Recent development on land surrounding Syme Residence Hall won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Community Appearance in the Landscape Design Category in early October as a part of the College of Design’s Design + Build program.
The Raleigh Appearance Commission has been honoring additions to the character, environment or appearance of the City of Raleigh since 1983.
The Design + Build program has been partnered with NC State University Housing for nearly ten years, offering graduate students the opportunity to create new structures for residential areas and transfer their technical knowledge into hands-on experience.
Dean of the College of Design, Mark Hoversten, said he applauds the Design + Build program for its practicality and emphasis on both aspects of the creation process.
“Students actually get to build what they design, and that’s what’s so wonderful about our Design + Build projects,” Hoversten said.
Carla Delcambre, director of the graduate program for the department of Landscape Architecture, said The Syme project, which began in 2018, emphasized green infrastructure. Students rerouted rainwater downspouts in an effort to slow, clean, and collect rain water before it enters Rocky Branch Creek nearby. Additionally, the redirection allows plants in the area to be naturally watered.
Graduate students in the Design + Build course transition from creating construction plans to building their designs over the course of the spring semester, ending with a ribbon-cutting. The Syme project spanned two years overall, according to Delcambre.
Delcambre said prior to construction, students who live in the areas where Design + Build projects will take place have the opportunity to offer input through interviews. The graduate students also do “behavior mapping” to examine the area’s existing conditions and how people are using the space before starting the building portion of the project.
After the main portion of construction is over, planting to promote biodiversity is a key element of the project.
Delcambre said she has worked with graduate students since the project’s inception two years ago. Delcambre said the project is four months of intensive designing and building and how exciting it was for the program to receive the Sir Walter Raleigh Award.
Both Hoversten and Delcambre said Syme Hall has been an area of interest for Design + Build projects in the past. Graduate students installed rain gardens around Syme nearly ten years ago. The rainwater redirection of the newest project allows plants in the rain gardens to be watered.
Natalie Jones, a first-year studying psychology, has lived in Syme Hall since August. She appreciates the renovations made to her residence hall due to the Design + Build project.
“The rain garden is a really cool concept to preserve water,” Jones said.
The Syme project involved partnerships between the College of Design and various university departments, including grounds management and landscape construction services.
