UC Berkeley : Landscape Heritage Plan

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The planting patterns within the Classical Core were carefully studied in the development of this plan. The planting guidelines document the Classical Core's history and extant conditions as an invaluable guide for future improvements. The guidelines take into consideration the dynamic quality of plant materials and the related need for maintenance to ensure the proper design intent. In some cases within the Classical Core, the extant plant materials have outgrown their intended expression and are in need of refinement.

The guidelines also respond to the decline in diversity of campus plantings caused by the loss of aging specimen trees to age or disease, the construction of new facilities and buildings, a simplification of the plant palette partly driven by the need to simplify maintenance, and past trends in landscape design.

The guidelines for planting are organized as follow:

Planting Compositions
Plant Categories
Plant Materials

Planting Compositions (Back to Top )

The arrangement of planting materials on campus is categorized as topographic, linear, spatial, and architectural. These interrelated categories address the development of forming landscapes around buildings and the definition of outdoor space.

Topographic

Topographic - Turf used on the gentle slope of Faculty Glade (2003).

The natural topography of the campus is a gentle sloping plane descending towards the Bay, with landforms defining the drainage patterns of Strawberry Creek. Memorial Glade, Faculty Glade, and West Oval all express this relationship to the original campus landform. A series of manipulated slopes and building terraces express the landscape's more formal topography. This strong expression of the terraces allows buildings to sit prominently on a level terrain, creating an intertwining rhythm with the character of the landscape. Retaining walls also express the campus's topography. They serve as grade separation devices as well as seating opportunities and provide a variety of planting alternatives.

Design Intent:

Respect and reinforce natural and designed slopes and their functions.

Linear

Linear - Allee of pollarded London Plane Trees along Campanile Way (2003).

Linear plantings, either straight or curvilinear in nature, serve as significant landscape expressions on campus. The dominant corridor of Strawberry Creek vegetation, the allee of pollarded trees along Campanile Way, and the hedges around the Campanile Esplanade are examples of linear compositions.

Design Intent:

Reinforce the linear compositions found in the landscape.

Spatial

Spatial - Bosque of pollarded London Plane Trees at Campanile Esplanade (1995). Courtesy Charles Benton.

Formal, architectonic arrangements and informal, natural planting configurations spatially define the campus's outdoor rooms, glades, and quadrangles. The formal bosque at the Campanile Esplanade, the informal clustering of groves, and the understory plantings around glades contribute to defining these spaces. Specimen and large canopy trees also create landscape spaces by their location, canopy structure, and form. Many specimen trees, scattered around the Classical Core, are remnants of the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Botanical Garden of an earlier period.

Design Intent:

Reinforce the expression of outdoor spaces through formal and informal plantings.

Architectural

Architectural - Evergreen trees accentuate the building entry of California Hall (2003).

As architectural elements, plant materials accentuate building facades and pedestrian entries. Large, coniferous evergreen trees are often located at elevated corners to enhance the facade, while smaller human-scale trees accentuate the building entries. Uniform, low-growing shrub or ground cover provides a visual contrast to the light-toned buildings. Where rooftop terraces occur, plants soften the effects of paved surfaces, provide shade, and define spaces in these open areas.

Design Intent:

Enhance and accentuate the architectural style of campus buildings.

Plant Categories (Back to Top )

Plant Categories for Landscape Compositions

Plant Categories Summary

Various types of plants articulate and define the landscapes of the Classical Core. Primarily, specific plants are used to create compositions based on the plants form, height, texture, or color. The Plant Categories for Landscape Compositions Table identifies the dominant plant categories appropriate for individual landscape compositions. The Plant Categories Summary Table describes the plant categories based on primary characteristics.

Design Intent:

Preserve or reinforce plant compositions in the Classical Core with appropriate plant materials.

Plant Materials (Back to Top )

The character of the landscape remains strong in many areas where past periods of historic plantings remain dominant. The Classical Core includes areas that serve as teaching laboratories for plant identification and other classes. This can require a diversity of plants.

Design Intent:

Identify areas with extensive historic plantings and plantings that define the area's character.
If possible, retain the plantings that define the area's character. Replant as plants age and decline.
Introduce new plantings as needed to reinforce the existing character or to impose a desired character that strengthens the dominant period type.
Increase plant diversity to satisfy educational needs while retaining and reinforcing the harmony of areas with a highly identifiable character.
In areas with a neoclassical landscape, retain existing specimen plants for their diversity as a supplement to the dominant landscape pattern.

Plant Selection

The information on the following tables summarizes the characteristics and names of commonly used plant materials appropriate for the Classical Core based on the plant categories discussed earlier in this section. Although the 1976 UC Berkeley publication Trees of the Berkeley Campus provides a comprehensive reference of trees once used throughout the campus, the abbreviated lists to follow represent selections specific to the Classical Core based on historic significance, compatibility with existing materials, availability, and successful plantings on campus. The listings should not be construed as complete inventories, as the University will consider additional plants that meet the description of the categories.

The picturesque landscape of Harmon Way is framed by neoclassical buildings and expressed through the use of landforms and plantings.

The vignette illustrates:

Retaining the picturesque setting with views of California Hall on the upper terrace.
Emphasizing the slope with low shrubs in a formal configuration surrounding the stairs.
Creating a hierarchy of circulation through materials and path widths.
Incorporating wood benches into this picturesque landscape type.

Canopy + Accent Trees		The Eucalyptus Grove west of Valley Life Sciences Building (2003).

Conifer Trees + Tall Shrubs		A Gingko specimen tree is a landmark from the campus' early years (2003).

Low Shrubs + Groundcovers		Star jasmine in the Campanile environs (2003).

The Evolution of Campus Planting

In a span of nearly 150 years, the Berkeley campus has evolved from a natural landscape of grassy fields creased by riparian woodlands to a complex composite of planted spaces varying from naturalistic compositions of mature trees to geometric patterns in the urban and neoclassical settings. This evolution results from a complex layering of plantings based on functional needs, support of research and academic requirements, and designs by planners, horticulturists, and landscape architects.

Ecological History: The site chosen for the new College of California was that of a classic California landscape - barren, grassy slopes, dormant in summer, dotted with dark broadleaf trees along the streams and on cooler north-facing slopes. Though the landscape imagery has changed, many trees and understory shrubs still exist. Live Oaks (Quercus agrifolia) follow the forks of the creek and still dot Faculty Glade and Observatory Hill. California Bay (Umbellularia californica) line the creeks, their fragrance filling the air during rain or when crushed under foot. Several gnarled, old California Buckeyes (Aesculus californica) serve as landmark sculptures in Faculty Glade and at North Gate. Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) emerges in winter with its bright red "Christmas berries".
Academic and Research History: The campus has served as both an arboretum and outdoor laboratory planted for research and classroom needs of the faculty for over 100 years. The early plantings of the Agricultural Experiment Station supported the research and academic needs of the faculty. Oats and wheat were grown in the vale north of North Hall to feed the University's work animals. An orchard of over 200 varieties of fruit trees was planted on the knoll where Wellman, Giannini and Hilgard Halls now stand. The Experiment Station also planted various conifers and hardwood timber trees (English Oaks, Tulip Trees, elms and hickories) and many Australian species that still remain both on the Central Campus and in Strawberry Canyon.
An Economic Garden was once established near the Center Street entrance. It contained grasses, forage plants, cereals, medicinal and textile plants, vegetables and a variety of trees and shrubs studied by students in botany, pharmacy, and other disciplines.
Design Ideals: The planting of the campus reflects layers of concepts and ideals about the design of the landscape. Some are bold and clear, such as the Campanile Esplanade beaux-arts classicism, while other periods are more subtle, with only a few relic trees remaining.
Agricultural Crops: Planting orchards and other crops served the needs of the University to experiment with various crop plants and techniques for the state's developing agricultural economy. With a climate so different from the rest of the country, faculty and researchers in the Agricultural Experiment Station needed to test different varieties of fruit trees and explore farming techniques suitable for California.
Ornamental Plants: The second influence was the importation of and experimentation with the unique array of ornamental plants from around the world. New plants were being brought to California from South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia to satisfy the curiosity of horticulturists, nurserymen, and the University faculty.
These exotic plants were in fashion to decorate gardens and parks in California. Palms, conifers, acacias, eucalyptus, and many tropical and subtropical plants were planted on campus. A few such plants, such as a Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora), the Titoki (Alectryon excelsum), and Chilean Soapbark (Quillaja saponaria), remain today where the Botanical Garden once existed.
Picturesque Landscape: Frederick Law Olmsted's early design for the College of California campus was laid out following the romantic ideal of the picturesque landscape. Remnants of this setting are visible in the Central Glade, Faculty Glade, and the West Entrance.
Beaux-Arts Landscape: The classical ideals expressed in design fostered by Ecole des Beaux-Arts began to appear on campus with John Galen Howard's Plan of 1914, which created a landscape married with neoclassical architecture. Plantings followed architectural patterns in allees, bosques, hedges, and in pollarded canopies of plane trees. A rhythm of planting large conifers at the corners of these monumental buildings, linked by hedges or low shrubby ground cover, created a softer counterpoint to the symmetry and geometry of both architecture and the plane trees.
Modern Landscape: During the late 1900s, landscapes for individual buildings followed no discernible pattern or style. Plant composition relates primarily to the building and less often to the context of the surrounding campus landscape. Popular plants used during this period were star jasmine, Canary Island Ivy, Indian Hawthorn, Coast Redwood, Xylosma, and Pittosporum. After the drought years following 1977, more attention was paid to water conservation in plant selection. More California native plants and Mediterranean climate plants were used on projects.

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