3 Projects: Rooftop Garden at Tufts, Union Addition at Muhlenberg, Dorm at Buffalo

Alex’s Place is an 11,000-square-foot garden constructed on the roof of a library at Tufts U. (Tufts U. photos)

Tufts University has created a $1.3-million, 11,000-square-foot garden on the roof of its Tisch Library. The L-shaped plot was designed by M. Paul Friedberg, a landscape architect, and Jackie Ferrara, an artist, in memory of Alex Mendell, a sophomore who died in 2003. His parents gave the garden as a gift.

It consists of a series of outdoor rooms—a plaza paved with brick in a mosaic pattern, a small amphitheater, and secluded spaces, flanked by flower beds and river birches, that offer seating for a few people each. A concrete structure housing telecommunications equipment was a challenge that the designers solved by creating a copse of trees around it. Elsewhere the garden is surrounded by trellises.

Muhlenberg College is expanding its Seegers Union. (Muhlenberg College image)

Muhlenberg College is expanding its 1961 J. Conrad Seegers Union, adding 30,000 square feet of space to the existing 60,000-square-foot structure and upgrading a number of its systems to make the building more energy-efficient and sustainable. The project, designed by Bruner/Cott, includes an overhaul of the dining-service facilities to add a dining room and create an exposed public kitchen as well as kosher facilities. The project, which also adds a media suite and offices for student organizations, completes a quadrangle on the west side of the campus.

The U. at Buffalo will model future residence halls after this prototype (U. at Buffalo image)

The University at Buffalo is constructing a 600-unit, 198,500-square-foot residence hall that is intended to be a model for future dormitories on the North Campus. The $57-million building, called the South Ellicott Suites, is designed to LEED-gold standards and will bring the SUNY university its first sustainable landscape design. The first floor will house classrooms as well as a 2,000-square-foot cafe. The building is due to open in 2011.