Students, faculty and staff gathered in Dana Auditorium Monday, Feb. 28 to view the three proposals selected as finalists of the Atwater Landscaping Designing Competition, colloquially known as the “Turf Battle.” The Turf Battle competition began in November 2010 in response to general concerns about the lack of aesthetic appeal of the outdoor space between Atwater Halls A and B.
Instead of merely hiring an outside contractor to do the work, Vice President for Administration and Professor of American Studies Tim Spears hoped the project would involve students directly in the process.
“I think at the outset I was most of all interested in putting together a process that would bring students into dialogue about this particular project and the challenges of the space,” he said. “Now we’re at this point where the public got to ask questions about it and I was pleased with the nature of the conversation.”
Leah Webster ’11 and Christine Hsieh ’11 presented the first proposal, “The Garden of Scholarly Delights: The First Chinese Garden at Middlebury College.” Using the idea of a Chinese garden as a guide, the two seniors — aided by Jack Maher ’12, who is currently abroad — developed plans for a place of quiet refuge, a “traditional scholar’s garden.” Middlebury is an ideal place for such a garden, they argued, because of its emphasis in International and Environmental studies.
“In China,” the group’s proposal outlined, “the scholar garden was a traditional refuge or retreat from government or city life. It was a place for contemplation, reflection and … artistic and scholarly pursuits.” While acknowledging the impossibility of replicating perfectly a Chinese garden in the space, they hope to create a space that allows for such functions.
The garden, which would be located in front of Atwater Hall B, would include benches for “private contemplation,” a bridge and a dry rock garden, key facets of Chinese gardens and Sichuan-style vegetation.
In a blog post describing the proposal, College Horticulturist Timothy A. Parsons, while impressed by the proposal, questions how it can fit into the overall envisioned use of the area.
“Can we make a restful garden in the center of what at present feels like an urban corridor?” he wrote. “Or stepping back even further: are we bringing people to the area, while at the same time providing a solitary retreat?”
“Major amounts of work around the garden site would need to be done to give this garden the proper setting,” he added.
Jaeun Lee ’11 and Molly Rosenblatt ’12 took the stage next with their plan to create a series of “outdoor rooms,” separating the area into three spaces. The first would be a patio outside Chateau, with flexible seating and a fire pit. A buffer of vegetation would separate the patio and the proposed terrace below it, aiding with the notoriously poor drainage. A terraced seating area would overlook a pond, stage or ice rink — its use, depending on the season, would occupy the lowest space.
The proposal relies heavily on the original conception of the space connecting to the main campus via a strong axis, though still seeks to soften the “blasted imprint of the new Atwater dorms,” the group wrote in their proposal.
Unique to the proposal as well was a car ramp to maintain vehicular access to the Atwater buildings, though Parsons notes that it “may quickly eat into the budget.”
Chris Batson ’13 worries that the Chateau patio, which would be gravel according to the plans, would still have drainage problems and would still be the “eyesore” that it is now.
The third and final group, made up of Jesse Catalano ’11, Bente Madson ’11 and Jake Moritz ’11, emphasized in their proposal the importance of “creating distinct environments that can be used for classes, meetings, relaxation and performances.” Their design attempts to solve the problem of Atwater’s “vast, undefined character.” The proposed plan includes a collection of “outdoor classrooms,” made up by slab benches similar to those outside McCardell Bicentennial Hall. The space would also feature a wall dubbed “The Pass” — similar to the wall outside Ross Dining Hall — and a redefinition of the Chateau quad through newly created paths.
The proposal also included plans to improve the environmental quality of the landscape through a no-mow zone, improved drainage and water mitigation and greater vegetation to “enliven [the] otherwise dull lawn.”
Similar to with the Chinese garden, Parsons raises the question of proposed use of the space with the Catalano/Madson/Moritz plan.
“On the one hand, there is quite a bit of circulation through this area, and conversely the outdoor classrooms are the opposite of that, a captive stationary audience,” he wrote in his blog. “Can an active quad co-exist with a lecture?”
As all three groups have strengths and weaknesses, Parsons sees collaboration as a potential solution as the plans move forward towards implementation. He remains optimistic about the future of the space, and was impressed by all three proposals Monday.
“I think we’re on track to be quite successful,” he said following the presentations. “The ball is rolling. We want to fix this. We’ve got strong advocates now — we have a project.”
The College has yet to fix a budget for the process.
“The proposals weren’t all about spending money, they were about creative ways of making this space better,” Spears said. “If we saw a plan that was going to completely reorient the landscape and would cost a lot more than [the rough average among the plans of $50,000], maybe we’d take a look at that.”
The Master Plan Implementation Committee, made up of students, faculty and staff will now review the proposals and see how to move forward, and the final project is tentatively scheduled to break ground this summer.
Community members interested in viewing the plans can visit project’s blog at http://blogs.middlebury.edu/turfbattle/
Turf Battle plans unveiled to College
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