Located in Southeast Houston, the University of Houston Law Center is home to three top-ten law programs since its establishment in 1947. Like nearly two-thirds of properties across the city, it’s also vulnerable to flooding—most viscerally in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, Hurricane Ike in 2008, and Hurricane Harvey in 2017, a trend only exacerbated by climate change.
For the new LEED Silver-certified John M. O’Quinn Law Building, SWA collaborated with the school and Shepley Bulfinch to design a flood-resilient landscape that can store up to 400 thousand gallons of stormwater runoff, filtering water through a lush detention basin planted with native species. Crucially, the design also preserves the existing oak canopy—providing shade for students relaxing on the elevated deck, named “The Grove,” between classes, and maintaining the campus’ character.
On a day-to-day level, the new facility also carves out a wide variety of flexible spaces for collaboration, strengthening the sense of community within the school, breaking down the boundaries between the building, landscape, and campus, and better connecting the next generation of legal professionals with their surroundings.
Stanford Toyon Hall
Toyon Hall, a significant historic building originally designed by Bakewell and Brown Architects in 1922, is a three-story structure centered around a magnificent formal courtyard with arcades and arches. The purpose of the project was to preserve, maintain and enhance the building and site. SWA scope of work included evaluation of existing site conditions and...
Scripps College Residence
The landscape design for the new residence hall builds on the Scripps College campus tradition of landscaped courtyards formed by buildings and circulation corridors. In doing so, the design helps to establish a new east-west axis connecting the main campus to future recreation facilities to the east. The project also improves interrelationships and connection...
Westmark School
Westmark is a private, second-through-12th-grade school focused on providing quality education to students with learning differences. The project itself has been divided into five separate phases, which will include site renovations for classrooms, courtyards, playgrounds, etc. The school provides a unique student experience that re-envisions traditional educa...
Northwest Vista College
Northwest Vista College is situated in the oak covered hills west of San Antonio, with beautiful views toward the city and surrounding valley. Previously the design team completed an extensive master plan that accommodated for the expansion of the college facilities to three times its current size. The design seeks to sensitively integrate the nearly 400,000 s...