The courtyard sat at the heart of the campus, yet nobody used it. Paved from wall to wall, it was simply too hot. We started by asking the people who work there what they would want from it: shade, somewhere to eat, and somewhere to take a call away from their desks.
The new design replaces most of the paving with planting and adds fast-growing shade trees that bring the temperature down by several degrees. A rain garden captures the run-off from the surrounding roofs during storms, and covered seating makes the courtyard usable even in the afternoon rain.
