experience and Diversity

To the west, the stormwater meadows cleanse runoff, integrate wildness into the arrival experience and increase campus biodiversity.

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West Entry Life

A building cantilever, bluestone walls and large slabs create a safe and comfortable microclimate for students to gather outside the central atrium.

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Material Studies

At the east entry, materials were explored at different scales and textures. Hand sketching remained integral to all phases of the design process.

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East Entry Woodland

The east grove faces the wilder hillside of the campus echoing the thickets of Sassafrass and American Beech found growing on nearby Prexy’s Ridge.

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Spring Source Garden at the East Entry Grove

At the spring source garden, an sloped walk is defined by large, sedimentary slabs that retain the grade for accessibility and an outdoor classroom.

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Water Course

The north slope ravine, with black locust check dams and bog plants, conveys runoff from the roof and pavements to the stormwater meadows.

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Spontaneous Detailing

During construction, field sketches provided quick, clever and cost-effective solutions like using a standard box culvert as a pedestrian bridge.

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In the Field

A grove of Carya ovata, Shagbark Hickory, gives students exposure to rare, native nursery plants. Runoff from the workyard drains to the meadows.

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Landscape Stewardship

The summit garden is monitored by faculty and students. Hands-on learning through maintenance and research is integrated into the curriculum.

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Horticultural Experiment

The summit garden consists of collected alpine species planted extensively in shallow soils, supplemented seasonally by a misting system.

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Micro Planting

Colonies of lichens, mosses, ferns and alpine groundcovers thrive in shallow soil pockets and offer a new palette for green roofs.

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Wildness and Wellness

The alpine garden, open 24 hours a day, connects wildness to the studio experience, nurturing mental wellness at the Design Building.

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“

What an amazing case-study for how to create an impactful landscape at a small-scale. Every detail is well thought-out and then executed at a very high level. So much design study and detailed material investigations and application, resulting in a beautiful and educational landscape that can be experienced daily and over the years by landscape students. The design is impressive, and its impact on future landscape architects could be incredible in small and subliminal ways.What a great asset for the design students, faculty, and overall university community.

”

- 2025 Awards Jury

Project Credits

Leers Weinzapfel, Architect

Nitsch, Civil Engineer

Pine and Swallow, Soil Scientist

Stephen A. Roberts, Landscape Contractor

Project Statement

The Design Building at the University of Massachusetts is the new home of the Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (LARP), and Building and Construction Technology Departments. As the second oldest Landscape Architecture Department in the United States, the site was the original location of LARP’s test plots in the early 1900’s. The need to restore a functioning ecosystem and the expression of horticultural experimentation guided the design process. With exposed timber frame building construction, regionally inspired gardens and green infrastructure, the project establishes a new ecological and creative standard for design students and field-based learning.

Project Narrative

History and Concept It began with a walk through the woods. It was the fall of 2002 at the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (LARP) at UMass. We were first-year Master’s students begrudgingly leaving studio for an ecology lab with Professor Emeritus, Hal Mosher. Off we’d go in a caravan of beat-up grad student vehicles with Hal at the helm with his walking stick. Let’s face it, in those early years of grad school, it’s all about studio. Yet, those field sessions soon became our respite every week, a necessary break from the grind of studio. We soon learned that familiar landscapes and their associated ecologies can give form and meaning to design on the land.

The Design Building is the new home of the Architecture, LARP, and Building and Construction Technology Departments at our state’s flagship campus. Bringing these disciplines together under one roof was an unprecedented move for the University. Designed in unison, the building and site have a responsiveness to each other, making the working systems visible and uncomplicated. The site was the location of the historic test plots for the Landscape Architecture Department which was founded in 1903 as the second oldest landscape architecture program in the country. Frank A. Waugh, the first Department Chair, oversaw years of test plots here. The desire to restore a functioning ecosystem and the expression of horticultural experimentation became paramount to the project.

Embracing Regionalism, Wildness and Landscape Expression The building (the first and largest academic mass timber building in the country) is a teaching tool, and the landscape is a laboratory for exhibition, detailing, site engineering, horticulture, soil science, and stormwater management. There is no lawn on the project and all the landscapes are naturalized, reinterpreting regional ecologies and offering mental wellness and sanctuary from the well-known stress of studio.

Along with the stormwater meadows, north slope ravine and eastern woodland gardens, the summit garden offers a completely novel approach to rooftop planting, demonstrating the alpine ecology of the nearby Holyoke Range, experimenting with transplants of lichen and moss in as little as three inches of soil. The planting relied heavily on bare root and collected species and offers a novel approach to rooftop planting in our New England climate.

Integrated Process Alongside the architects, we spent over a year of close collaboration with the faculty and students of every department. Meetings turned into charrettes, site visits became teaching opportunities, and their academic studios mimicked our design process. Working alongside the campus planners, we integrated strategic landscape goals of the UMass Comprehensive Plan: reconnecting campus landscapes, improving pedestrian safety, restoring historic thoroughfares, re-wilding and improving biodiversity. A landscape management plan was written and is overseen by a life-time committee comprised of the designers, faculty, alumni, and maintenance team.

A Model for Academia The project has set a new ecological, experiential and creative standard for UMass and supports the way pedagogy can be intertwined with hands-on experience in the campus landscape. With exposed timber frame construction and an homage to field-based learning, the project offers a new model for every landscape architecture program in our country.

Products

Other
- Bluestone, Tompkins Quarry

Plant List

Abies balsamea Balsam Fir
Picea mariana Black Spruce
Tsuga canadensis Canadian Hemlock
Amelanchier canadensis Shadblow Serviceberry
Acer ginnala Amur Maple
Acer rubrum (native) Native Red Maple
Acer saccharum Sugar Maple
Betula alleghaniensis (straight native) Yellow Birch Single Stem
Betula papyrifera Paper Birch
Carya ovata Shagbark Hickory
Fagus grandifolia American Beech
Larix laricina American larch
Nyssa sylvatica Tupelo
Quercus bicolor Swamp White Oak
Quercus rubra Red Oak
Sassafras albidum Sassafras
Hamamelis virginiana Witchhazel
Cornus sericea 'Arctic Fire' Red Twig Dogwood
Juniperus horizontalis 'Wiltonii' Blue Rug Juniper
Kalmia angustifolia Sheep Laurel
Ilex glabra 'Shamrock' Inkberry 'Shamrock'
Myrica pensylvanica Northern bayberry
Rhus typhina Staghorn Sumac
Salix 'Flame' Flame Willow
Rhus aromatica 'Gro-Low' Fragrant Sumac 'Gro-Low'
Taxus × media 'Everlow' Everlow Yew
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi Bearberry
Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly Weed
Calamagrostis canadensis Blue Joint Grass
Cornus canadensis Bunchberry
Caltha palustris Yellow Marsh Marigold
Comptonia peregrina Sweet Fern
Dennstaedtia punctilobula Hayscented Fern
Gaylussacia baccata Black Huckleberry
Iris versicolor Blue Flag Iris
Juncus effuses Soft rush
Molinia caerulea 'Dauerstrahl' Moore grass
Matteuccia struthiopteris Ostrich Fern
Polystichum acrostichoides Christmas Fern
Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues' The Blues Little Bluestem
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae New England Aster
Symplocarpus foetidus Skunk Cabbage
Sporobolus heterolepis 'Tara' Prairie Dropseed
Sorghastrum nutans 'Sioux Blue' Indiangrass
Schizachyrium scoparium Little Bluestem
Thalictrum rochebrunianum 'Lavender Mist' Meadow Rue
Vaccinium angustifolium Lowbush Blueberry
Vaccinium vitis-idaea ‘Red Sunset’ ‘Red Sunset’ Lingonberry
Xanthorhiza simplicissima Yellow Root
Cladonia cristatella Red Soldier Lichen
Cladonia rangiferina Reindeer Lichen
Clematis paniculata Sweet Autumn Clematis
Dicranum scoparium Broom Moss
Gaultheria procumbens Wintergreen
Lenucobryum glaucum White Pincushion Moss
Mitchella repens Partridgeberry
Quercus ilicifolia Scrub Oak
Tortula ruralis Star Moss