Brandeis University: Fellows Garden | Waltham, MA
In their Master Plan report, Chan Krieger & Associates describe Fellows Garden as “a type of ‘sacred space’ that all places of higher education should have in plenty.” This quality of sacredness emerges both from its centrality (in relation to the greater campus) and circularity (in general outline), both of which suggest a clearing -- a place of gathering and rest. In contrast, its location approximately midway along the campus-long pedestrian spine, renders it equally important as a nexus of circulation, a place of connection and movement.
Client: Brandeis University
Status: On Hold
Suffering strongly from a lack of spatial, programmatic, and visual clarity, Fellow’s Garden, as it exists today, operates poorly in each sense. The potential for this space to meaningfully contribute to the series of diverse landscape spaces at Brandeis University has been significantly compromised by a dominant and poorly conceived mix of pedestrian, private car, and service related vehicular traffic.
The fact that, despite the “clutter,” this space still reads as one of central importance both spatially and in terms of the greater campus identity is a testament to its strong quality as a landscape space. Landworks Studio, through a rigorous design process, proposes to reduce and re-order the existing program to encourage new use and to release the power embedded in the space.
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