more harm than good , so a system of wells was engineered to slowly extract the contamination and send it to sealed drums , allowing it to be taken off site for cleaning and disposal . The edges of the coal-tar sink were mapped using GPS so that the new design could be more precise in sealing the contamination .
Although a seemingly devastating discovery at the time , in the end , the subsurface problems had the unanticipated effect of improving the future experience of Alumnae Valley . The site was capped with six feet of fill to seal off contaminants and to make a thick layer that enabled shallow excavations needed for forebays , pools , swales , and utilities . Changing the design was not a simple matter because site parameters had so dramatically shifted . Previously important design moves had to go . The capping limits changed the number , size , shape , and arrangement of mounds that had surrounded outdoor rooms . The lake could not extend into the valley because of fears about revealing more contamination , but the additional elevation gave a better connection to the buildings , raised paths to get long views over Lake Waban , and heightened the mounds so that they had more presence when viewed from adjacent sites . Although it took meticulous work , reconceiving the design actually improved it and expanded the benefits it brought to the campus .
Alumnae Valley as a Working Landscape
The ecological functions of Alumnae Valley purposely intersect with user experience , but at its core , this is a working landscape . The two long mounds are located to direct movement , reveal and conceal views , and give scale . They also create a unique upland prairie ecology with plants that attract and give shelter to different animals and require less maintenance after establishment . They direct , slow and filter stormwater to the pools and swales . The forebays have large boulders that , in dry times , become seating nestled in the site and a perch to watch others . When water flows into the forebays , the boulders dissipate its energy , and as the water settles , sediment gets trapped between the rocks . Shallow grass paths loop through the site , hugging mounds and then leaving them to change orientation and experience , feel good
Campus Plan | MVVA , Inc .
Photo | John Mottern Photography
42 BSLA