Located within the arid Ponderosa Pine Ecozone in southern British Columbia’s interior, the The Commons (Centre for Teaching and Learning) at the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus is a new building focused on supporting a student-centered, collaborative learning environment. Exterior spaces extending from the building provide formal and informal seating, along with areas for eating and outdoor study. In addition to overlooking these exterior spaces, the building offers views of native forest-inspired courtyards, landscaped with Trembling Aspen, understorey shrubs and ferns. The landscape design includes the transformation of an existing vehicular roadway adjacent to the new building into a pedestrianized walkway. Targeting LEED Silver, the planting concept incorporates water-efficient native planting and stormwater management through an integrated rain garden and underground tank storage.
This landscape project is by PLANT, the British Columbia affiliate of PLANT Architect Inc.