Seneca College Landscape Sustainability Strategy
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Client: Seneca College
Completion: 2019
Quinn Design Associates has been working with Seneca College since early 2018 to explore sustainable landscape strategies at the Newnham Campus with the goal of drawing inspiration from the indigenous ecology of the site and providing opportunities to connect the curriculum to the College’s natural environment.
Retained by the college to provide a campus-wide strategy, Quinn further developed ideas tailored to the College’s goals and needs. Following extensive study of the site and consultation with Seneca College administration and staff, our proposed strategy included: Organizing Ideas that establish a conceptual framework to promote sustainability and a unified campus environment, and Landscape Typologies that define and describe a strategy for treatments of soft and hard surface areas. The Typologies focus on planting, edges, and special areas that could be developed as features like a pollinator garden or memorial garden. The proposed strategy is detailed in a report with implementation guidelines that can be easily applied.
By responding to the entire site and all its fragmented spaces in a cohesive manner, the revitalization strategy serves as a guide to future planning and the development of the Newnham campus into a sustainable landscape model for all campus development. Quinn was subsequently retained to implement these strategies, with work beginning in Spring 2019.