Superlative Surfaces

A systematic analysis of campus design opportunities will identify sites where hard paving will be the appropriate ground cover. Typically these are zones with heavy pedestrian traffic, or shaded and wet areas where plant material will not survive, or the outdoor spaces created by the building extension and site arrangement, where the intension is to form courtyards, porticos, and plazas. Technical issues to be addressed and resolved include site drainage, the weight of varying loads from pedestrian and vehicular circulation, safety, durability, maintenance, and particularly, in southern climates, glare and reflectivity.

Equally important is the design and selection of the surfaces, whose visual quality can contribute to the sense of place. Materials include brick, tile, stone, and concrete - plain and embellished. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the contemporary design treatment, upper left, announces the presence of special precinct through the configuration and patterning of a scintillating, sprightly surface. Sedate and subdued, but equally memorable, is the surface design in the main courtyard at Trinity College, Dublin, bottom left. Noteworthy is the design of the inlet grate; deplorable, the insensitive repair to the paving pattern

Richard P. Dober