BASE team is very fortunate to have been selected to design the grounds around the new classroom and field building complex at the Merritt College school for Landscape Horticulture. The five-acre campus is set in a beautiful site in the East Oakland Hills with breathtaking views of the San Francisco Bay, and surrounded by heavily wooded natural areas.

To date and shelter-in-place orders notwithstanding, BASE Landscape has conducted several workshops and collaborated very closely with Noll & Tam Architects and the Horticulture program students and faculty. The result is a concept plan that aims to preserve the charm and intimate character of the current campus, and advances the many curricular and public learning opportunities the site and program offer. Outdoor classrooms are incorporated into the design, demonstration gardens for food production, medicinal herbs, native planting, firescape, xeriscape, pollinator habitat, and bioretention planting will be implemented. A small scale rain water capture system and green roof installation are intended. While the project does not aspire to achieve official LEED or other sustainability certification, many of the principles will guide the design and construction.