Once just a cluster of buildings linked by concrete pathways, the definition of an “office park” has evolved over the last few years.
Today’s office park is focused not just on the mechanics of a busy work environment, but also on sustainability and the well-being of tenants and employees.
This approach is evidenced in one of Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects‘ most recent projects: the Campus Pointe Office Park in the UTC area.
Offering a site-conditioned approach to planning and landscape architectural design, the 24-acre life-science laboratory campus sits at the rim of several native San Diego canyons within a Torrey Pine grove.
Working with client Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE: ARE), the company’s focus has been to design and create a series of sustainable spaces.
To achieve this, the architects extended the canyons’ fingers into the park, creating an open, natural feel.
A core component of the landscaping at Campus Pointe is an organic garden — which sits on the canyon’s rim — planted with vegetables, fruits and herbs all used in the new Campus Point Bistro.
The garden, which was completed as the first phase of the project, encompasses two distinct areas: the public and the production zones.
Visitors enter via the public zone, passing through an ornamental garden to reach the lawn and shaded event patio. Site elements then guide pedestrians to the production zone, directing sightlines to views of the neighboring canyon.
The production area has flowers and fruit trees, as well as vegetable and herb gardens; there is also a small composting area.
A citrus orchard blankets the northern slope of the site, stabilizing against erosion.
In addition, fingers of native plants extend through a fence, blending the garden with the adjacent canyon vegetation.
Spurlock Poirier designed and is now building an entry boulevard flanked with Torrey Pines and native planting, which leads the way to parking lots lined with vegetated swales between the parking stalls as a way to collect and treat stormwater. Each building entry is adjacent to plaza-like spaces for gathering and the gardens.
Two additional gardens are also incorporated into the landscaping. One is terraced with amphitheater steps, stairs and groves of trees, as well as canyon and succulent plants, and lined with curved steel walls. Another is a succulent and grass garden.
Additional spaces include a basketball court, a multipurpose lawn, a fitness center, a 0.8-mile loop trail, chess tables and outlook areas.
The project is slated for completion in early 2014.
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Gertler is an associate principal at Spurlock Poirier.
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