Case Study
By Nancy Tamosaitis-Thompson
Living Wall at Queens
University of Charlotte
ounded in 1857, Queens University
of Charlotte is a private, co-ed university located in Charlotte, N.C.
The university serves approximately
2,400 undergraduate and graduate
students through its College of Arts and
Sciences; McColl School of Business; Blair
College of Health; Wayland H. Cato, Jr.
School of Education; the James L. Knight
School of Communications; and the Hayworth College for Adult Studies.
"As we add academic programs and extracurricular activities to meet the needs of
our expanding student body, we're also
working hard to improve our beautiful
campus," said Bill Nichols, vice president,
campus planning & services for Queens
University of Charlotte, who has been
overseeing the design and construction of
the new $18 million Rogers Science and
F
20 Landscape and Irrigation April 2013
Health Building. "While remaining faithful
to our beautiful Georgian style, we sought
to invigorate and inspire our campus and
add design elements that were not only visually compelling but educational too."
Nichols, who ran his own architectural
firm prior to joining Queens University,
hired Little Diversified Architectural Consulting in May 2010 to create the construction documents. Matthews
Construction was brought aboard in May
2011 to oversee the construction.
Challenge
"Queens University of Charlotte has a
very established architectural tradition,"
said Philip A. Kuttner, AIA, LEED, BD+C
and chief executive officer of Little. "For
the design of Queens' Rogers Science and
Health building, we sought to respect tra-
dition while bringing aboard a modern
twist which celebrated environmental science.
"We considered many sculptural ideas,
and were captivated by the building's
greenhouse where students will be able to
monitor plant growth conditions and environmental factors in ways not possible in a
traditional laboratory. After some deliberation, we proposed the addition of an exterior green wall, which we felt could be
visually compelling, environmentally responsible and also serve as an educational
tool."
Dr. Reed Perkins of the Environmental
Science Department immediately embraced the green wall concept as a key
teaching tool for his students in the
Rogers Building. "A living wall can offer
an opportunity for our students to truly
live science, not just learn what others
have done.
"From the beginning, the faculty wanted
even the most casual observers of the university to see that this building was a place
of science, discovery and imagination."
"We recommended Ambius to install
www.landscapeirrigation.com
Photos courtesy of Queens University of Charlotte
Before
