Photo | Elizabeth Fellicella
Unwelcomed Surprises
As the project progressed , ambitions grew for what Alumnae Valley could do for the campus beyond reinforcing its spatial milieu . The 55,000 cubic yards of fill excavated to make the building and garage would be reused on site to reduce the cost and the environmental waste of trucking and disposal . The tennis courts would be broken up and left in place to avoid dumping petroleumbased asphalt in a landfill . Alumnae Valley was already a thoroughfare for nearly 80 acres of drainage streaming from campus uplands into Lake Waban . The new design for the Valley would collect , hold , cleanse , and re-aerate stormwater before its release into the Lake . Meadow plants were selected to slow down water and absorb pollutants . Swales , forebays , and pools slowed and held drainage to settle out silt . The lake was extended into the site to engage the valley landscape , expand ecologies , and provide more waterfront .
As excavations continued for the garage and building , on-going environmental tests yielded a few unwelcomed surprises . Oil from the Power
Plant had leaked into the Campus Center site . Construction debris from past building demolitions had been used as fill and was mildly contaminated with lead . An old foundation from an unrecorded gas manufacturing plant was discovered . Oily coal-tar residue , spilled or left behind , had been absorbed and trapped in a peat bowl ( the site was once a marsh ). These results arrived just as MVVA was beginning construction documents ; the project came to a halt .
The Opportunity in Constraints
Responding to site constraints is both a duty and opportunity for landscape architects , best answered through creativity and technical intelligence . The late-breaking and unwelcomed news of contaminated site conditions required the team to find a multi-disciplinary solution . Cost , schedule , and environmental responsibility guided the team ’ s conversations and solutions . The mildly contaminated soil could be buried on site and capped by clean soil . The most contaminated soil , a relatively small amount of the total , would be removed and treated . Excavating the coal-tar would cause
Boston Society of Landscape Architects Fieldbook
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